Walt Disney Biography

When recalling iconic figures that have left their mark throughout the history of the cinema, a popular category to look upon is that of directors who have lead the cinema towards the thriving industry it is now. One director that really made an impact was Walt Disney, a director dedicated to making his dreams a reality. “Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was born on December 5, 1901, in Hermosa, Illinois.” (Walt Disney Biography 2017.) Growing up with a passion for drawing, Disney took a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18, where he soon meets cartoonist Ubbe Eert Iwwerks. He then went on to experiment with hand-drawn cell animation and decided to open his own animation business which produced cartoons that were screened at local movie

While growing as a company and studio in 1925, Disney hired an ink-and-paint artist named Lillian Bounds. Disney and Bounds soon became romantically involved and would go on to getting married and having two daughters. Although married and with two children, Disney and his business were not slowed down and continued to grow with the help of his right-hand character, Mickey Mouse. This iconic character was part of Steamboat Willie, one of the first animations that incorporated sound and music which turned out to be an instant sensation. Following this success, Disney began releasing full length animated films at the pace of about one per year, starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. His style, as well as the business, were a major success and continued to grow gradually, but as the business grew so did Disney’s ambitions. Expansion into a theme park based on customer experience and the characters of his beloved show and movies was the next major step that Disney pursued. This vision became a reality and in July 1955 in Anaheim, California the first Disney theme park, Disneyland opened. A place where families could explore, enjoy rides, and meet the Disney characters quickly became a wild success. It was while Disney was planning for his next theme park that he was diagnosed with lung cancer, which would take his life on December 15, 1966. After his death Disney

First of all, animation had been seen before but never in the style that Walt Disney delivered. Without Disney it is hard to say whether or not animation would have taken off the way it did, he transformed it from a gimmick into a style of film that could clearly and expressively captivate audiences in the form of movies. Other contributions include his work ethic and approach to filmmaking which were unheard of at the time. While several other studios and movie businesses then were more interested in pumping out a product that could be thrown at audiences, Disney had an extremely different approach. He believed in making a movie or animation based on getting it perfect and incorporating universal ideas that could be felt by everyone. While this did cause some financial stresses at certain junctures with the business, at several points when his films weren’t initially successful the company would face debt, this style ultimately paid off gloriously. Others would follow his style, realizing taking time to invest in the product (movie) was worth the time when it came to movie popularity, audience attendance, and especially