Inspiring Biography of Walt Disney

Walt Disney is a co-founder of The Walt Disney Company.

He is also the creator of some of the most famous cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, etc.

Introduction:

Walt Disney was born on 5 December 1901 to Flora Call Disney and Elias Disney in Illinois, USA.

He was born into a very poor family and many times he even struggled for meals.

His parents were constantly changing places to find suitable livelihood.

His father was finding it very difficult to settle in a single job.

At last, he started his own business but unfortunately, he failed miserably in it.

Then, according to the suggestion of one of his friends, his father decided to do farming.

Connecting with nature-

During this phase little Walt Disney grew bonds with nature and animals, which later helped him to draw various cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, etc.

Due to natural calamities like drought,etc. his father failed in farming, which forced him to migrate to Kansas City, where he faced unemployment problems.

Finally, Walt Disney was given a newspaper delivery job.

His job was to deliver newspapers in the very early morning on his bicycle to far flung places.

But his father assigned this arduous task to Walt Disney and his brother Roy.

Little Disney executed this task satisfactorily by running as he was unable to ride a bicycle and he did not fear of the cold, heavy load of newspapers and loneliness.  

Walt Disney was sometimes scolded by customers and management for even a little delay in delivering newspapers.

Financial struggles-

Due to financial problems, Disney’s mother started selling milk and yogurt in nearby villages by driving a very heavy cart.

Walt Disney helped his mother in this work, after which he used to attend school, but because of performing all these exhausting tasks, he used to sleep in his class room which resulted in poor grades.

After returning from school he used to work for a grocery store till evening. Even after working so hard, he was constantly rebuked by his father.

Even after doing so much work he never compromised on drawing cartoons and used to draw cartoons whenever possible in his free time.

Appreciation-

Walt Disney used to draw cartoons in his nearby saloon, for which the hair-cutter offered him free haircuts and money, and he used to frame Disney’s drawings on his wall, which drew a lot of appreciation from his customers.

This recognition spiked the will power of little Walt Disney.

As his family experienced hardships, he decided to help his family by doing something big.

So, he started to draw cartoons and exhibit them to the villagers.

But he was subjected to great humiliation for his work.

Walt Disney tasted his first success at the age of seven, when he drew the cartoon of his neighbor’s horse, which was appreciated and bought for cash by his neighbor.

On one lucky day, a clothes tailor noticed his work and ordered for his cartoons to be printed on his clothes.

The clothes were an instant hit.

He also used to sell popcorn, cool drinks and water bottles in local trains for earning money, with which he joined Kansas City Art Institute for weekend art classes.

After which Walt Disney joined as a cartoonist in an art studio. 

But unfortunately, he was fired from his job by stating that he lacked creativity and imagination which hurt him very severely because he never compromised with drawing cartoons.

Starting his own company-

Later on, Walt Disney started a company by the name Laugh-O-Gram Studio, but due to financial problems it went bankrupt.  

Fortunately, his brother Roy helped him with 2000 dollars, with which he founded Disney Brothers Studio, later it was renamed to Walt Disney Company.

His company became very profitable because of which he provided employment to many people.

Walt Disney rose to fame after producing SnowLight for which he toiled hard for more than two years.

Later he went to Hollywood, where he produced many masterpieces like Alice in Wonderland which became sensational hits.

Walt Disney was honored with more than 950 awards for his contributions.

He was nominated for an Oscar 59 times and for 22 times he won an Oscar.

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Featured image credit- Boy Scouts of America/Wikimedia Commons