Walter Elias "Walt" Disney (/ˈdɪzni/; December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American entrepreneur, cartoonist, animator, voice actor, and film producer. He was a prominent figure within the American animation industry and throughout the world, and is regarded as a cultural icon, known for his influence and contributions to entertainment during the 20th century. As a Hollywood business mogul, he and his brother Roy O. Disney co-founded The Walt Disney Company.

As an animator and entrepreneur, Disney was particularly noted as a filmmaker and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his staff created numerous famous fictional characters including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy. Disney himself was the original voice for Mickey. During his lifetime, he won 22 Academy Awards and received four honorary Academy Awards from a total of 59 nominations, including a record of four in one year, giving him more Oscar awards and nominations than any other individual in history. Disney also won seven Emmy Awards and gave his name to the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in the U.S., as well as the international resorts Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Shanghai Disney Resort.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was a filmmaker and co-founder of the entertainment empire bearing his name.

Walt Disney may also refer to:

See also

Walt Disney is a documentary film created by PBS for the American Experience program. The two-part, four-hour documentary premiered on September 14, 2015 and centers on the life, times and legacy of Walt Disney. According to Sarah Colt, director of the documentary film, the biggest challenge was "capturing the truth of the man who had such [an] outsized influence and notoriety ... People think they know him but in reality they don't know him ... He was a human being with many layers of complexity." Rob Lowman, of the Los Angeles Daily News, described "Disneyesque" as being "synonymous with a specific artistic style and, eventually, a fantasy world."Richard Sherman, a Disney songwriter, recalled that "Disney was never driven by a desire for wealth or fame. He wanted to be seen as a master storyteller ... He got great joy out of making people happy with his movies."

Participants

The documentary film is narrated by Oliver Platt and includes the following participants (alphabetized by last name):

Walt Disney Studios may refer to:

See also

The Walt Disney Studios is an American film studio, one of the four major businesses of The Walt Disney Company and the main component of its Studio Entertainment segment. The studio, best known for its multi-faceted film division, which is one of Hollywood's major film studios, is based at the eponymous Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.

The Studios generated an estimated income of $1.549 billion during the 2014 fiscal year. The studio entertainment business alone (live-action and animated motion pictures, direct-to-video content, musical recordings and live stage plays) brought in $5.83 billion in 2012.

The Walt Disney Studios is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

Background

Walt Disney Productions began production of their first feature-length animated film in 1934. Taking three years to complete, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, premiered in December 1937 and became highest-grossing film of that time by 1939. In the 1940s, Disney began experimenting with full-length live-action films, with the introduction of hybrid live action-animated films such as The Reluctant Dragon (1941) and Song of the South (1946). That same decade, the studio began producing nature documentaries with the release of Seal Island (1948), the first of the True-Life Adventures series and a subsequent Academy Award winner for Best Live-Action Short Film.

The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney, is an American diversifiedmultinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. It is the world's second largest media conglomerate in terms of revenue, after Comcast. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, and established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and theme parks. The company also operated under the names The Walt Disney Studio, then Walt Disney Productions. Taking on its current name in 1986, it expanded its existing operations and also started divisions focused upon theater, radio, music, publishing, and online media.

In addition, Disney has since created corporate divisions in order to market more mature content than is typically associated with its flagship family-oriented brands. The company is best known for the products of its film studio, The Walt Disney Studios, which is today one of the largest and best-known studios in American cinema. Disney also owns and operates the ABC broadcast television network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, A+E Networks, and ABC Family; publishing, merchandising, music, and theatre divisions; and owns and licenses 14 theme parks around the world. The company has been a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since May 6, 1991. An early and well-known cartoon creation of the company, Mickey Mouse, is a primary symbol of The Walt Disney Company.

Coordinates: 34°09′25″N 118°19′30″W / 34.15694°N 118.32500°W / 34.15694; -118.32500

The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, United States, serves as the corporate headquarters for The Walt Disney Company media conglomerate. Besides housing offices for the company's many divisions, the Walt Disney Studios' 51-acre (20.6 ha) studio lot also contains several sound stages, a backlot and other production facilities for Walt Disney Studios' motion picture production.

The Studios are one of two major film studios that do not currently offer backlot tours to the general public, the other being 20th Century Fox. For several years, Adventures by Disney has offered tours of the studio, but only as an integral component of their six-day, five-night Southern California tour package. The other way to tour the studio is to join the official Disney D23 fan club, which offers tours to members every few months. The studio used to open to the public once a year in November on the Saturday before Thanksgiving for its annual Magical Holiday Faire craft sale, but stopped hosting the Faire around 2003.