Having a tour of the Disney Studio is the dream of every kid but Do you know who was Disney and what are Walt Disney facts? Well In this article, we will go through each and every fact of him and try to deep dive into his life.
Before we start Here is a small history of Walt Disney. He was born on 5 December 1901. He was an American Entrepreneur, Voice actor, animator, and Pioneer of the American animation industry.
He formed the Walt Disney Company. That company is mass media and entertainment company having headquartered at Walt Disney Studios in California. This studio is responsible for creating many animation related projects like Snowwhite and Seven Dwarfs, Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies.
He was the guy who created Disneyland. The ultimate dream for every person on earth. Every kid while growing watches cartoons created by none other than Disney. And it was Disney who was responsible for creativity inside the brain of kids in every country.
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Walt Disney Facts
Here are some of the cool amazing facts of Walt Disney which not many people are aware of:
His first studio was Laugh-O-Gram.
Disney’s very first animation studio was Laugh-O-Gram (A short-lived film studio located on the second floor of the McConahay Building at 1127 East 31st in Kansas City, Missouri), where he began telling modernized fairy tales based on Aesop’s Fables (which was a trend Disney continued) before the studio quickly went bankrupt.
Luckily, Walt did not quit back at that time otherwise we would have never seen so many awesome movies. His life is very inspiring and Laugh-O-Gram was a part of that.
He once played Peter Pan in a school play.
This story is close to the heart of Disney. This movie was not only a hit but also it took him back to his childhood. After seeing Peter Pan on stage, young Walt Disney was given the opportunity to play the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up in school performance.
Walt Disney had to convince his father that he would convert his new film studio into a hospital if the animation business failed.
Well, He is well known for his passion for animation and cartoons. He got huge success in this industry and became a big brand in the entertainment and movie industry.
Walt Disney was a high school dropout.
When Walt was just 16 years old, he left school to join the Red Cross Ambulance Corps. He wants to participate in World War I. But he was one year short of age 17 and was sent to France in 1918.
Walt Disney almost sold vacuum cleaners for a living.
In 1923, Walt joined his brother Roy in Los Angeles to pursue a career in animation. Roy was selling vacuum cleaners door to door and later he asked Walt to do the same.
Walt considered it, but he got a call from a company in New York that wanted him to make shorts for them.
Mickey Mouse wasn’t his first big creation.
Mickey Mouse wasn’t Disney’s first iconic character. Before Mickey Mouse, Oswald -The Lucky Rabbit was created while Disney was having the contract with the Universal Pictures.
After he left, Oswald was prevented from joining him, resulting in Disney to make a new character everyone’s favorite iconic Mickey Mouse.
He didn’t draw Mickey Mouse.
Walt was no longer animating after 1928. Rather than he was focusing on story development and direction. He relied on superior artists to do the drawing work. He never drew Mickey in any of his theatrical releases. He probably only really drew Mickey when people were asking for an autograph.
Walt did voice Mickey Mouse.
From 1928 to 1947, Walt was the man behind Mickey Mouse.
And when voice work was officially transferred to Jimmy MacDonald in 1947. Walt continued to do Mickey’s voice for shorts on The Mickey Mouse Club.
He drove his daughters to school every day.
Disney had drivers and a number of other staff members. Still, Disney took great interest in driving his two daughters to school every day.
He had a secret apartment at Disneyland.
Not many people know this that he had a secret apartment at Disney land above the fire station. Walt’s private apartment is not open for the public, but VIPs are occasionally offered tours. It’s always kept on to signify that Walt is always in the park.
His favorite song is “Feed the birds.”
Walt’s personal favorite song was “Feed the Birds,” the song about the pigeon lady in Mary Poppins. Walt often stopped by the Sherman brothers’ office at Disney on Friday afternoons and requested a personal performance of “Feed the Birds.” He was totally in love with that song and was also aware of the fact that this song was the heartbeat of the whole movie.
He found Golf anything but relaxing.
Golf may be a way to get relaxed for many but not for Walt Disney. He used to feel frustrated while playing golf. So he chooses to quit it and choose another sport like lawn bowling.
Walt felt responsible for his mother’s death.
After he became successful, he gifted his parents a new home. And when his parents need something to be fixed or repaired, he used to send his own repairmen to take care of that.
Once, a problem was discovered with the furnace, His team didn’t take care of the issue properly and that resulted in his mother Flora Call Disney died of carbon monoxide poisoning at the age of 70.
Disney was obsessed with trains.
Walt always had an interest in trains. In 1948, his hobby grew to new heights when he constructed a 1/8 scale model in his backyard, with track spanning half a mile.
One of his last written communications was rather mysterious — and involved Kurt Russel.
Shortly before his death, Disney wrote “Kurt Russell” on a piece of paper. It was later found on his desk and it was realized that these notes were among Disney’s last few written words.
At the time of Disney’s death, Russell was a largely unknown child actor working for the studio. No one was having any idea about what Disney was referring to with his note.
His housekeeper was a very wealthy woman.
Thelma Howard was the Disney family’s live-in housekeeper and she cooked there for three decades. She was hired in 1951. As part of her annual Christmas gift, the Disneys gave Thelma stocks in the company. She never did anything with her shares, and she died in 1994, the woman was a multimillionaire because of those shares.
Development of drawing skills.
Walt Disney began developing his skills as a cartoonist as a young kid. Stuck on a farm in Missouri, he didn’t have many subjects, but delighted in drawing cartoon pictures of his neighbor’s horses.
Final Thoughts:
Sharing unseen or unheard stories or words creates curiosity. We hope this article on Walt Disney Facts was able to keep you guessing from start till end and in your minds, you was never expecting things like this. Please feel to share this to other Walt Disney Fans to see what they know about Disney.
