Walter Disney

The late Walter Disney is known for being a pioneer of cartoon films and the creator of Disneyland. He occupation included being a hugely successful entrepreneur, animator, voice actor, and a film producer. He currently holds the record for the most Academy Awards earned by a single individual. If you’re wondering what the number is: he won a total of 22 Oscar Awards, out of a whopping 59 nominations.

What warrants this level of success one might ask. Some might say it started in 1920 when a young Disney began working at an advertising company in Kansas. This is where he developed an interest in animation and decided to become an animator. He left the company and eventually set up Disney Brothers Studio (with his brother Roy) where his first major success came in 1928 when he created the character and soon-to- be household name Mickey Mouse. He first appeared in a full-synchronized sound cartoon titled Steamboat Willie (we viewed this in class). 

Mickey was originally supposed to appear first in a silent cartoon but sound was brought onto the motion picture screen at a conveniently good time for Disney.

Over the years Disney was able to introduce synchronized sound, technicolor, and feature length-cartoons (like the ones viewed in class) due to his drive and ambition for the perfect animation experience. Examples of these implementations include films such as Dumbo, Bambi, and Show White and the Seven Dwarves (his first full-length animated musical feature). In 1932 he released a film entitled Flowers and Trees, which won him his first (of 32) Academy Awards. Walt Disney continued to release animated films and he received five academy awards for the Mary Poppins film that was released in 1964. He released in total 81 featured films.

Following the success of these films Walt Disney went on to succeed in even more areas than simply animation. To sum it up, he created Walt Disney’s Disneyworld, The Mickey Mouse Club, and opened the world-famous amusement park Disneyland. Disney showed interest in improving the quality of urban life in America and sprung the idea of “building a community that will become a prototype for the future” (known today as EPCOT). Although he died in 1966 prior to the opening of Disneyworld and EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) his legacy and company lives on, still successful to this day. His imagination and self-made success definitely left a mark in American film production.