Walter Elias Disney was an American entrepreneur, animator, writer, voice actor, and also a film producer. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. He developed an early interest in drawing. He took art classes as a boy and got a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. He moved to California in the early 1920s and set up the Disney Brothers Studio with his brother Roy which became one of the best-known motion-picture production companies in the world.
Disney was an innovative animator and created the cartoon character Mickey Mouse. Throughout his life, Disney’s father was Elias Disney who is an Irish-Canadian. His mother named Flora Call Disney was a German-American. Disney was one of five children consists of four boys and a girl. Walter Elias Disney has one of the most inspirational stories ever that proves hard work did pay off in the end no matter what.
His family was so poor that he had to deliver 1300 newspapers a day. Then his father would take away all the money. His brothers ran away because they were fed up with the hardships at home. At a very young age, he started to draw and paint, and sell pictures to relatives and neighbors. Then he attended drawing and photography classes in McKinley School, Chicago. He also made cartoons for the school paper.
At age of 19, in Kansas City, Walt started his lifelong dream, his own animation company in 1920. He had little money that he had to live with friends. But he failed to sell a single cartoon and his company went bankrupt. He worked as a cartoonist in a newspaper and the newspaper editor fired him claiming him lazy and a person without any creativity and imagination.
To pursue his childhood dream, he left Kansas City for Hollywood. He started an animation studio in an old garage. He worked for the next 5 years without any income. Mr. Walt finally tasted success with a short film “Alice in Cartooonland” and “Oswald the Rabbit” in 1928. But he lost the copyright to his own characters in 1928.
Again the cartoonist tried with a new character. But again the audience was not impressed with his film. Still, he made a second film. But couldn’t find a distributor. Finally, in the third attempt, he got success. His character Micky Mouse became a hit and brought the great game to him. He dreamt of it and made it a reality.
The movie “Snow White And Seven Dwarves” was considered a masterpiece. It made $134 equivalent of today. The movie was the most successful film in 1938. Following the success, he started working on different characters of Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and Pluto Cartoon Series.
He opened Walt Disney Studios in Burbank in 1939. In 1955, he opened the Disneyland Theme Park, which is famous all over the world. He tasted failure many times but he did not quit. After falling down, he got up with a lot more energy because of his patience and hard work. He believed in his dream unquestionably and worked hard for the same.
Sources: Motivation N You.