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Walt Disney Productions Staff
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Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Hermosa, Illinois. After driving an ambulance during the final months of World War I, he went to work as a commercial artist in Kansas City, where he met Ub Iwerks, another artist who became his lifelong collaborator. In 1923 they moved to Hollywood where, with Disney's older brother, Roy, they began the Disney Brothers' Studio. They produced a series of cartoons called Alice in Cartoonland and invented a character called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. In 1928, he created Mickey Mouse the star of two silent cartoons, Plane Crazy and Gallopin' Gaucho, and then Steamboat Willie, in which Disney himself supplied Mickey's voice.
In 1929, he created Silly Symphonies, which featured Mickey's newly created friends, including Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto. One of the most popular cartoons, Flowers and Trees, was the first to be produced in color and to win an Oscar. In 1937, he made the first feature-length animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which won a total of eight Oscars. In the 1950s, the Walt Disney Company began to make live-action films like Treasure Island and Mary Poppins. He then expanded into the production of nature documentaries and in television series like Zorro, Davy Crockett, The Mickey Mouse Club, and Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. During his lifetime, he won 22 Academy Awards and was the founder of theme parks Disneyland and Walt Disney World. He died from lung cancer on December 15, 1966 at the age of 65.
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