Walt Elias Disney (5 December 1901 – 15 December 1966) was an
American motion-picture & television producer, show man, famous as a pioneer of cartoon films and as the creator of Disneyland. He is one of the greatest artists of all time. As a film producer, Disney holds the record for most Academy Awards earned by an individual, having won 22 Oscars from 59 nominations. Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney developed an early interest in drawing. He took art classes as a boy and got a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. In 1917, Disney enrolled at McKinley High School and became the cartoonist of the school newspaper, drawing patriotic pictures about World War I; he also took night courses at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He moved to California in the early 1920s and set up the Disney Brothers Studio with his brother, Roy. In the early 1920s, Disney became interested in animation, although he preferred drawn cartoons such as Mutt and Jeff and Koko the Clown. With the assistance of a borrowed book on animation and a camera, he began experimenting at home. Walt developed the character Mickey Mouse in 1928, his first highly popular success; he also provided the voice for his creation in the early years. Over the next 8 years, he made Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi, films that remain unsurpassed for imaginative soundtrack, for which cinemas were not yet ready. He was the first film-maker to see the appeal of Technicolor and to move entirely into colour film. In the 1950s, Disney expanded into the amusement park industry, and in 1955 he opened Disneyland in California. To fund the project he diversified into television programs, such as Walt Disney's Disneyland and The Mickey Mouse Club; Disney’s first successful film starring Mickey Mouse was a sound-and- music-equipped animated short called Steamboat Willie. It opened at the Colony Theater in New York on November 18, 1928. Sound had just made its way into film, and Disney was the voice of Mickey, a character he had developed and that was drawn by his chief animator, Ub Iwerks. The cartoon was an instant sensation. In 1929, Disney created Silly Symphonies, featuring Mickey's newly created friends, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto. Disney produced more than 100 feature films. His first full-length animated film was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which premiered in Los Angeles on December 21, 1937. It produced an unimaginable $1.4 million dollars, in spite of the Great Depression, and won eight Oscars. Disney's last major success that he produced himself was the motion picture Mary Poppins, which came out in 1964 and mixed live action and animation. Disney was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1966 and died on December 15, 1966, at the age of 65. Disney was cremated, and his ashes interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. To keep Disney’s legacy alive, we’re proud to announce that we’re releasing a limited edition book about Walt Disney’s life, with unseen pictures and drawings made by the artist himself, for only $35. In order to make this launch more special, the event’s theme will be, of course, Disney movies, so you can see all your favorite cartoons come to life. If you’re interested in buying the book or just spending the day as a Disney movie character, make sure to clear your schedule! The book launch party will take place on February 8th 2021, at the Grand Ballroom in Financial District in New York, from 2 pm to 9 pm. You can get your early bird tickets right now for $55. If you buy the tickets until July 23rd 2020, you’ll get $10 off when you pre-order the book.