Walt Disney is an American icon who turned his dream into one of the largest companies in the country. The Walt Disney Company owns several different networks on top of having its own movies and theme parks. All of this has turned it into a multi-billion company and that’s not even including the merchandise that’s sold every year. But the company wouldn’t be what it is today without the memorable characters Walt created and the ones everyone at the animation studio is creating now.
This success didn’t come easily though. Walt went through a really tough time before his studio got any recognition and income. It took almost a decade before he got any success, but he didn’t give up no matter what happened. Here are 10 surprising facts about the legendary man.
10 He Grew Up On A Farm The First Few Years Of His Life
Walt was born in Chicago in 1901, but spent a lot of his childhood on a farm in Marceline, Missouri. He was only there until he was about 10-years-old though. According to History, “It was in Marceline—a small-town community Disney remembered as an adult as having been idylli—that he first received encouragement for his burgeoning interest in drawing, from both an aunt as well as a neighbor who was a retired doctor. However, Disney’s father had difficulty making a living in Marceline and sold the farm in 1910; the following year, the family relocated to Kansas City.”
9 He Helped His Father Deliver Newspapers When He Was 10
Since Walt’s father had a hard time making money with a farm, he decided to go into the newspaper business when he moved the Disney family to Kansas City. According to History, “Disney’s father purchased a newspaper route and for the next six years Walt helped with the deliveries, working before and after school and on weekends.” It wasn’t exactly an easy childhood—no matter what the weather was Walt had to deliver newspapers all over the city by foot.
8 He Dropped Out Of High School
In 1917, Walt’s father got a job in Chicago, so Walt and his siblings had to move again. By this time he was a teenager and instead of changing schools again he decided the best thing for him to do was drop out. “Walt dropped out of high school at 16 (he had been an inattentive student but drew constantly) and, with the United States fighting World War I, joined the Red Cross Ambulance Corps by forging his birth certificate in order to meet the Corps’ minimum age requirement of 17,” according to History. He spent about two years working for the Red Cross until he was discharged in 1919.
7 His First Studio Went Bankrupt
After Walt was discharged from Red Cross, he worked as an apprentice artist for a few months until he was let go. A couple years later, he started his own studio in 1921 called Laugh-O-Gram Studio with his friend and fellow animator, Ub Iwerks. But the "Laugh-O-Grams" didn’t make that much money and the studio only lasted for about two years until Walt had to declare bankruptcy in 1923.
6 He Worked With The Love Of His Life
Walt made the huge decision to move to L.A. with the little money he had after his first studio went bankrupt. He started a new studio in Burbank, California with his brother, Roy, and that’s where he met the love of his life. According to PopSugar, “His wife, Lillian, was a secretary and inker of animation cels at the Walt Disney Studio.” Walt and Lillian got married in 1925 and were happily married for 41 years. They had two daughters together named Diane and Sharon.
5 Oswald The Lucky Rabbit Was His First Successful Character (Until The Rights For His Creation Were Taken Away)
Most people think Mickey was Walt’s first successful character, but it turns out the famous mouse was his second one. “After producing various short, animated cartoons, the studio started making a series in 1927 about a character Walt had developed called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. However, the next year, in what was a major blow, Walt lost the rights to his popular creation and many of his employees were poached in a corporate dispute,” according to History. That was another hard time in his life. But that led him to create the character that made the Walt Disney Company what it is today.
4 Then He Created His Most Iconic Character
Walt realized he needed a new character that represented everything he stood for after corporate business tried to take his company away. On the train home, he thought of the character that would change the rest of his life and his company forever—Mickey Mouse. In May 1928, Mickey starred in his first silent cartoon short, Plane Crazy. The studio it premiered in didn’t like the short film though, so Walt and his team made another one called The Gallopin’ Gaucho. The studio didn’t like that one either. Mickey Mouse finally made his public debut six months later in the short film, Steamboat Willie, which was the first cartoon with synchronized sound effects. And every time you watch a Disney Animation Studios film you get to see a few seconds of it before the film starts.
3 Mickey Was (Possibly) Inspired By A Pet Mouse He Had At His First Studio
It’s unclear exactly how Walt got the idea for a mouse, but many people think he’s based on a pet mouse that he had at Laugh-O-Gram Studio. His biographies say that he had a tame mouse around the studio and that would sometimes appear on his desk. That might be the reason why his legendary character is a mouse. It makes sense why he would choose a character based on the pet that was there for him when he didn’t have anything. His friend, Ub Iwerks, refined Mickey’s look after Walt told him he should be a mouse and his wife, Lillian, thought of his name.
2 His First Feature Film Was 'Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs'
Snow White wasn’t just the first Disney princess—Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was also Walt Disney Animation Studios’ first feature film. According to PopSugar, “It was released in 1937 after years in the making and was Hollywood's first full-length animated film. It also cost an unheard of $1,499,000 during the depths of the Great Depression. But it was a huge success and is still considered one of the greatest feats in cinematic history.”
1 He’s The Only One To Ever Win 26 Oscars
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first feature film to win Walt an Oscar and led to him making Oscar history. He won a special Oscar for the movie. “At the 1938 Academy Awards, Disney was presented with an honorary Oscar—one normal-size statuette and seven miniature ones for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” according to PopSugar. He won 26 Oscars and was nominated for 59 more in his lifetime, making him the holder of the most Oscars ever.