Tom Hanks as Walt Disney
Walt Disney is one of greatest film icons as he and his studio have been thrilling film-going audiences for generations.
Disney is set to be portrayed on the big screen for the first time this week in Saving Mr Banks; being played by the fantastic Tom Hanks.
Do you think you know everything about Walt Disney? We look at some fascinating facts about this cinema giant.
- Walter Elias Disney was born almost 113 years ago (December 5, 1901).
- Walt grew up with his family in Chicago, Illinois with his parents Elias and Flora Call Disney and brother Roy Disney.
- Walt Disney was the original voice behind Mickey Mouse.
- Mickey Mouse, an iconic image of the Disney kingdom, was originally provided by Walt Disney himself. Due to being busy running the growing company and his voice being hoarsened from smoking, he handed the role over to James McDonald in 1947.
- Mortimer Mouse was the original name gave to Mickey but Walt’s wife, Lillian, thought it sounded ‘pompous’ and Mortimer was later the name of Mickey’s rival mouse for Minnie.
- Walt Disney received a special Academy Award in 1932 for his creation of Mickey Mouse.
- Disney was the first studio to make a feature length animated film in Technicolor... Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was dubbed 'Disney's Folly' by many people in the film industry, with many people believing the project would fail. Of course, it was a huge triumph and changed animation for ever.
- The last two films Walt Disney had active roles in making were;
The Jungle Book, Winnie The Pooh and The Blustery Day.
- One urban legend states that Disney was cryonically frozen
and his frozen corpse stored beneath the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and Disneyland - however this is nothing other than myth, Disney’s remains were cremated in December 1966
- 10,000 people attended the opening for Disney Land whereas now on 47,000 people visit daily
- It would take you 68 years to sleep for one night in each of the bedrooms at the Disney World Resorts
- Walt Disney sometime referred to himself as; Retlaw Elias Yensid or Retlaw Yensid as an alias, both are his real name, only backwards. Similarly he names the sorcerer in the movie Fantasia Yen Sid, again, Disney reversed
- Walt Disney pursued author P.L Travers for twenty years to get the rights to Mary Poppins - it would go on to become one of Disney's most enduring films.
Saving Mr Banks is out now.
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