Walter Elias Disney

Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was a twenty-two time Academy Award winning American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, visionary and philanthropist. His name is a household word among people who have little or no knowledge of American film. It is even familiar to children.

He was the son of Flora and Elias Disney, and had three brothers and one sister. As the co-founder (with his brother Roy O. Disney) of Walt Disney Productions, Walt became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. The corporation he co-founded, now known as The Walt Disney Company, today has annual revenues of approximately U.S. $30 billion (2007).

Walt Disney is particularly noted for being a film producer and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He was nominated for 48 Academy awards and 7 Emmys, holding the record for most Oscar nominations.

In 1925 Walt was married to Lillian Bounds, who at the time worked in the Ink & Paint department of the studio, and they remained married for the rest of his life. They had two daughters, Diane and Sharon; Sharon was adopted although Walt was quick to rebuke anyone who made a point of this distinction and always treated her as if she were his natural born daughter.

Disney and his staff created a number of the world's most famous productions, including the one many consider Disney's alter ego, Mickey Mouse. He is also well-known as the namesake of the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in the United States, France, Japan and China.

Walt Disney died of lung cancer on December 15, 1966, a few years prior to the opening of his Walt Disney World dream project in Orlando, Florida.