Walt Disney. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-114742).

Disney, Walt (5 Dec. 1901-15 Dec. 1966), animator and motion picture producer, was born Walter Elias Disney in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Elias Disney, a building contractor, and Flora Call, a teacher. After a childhood near Marceline and in Kansas City, Missouri, Disney studied at the Chicago Institute of Art in the evening while attending McKinley High School during the day. In 1918 he enlisted in the American Ambulance Corps, serving in France and returning to employment as an artist at the Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio, where he befriended artist Ub Iwerks. After learning the rudiments of animation at a subsequent job at the Kansas City Film Ad Service, Disney began to produce his own animated films. In 1922 he formed Laugh-O-Gram Films. He was soon joined by Iwerks and a staff, including Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, to produce theatrical and sponsored films.

In 1923 Disney relocated to Los Angeles and incorporated the Disney Bros. Studio in partnership with his brother Roy. The signing of a contract with distributor Margaret Winkler to produce the "Alice Comedies," which combined live action and animation in emulation of the successful Fleischer "Out of the Inkwell" series, gave his product national distribution. Marriage in 1925 to Lillian Bounds of the studio's ink and paint department followed. The union would produce two daughters. Disney's distributor in 1927 arranged for the "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" series of cartoons to be distributed through Universal, which gave Disney films regular access to theaters and introduced the filmmaker to the benefits of product licensing through the merchandising of "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" chocolate bars. Disagreements with Charles Mintz (husband of Margaret Winkler) resulted in Mintz hiring away many of Disney's animators in order to force Disney to work directly for him, rather than as an independent contractor. Outraged, Disney broke with Mintz.

While the artists now under contract with Mintz completed the last of Disney's Oswald films, Ub Iwerks worked in seclusion animating Plane Crazy, the first of a projected series starring Disney's new character, Mickey Mouse. Gallopin' Gaucho, the second of the series, was begun, but no distributor could be found. Looking for some way to differentiate his new Mickey Mouse cartoons from the silent Oswald series, Disney made an agreement with former Universal executive Pat Powers to animate cartoons using the Powers' Cinephone sound process. The result was Steamboat Willie (1928). Earlier sound animated films made by competitors Max Fleischer and Paul Terry enjoyed limited success, but the coupling of synchronized sound with the engaging new character made Steamboat Willie a sensation.

At the suggestion of his musical director Carl Stalling, Disney inaugurated the "Silly Symphony" series with Skeleton Dance (1929). While the character-based "Mickey Mouse" films used music as an accompaniment to the action, the "Silly Symphonies" created stories through the use of music. Skeleton Dance was animated completely by Ub Iwerks. Since production costs were rising faster than returns, Disney pressured his distributor for more money and urged Iwerks to abandon the practice of animating straight through in favor of the more efficient technique of drawing key poses and letting lower-paid assistants sketch the in-between poses. In 1930 the disgruntled Iwerks accepted Powers's offer to set up a rival company, Celebrity Productions. Carl Stalling resigned shortly after.

In contrast with the previous debacle with Mintz, Disney now owned the copyright to his characters, and the popularity of Mickey Mouse ensured a quick transition of distribution to Columbia. Prior to Iwerks's and Stallings's departures, Disney had been hiring experienced animators from New York that were to include Bert Gillett, David Hand, Dick Huemer, Ben Sharpsteen, and Grim Natwick. He also began training local talent such as Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman, Les Clark, Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball, Marc Davis, Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas, and John Lounsbery (later known as the "Nine Old Men"). A more significant move was to expand his economic base, hiring Herman "Kay" Kamen in the United States and William Banks Levy in the United Kingdom to act as merchandising agents. Licensing fees added substantially to studio revenue, as did the introduction of Iwerks's Mickey Mouse comic strips, continued after Iwerks's departure by Win Smith and then Floyd Gottfredson. Mickey Mouse Clubs, which promoted Disney films and products, reached a peak membership by 1932 larger than the Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts combined.

The decline in popularity of Mickey Mouse in the mid-1930s was compensated by the introduction of other characters such as Donald Duck, Pluto, and Goofy. With a stable financial base, Disney sought expensive refinements to animation technique, introducing the "pencil test" (in which the animator's original pencil drawings are photographed sequentially on motion picture film and projected in order to test the action) to check work in progress. Story development became an elaborate process, closely monitored by Disney himself. Through the establishment of links to the Chouinard School of Art and in-house training sessions led by Don Graham, the studio developed an unrivaled degree of expressive virtuosity. Disney was hailed by critics as creating an American art form exhibiting "that same delicate balance between fantasy and fact, poetry and comic reality, which is the nature of all folklore. In Disney's studio . . . by a system as truly of the machine age as Henry Ford's plant at Dearborn, true art is produced" ("The Big Bad Wolf," Fortune, 5 Nov. 1934, p. 88). Disney's moral homilies set in rural or small-town surroundings, like The Three Little Pigs (1933), The Wise Little Hen (1934), and The Band Concert (1935), were seen as embodying peculiarly American values by contemporary critics. In contrast to the earlier "cartoony," gag-oriented, and often risqué films made by his New York competitors, Disney's films were patterned after Hollywood live-action films, with linear narratives, mimetic design, and, as Disney put it, "not an obvious moral, but a worth-while theme" (quoted in Douglas W. Churchill, "Disney's 'Philosophy,' " New York Times Magazine, 6 Mar. 1938, p. 9).

A believer in technological progress, Disney was quick to embrace innovations, producing the first cartoon using the three-color Technicolor process (Flowers and Trees, 1932) and assigning camera department head William Garity to develop the multiplane camera, which allowed the use of three-dimensional effects beginning with The Old Mill (1937). Increasing costs of the films were met by more lucrative distribution contracts with United Artists and then Radio Keith-Orpheum. Disney's banker, Joseph Rosenberg, authorized loans from the Bank of America that underwrote the application of new skills and technology to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), which was the first animated feature film with sound and color.

Income resulting from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ($4.2 million from the initial release in the United States and Canada alone) allowed Disney to build a state-of-the-art studio in Burbank, California, as he proceeded with the even more elaborate Pinocchio (1940); Fantasia (1940), which had the first stereophonic sound track; and Bambi (1942). The wartime loss of foreign markets and the declining critical reaction to his increasingly ambitious projects led to the company's first public stock offering in 1940 and to retrenchment during the war period with modest productions like The Reluctant Dragon (1941) and Dumbo (1941). To ensure the success of his films, Disney became an early user of George Gallup's audience research from the pre- to postproduction stages of his films' development.

In the aftermath of a 1941 strike, talents such as Art Babbitt, Vladimir Tytla, David Hilberman, Zachary Schwartz, and John Hubley defected to other studios, while Virgil Partch and Walt Kelly left animation altogether. After the war, Disney appeared as a friendly witness before the House Committee on Un-American Activities to name strike leaders as communists. During the strike, following a request by John Hay "Jock" Whitney, director of the Motion Picture Section of Nelson Rockefeller's Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, Disney went on a goodwill tour of South America to develop markets to replace those lost in Europe and Asia during wartime hostilities. This led to projects aimed at the Latin American markets, such as Saludos Amigos! (1943) and Three Caballeros (1945). Production of government propaganda and training films contributed to the war effort and kept the studio afloat financially. Disney self-financed Victory through Air Power (1943), based on the book by aviation advocate Alexander de Seversky. Winston Churchill arranged for Franklin Roosevelt to see the film at the Quebec Conference in 1943. Roosevelt's subsequent order that Victory through Air Power be shown to the Joint Chiefs of Staff may have influenced air strategy.

The war's end saw a declining market for short films with greater competition from animation units at Warner Bros. and M-G-M. As animation became increasingly expensive in relation to live action, Disney scaled down production of unprofitable shorts. At Roy Disney's urging, the company increased live-action production in films like Make Mine Music (1946), Song of the South (1946), Melody Time (1948), and So Dear to My Heart (1949). The release of the all-animated feature Cinderella (1950) was followed by the studio's first entirely live-action feature, Treasure Island (1950), which began a string of live-action adventures, including The Sword and the Rose (1953) and Twenty-thousand Leagues under the Sea (1954). A documentary series of "True-Life Adventure" films began with Seal Island (1949). Other forms of product diversification included film projects for Firestone and General Motors.

On Christmas Day 1950 NBC broadcast Disney's foray into television--a special on the making of Alice in Wonderland (1951) called One Hour in Wonderland, which Roy Disney credited with adding millions to the box office for the film, stating his belief that "television can be a most powerful selling aid for us, as well as a source of revenue. It will probably be on this premise that we enter television when we do" ("Interim Letter to Shareholders," 31 Mar. 1951).

Disney's entry into television synchronized his activities with those of his business allies. Disney's company acquired a 34 percent interest in Disneyland, Inc., which was to develop an amusement park in Anaheim, California. Plans for the park were commissioned in 1952, and it opened in 1955. The other principal stockholders (later bought out) were American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, Inc.; Western Printing and Lithographing Company; and Walt Disney himself. ABC's financing of Disneyland was contingent upon the Disney production of a weekly "Disneyland" series for the network, which marked an unprecedented commitment by a major Hollywood movie studio to television production. It became ABC's first hit series. Western Printing had held exclusive rights to reproduce Walt Disney's characters for juvenile books, coloring books, and comics since 1932. Disneyland, Walt Disney Productions, the "Disneyland" show on television, and publications based on the films, shows, and theme park would all promote one another. Interlocking business relationships among these leisure industries created interlocking systems of promotion. The Disneyland park and television series became the linchpin of these systems.

Disney developed similar relationships among his ventures and those of the U.S. government and major corporations. Monsanto, Atlantic Richfield, TWA, Douglas Aircraft, American Motors, Pepsi-Cola, and other companies became sponsors of rides or exhibits at Disneyland. As part of the "Atoms for Peace" program, the U.S. Navy and General Dynamics participated in the construction of an "atomic submarine" ride at Disneyland, as well as in the production of the "Disneyland" telefilm Our Friend the Atom (1957), which promoted the use of atomic energy. Government scientists such as Willy Ley and Wernher von Braun cooperated in telefilms publicizing government rocketry programs, such as Man in Space (1956) and Mars and Beyond (1957), as well as with the design of the "Trip to the Moon" ride at Disneyland.

For the State Department during the Cold War, Disneyland became a convenient simulacrum of America. One official observed that there really was no reason for showing foreign dignitaries anything but Disneyland--everything was right there. Disney was also a consultant to the American Exhibition in Moscow and the Brussels World's Fair, where the American pavilion featured Disney's 360-degree film in its Circarama theater. For the New York World's Fair, Disney technicians designed the Ford, General Electric, and Pepsi-Cola/UNICEF "It's a Small World" exhibits, as well as developing the mechanized "Audio-Animatronics" system of presidential effigies used in the Hall of Presidents. Disney was also active in the field of education, being instrumental in the establishment in 1961 of the California Institute of the Arts, to which he was to leave almost half his estate.

Disney's other ventures for ABC included "The Mickey Mouse Club" (1955-1959) and "Zorro" (1957-1959). These and such "Disneyland" broadcasts as the Davy Crockett series led to a bonanza from the licensing of such products as Mickey Mouse Club hats, Zorro swords and capes, and Davy Crockett coonskin caps. Through careful market positioning of his product amid those of major film corporations, Disney focused on family entertainment. Live-action films took historical and often patriotic subjects in Johnny Tremain (1957), Old Yeller (1957), Tonka (1958), The Swiss Family Robinson (1960), and Polyanna (1960). The Shaggy Dog (1959) began a series of low-budget comedies such as The Absent Minded Professor (1961) and Son of Flubber (1963) that became mainstays of the company's production. Popular fantasies like Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959) and Babes in Toyland (1961) led to the blockbuster Mary Poppins (1964). Animation continued in Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1959), One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), The Sword in the Stone (1963), Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966), and The Jungle Book (1967).

In 1961 Disney changed his broadcasting alliance from ABC to NBC with "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" and the less successful "Disneyland after Dark" series. With more than one-third of corporate income coming from the leisure park, Disney began development of the Mineral King resort. Stalled by ecological concerns, Disney initiated a new theme park near Orlando, Florida, in 1964. The project was awarded municipality rights by the Florida legislature, giving it unprecedented powers for a corporation. This Disney World park was to be built in conjunction with the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). In Disney's words, EPCOT was to be "a controlled community, a showcase for American industry and research, schools, cultural and educational opportunities" (quoted in Holliss and Sibley, p. 87). While Roy Disney was to supervise the completion of Walt Disney World, which opened in 1971, final realization of the EPCOT project after Walt Disney's death in Burbank, California, of acute circulatory collapse following lung cancer bore little resemblance to the original vision.

Years after his death, Walt Disney retains a centrality in American culture granted to few twentieth-century figures, "because of the manner in which his work in film and television is connected to other projects in urban planning, ecological politics, product merchandising, United States domestic and global policy formation, technological innovation, and constructions of national character" (Eric Smoodin, ed., "Introduction: How to Read Walt Disney," Disney Discourse: Producing the Magic Kingdom [1994], pp. 4-5). Assessments are deeply divided. Earlier evaluations of Disney hailed him as a patriot, folk artist, and popularizer of culture. More recently, Disney has been regarded as a paradigm of American imperialism and intolerance, as well as a debaser of culture. Publications on Disney, ranging from company-sponsored hagiographies to fanciful exposés, are numerous enough to be categorized as an industry of their own. Disney remains the central figure in the history of animation. Through technological innovations and alliances with governments and corporations, he transformed a minor studio in a marginal form of communication into a multinational leisure industry giant. Despite his critics, his vision of a modern, corporate utopia as an extension of traditional American values has possibly gained greater currency in the years after his death.

Correspondence and company records are at the Walt Disney Archive in Burbank, Calif. A biography is Bob Thomas, Walt Disney: An American Original (1976). Considerations of Walt Disney's work can be found in Robert D. Feild, The Art of Walt Disney (1942); Christopher Finch, The Art of Walt Disney (1973); Richard Holliss and Brian Sibley, The Disney Studio Story (1988); Mark Langer, "Why the Atom Is Our Friend: Disney, General Dynamics and the USS Nautilus," Art History 18, no. 1 (Mar. 1995): 63-96; Russell Merritt and J. B. Kaufman, Walt in Wonderland: The Silent Films of Walt Disney (1993); Richard Shale, Donald Duck Joins Up: The Walt Disney Studio during World War II (1987); and Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life (1981). Obituaries are in the New York Times, 16 Dec. 1966, and Variety, 21 Dec. 1966.