The story of Walt Disney and his brand, starting with Mickey Mouse and considered the master of cartoons

Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago's Hermosa neighborhood. His real name is Walter Elias Disney. He was one of five children born to his mother, Flora, and to his father, Elias Disney. In 1906, when Disney was four years old, his family moved to a farm in Marceline, Missouri, where his uncle Robert had bought new land. After he moved, he began copying and drawing comics from the newspaper his father was reading.

At the age of 10, he moved with his family to Kansas City, where he began working at a job his uncle found at the train station. His job was to sell newspapers and various groceries along with his brother Roy. This job, which he held for six years, before and after school, allowed him to contribute to the family budget and be close to the trains he loved so much.

Disney, who started drawing at the art course he attended at the age of 14, left his education at the age of 16, while going to school and the Art Institute of Chicago on the other. He decided to join the army to fight the Germans. However, he was denied as a minor. Disney made a radical decision and applied to the Red Cross and was sent to France as an ambulance driver. He returned to Kansas City in 1919.

Returning to Kansas, Disney wanted to become a cartoonist. First, he started working at the job that his brother Roy Oliver found for him at Disney's Pesmen-Rubin Art Workshop. But not yet a year, he was laid off. Then, he founded a company called Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists with Ub Iwerks, a cartoon artist he met there. But because they didn't have enough customers, the company went bankrupt within a month. 

His true talent for animation was his turn to Hollywood in 1923, when he came to Hollywood and opened a studio in his uncle Robert's garage. The first cartoon Disney planned to bring to life was "Alice in Wonderland", which consisted of a little girl and accompanying animated characters, which he had almost completed halfway through.

Disney and his brother Roy formed Disney Brothers Studio‍, which later became The Walt Disney Company, to produce the films. In July 1924, Disney also hired Iwerks and persuaded him to move from Kansas City to Hollywood. In 1926, the first official Walt Disney Studio was established at 2725 Hyperion Street, which was demolished in 1940.

Despite the success of the Alice series, the lack of demand led Walt Disney to work on a new character: Oswalt the Lucky Rabbit. Then Disney and Iwerks developed the Mickey Mouse, inspired by a pet mouse. Disney's original choice of name was Mortimer Mouse, but his wife Lillian thought it was too flashy and suggested Mickey Mouse instead. Mickey Mouse first appeared in May 1928 as a single test screening of the short Airplane Madness.

Disney studios have signed a contract with Columbia Pictures to distribute the increasingly popular Mickey Mouse cartoons, including internationally. Disney and his team would also introduce new cartoon stars such as Pluto in 1930, Goofy in 1932, and Donald Duck in 1934.

In 1937, he turned Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs into an American fairy tale, which he described as the perfect romance-filled story. A huge investment of one and a half million dollars, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released in 1938. The movie brought many Oscar awards to Disney.

In 1940, Disney realized the idea of establishing a private park where its employees could have fun with their children, and within 5 years the Disneyland project was created. Disney, to the engineers working on this project; “I want Disneyland to be the most incredible place in the world and to have a train in it that travels the entire park,” he said.

In early 1950, Disney produced Cinderella, the studio's first animated feature film in eight years. It was popular with critics and theatergoers. It cost $2.2 million to produce and made about $8 million in its first year. In 1955, the first Disneyland amusement park opened in Anaheim, California, south of Los Angeles. Then, the second amusement park was opened in Orlando, Florida. Parks were also opened in Paris and Tokyo.

Walt Disney has been a heavy smoker since the First World War. He did not smoke filter cigarettes and smoked a pipe as a young man. In early November 1966, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and was treated with cobalt. On November 30, he felt unwell and was taken by ambulance from his home to St. Joseph Hospital. He died here on December 15, 1966, at the age of 65, due to circulatory failure caused by cancer. As per his will, his remains were cremated two days later and his ashes were interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

After Disney's death, his brother Roy delayed his retirement to take full control of the Disney companies. He shifted the focus of the project from a town to an attraction. At the opening in 1971, Roy dedicated Walt Disney World to his brother. Walt Disney World expanded with the opening of the Epcot Center in 1982. Walt Disney's vision of a functional city has been replaced by a park that looks more like a permanent world's fair.

The Walt Disney Family Museum, designed by her daughter Diane and son Walter ED Miller, with Lillian Bounds, whom she married on July 13, 1925, opened in 2009 at the Presidio of San Francisco. Thousands of works from Disney's life and career are on display, including the numerous awards he has received. In 2014, Disney theme parks worldwide welcomed approximately 134 million visitors.

Walt Disney, who managed to hold the record for being the person who won the most Oscars even after his death with 22 Oscar Awards from 59 nominations, also had the record for being the person who was nominated for the most Oscars.

After Disney's death, the company; it continued to grow with 40 hotels, 11 parks, 2 water parks, 8 large studios, 6 record companies and 11 television channels. The Walt Disney Company, founded by Walt Disney with his brother Roy, is today the world's largest media company in the entertainment industry.