Walt Disney

Walt Disney was a businessman as well as an artist. This in itself is pretty significant, as most artists don't seem to be happy as business people. The majority of artists that we have spoken to agree.

In 1923, Disney got a contract to make several cartoons. He and his brother, Roy, moved to Los Angeles to set up the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. Here they made the "Alice Comedies" and "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit." Things took off in November of 1928 when Mickey and Minnie Mouse made their debut in "Steamboat Willie." This was the movie that made the characters and their creator famous.

Disney experimented with Technicolor and animation styles. In 1932, he won an Academy Award in the best cartoon category for "Flowers and Trees." It was the first of 32 Academy Awards which Disney would win in his life.

"Snow White," which took three years to make, was released in 1937. The first live-action Disney movie, "Treasure Island," came out in 1950. By then, Walt Disney could do anything he wanted. He made Disneyland in 1955 and many wonderful, enjoyable movies like "Cinderella," "Sleeping Beauty," and many others which appeared both in theaters and on television. His Disneyland television series ran for 29 years, the record for a prime time show.

Walt Disney accomplished many of his dreams. Before his death in 1966, he purchased the land for Disneyworld in Florida, but he never lived to see the park completed.