Disney family

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Disney Family
Walt Disney and Dr. Wernher von Braun - GPN-2000-000060 (cropped).jpg
Walt Disney
Roy E. Disney (cropped).jpg
Roy E. Disney
Abigail Disney 2015.jpg
Abigail Disney
Current region Southern California, U.S.
EtymologyOriginally "d'Isigny" (transl.from Isigny)
Place of origin Isigny-sur-Mer, France
Founder Elias Disney
Estate(s)Disney Storybook Mansion [1]

The Disney family is an American family that gained prominence when brothers Roy and Walt began creating films through the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, today known as mass media and entertainment conglomerate The Walt Disney Company. The Disney family's influence on American culture grew with successful feature films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 and the opening of the Disneyland Amusement park in 1955. Other Disney family members have been involved in the management and administration of the Disney company, filmmaking, and philanthropy.

Contents

Background

Effigy of Sir William D'Isney in the parish church of Norton Disney, Lincolnshire Sir William D'Isney - geograph.org.uk - 1395506.jpg
Effigy of Sir William D'Isney in the parish church of Norton Disney, Lincolnshire

The family name, originally d'Isigny ("from Isigny"), is of Norman French derivation, coming from the town of Isigny-sur-Mer. The Disneys, among others who took names from the Normans, settled in England and gave their name to Norton Disney in Lincolnshire. Some of the family moved to Ireland around the 11th century. [2]

Elias Disney

Elias Charles Disney (1859–1941) was born in the rural village of Bluevale, Province of Canada (now Ontario, Canada), to Irish Protestant immigrants Kepple Elias Disney (1832–1891) and Mary Richardson (1838–1909). Both parents had emigrated from Ireland to Canada as children, accompanying their parents. [3]

Disney married Flora Call (1868–1938) on January 1, 1888, in Kismet, Lake County, Florida. [4] The couple had five children: [5]

Roy Disney family

Roy Oliver Disney (June 24, 1893 December 20, 1971) [15] was an American businessman and co-founder of The Walt Disney Company. Roy was married to Edna Francis from April 1925 until his death. [16] Roy's nephew Charles Elias Disney chose to name his son Charles Roy Disney in Roy's honor. [17]

Their son, Roy Edward Disney (January 10, 1930 – December 16, 2009 [18] ), was a longtime senior executive for the Walt Disney Company and the last member of the Disney family to be actively involved in the company. Disney was often compared to his uncle and father. He had two sons (one, Tim Disney, a documentary film producer), and two daughters; [19] his daughter Abigail Disney is a documentary filmmaker. [17] [20]

Walt Disney family

Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American entrepreneur, animator, writer, voice actor and film producer who cofounded Disney Brothers Studio with his brother Roy. He received 59 Academy Award nominations, including 22 awards: both totals are records. [21]

He married Lillian Bounds in 1925. [22] They had two daughters, bearing Diane (December 18, 1933 – November 19, 2013) and after, reportedly, suffering several miscarriages, [23] [24] adopting Sharon (in December 1936, born six weeks previously [25] – February 16, 1993).

Diane married Ronald William Miller, who became president of Walt Disney Productions in 1980 and CEO in 1983, before being ousted by Roy E. Disney. [26]

Sharon, [27] who became an actress, [28] had three children from two marriages, to Robert Brown [29] and later, to William Lund, [30] and died, of complications of breast cancer, [31] [32] February 16, 1993. [33] [34] [35]

Legacy

In 2001, the Walt Disney Hometown Museum, housing a collection of memorabilia from the Disney family, many of which were donated by the family of Ruth Flora Disney Beecher, Walt's sister, opened, in the restored Santa Fe Railway Depot in Marceline, Missouri. [14] [36]

In 2009, the Walt Disney Family Museum, designed by Disney's daughter Diane and her son (Walt's grandson) Walter E. D. Miller, opened in the Presidio of San Francisco. [37] The museum was established to promote and inspire creativity and innovation and celebrate and study the life of Walt Disney. [38]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walt Disney</span> American animator, producer and entrepreneur (1901–1966)

Walter Elias Disney was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards earned (22) and nominations (59) by an individual. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress and have also been named as some of the greatest films ever by the American Film Institute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oswald the Lucky Rabbit</span> Early animated Disney character

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walt Disney Studios (Burbank)</span> Walt Disney Corporate HQ

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elias Disney</span> Father of Walt and Roy Disney

Elias Charles Disney was an Irish-Canadian-American construction worker and entrepreneur. He was best known as the father of Roy and Walt Disney, co-founders of The Walt Disney Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy O. Disney</span> American businessman (1893–1971)

Roy Oliver Disney was an American businessman who co-founded The Walt Disney Company with his younger brother Walt Disney. He also served as the company's first CEO and was the father of Roy E. Disney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lillian Disney</span> Wife of Walt Disney (1899–1997)

Lillian Marie Disney was an American ink artist at the Walt Disney Animation Studios and the wife of Walt Disney from 1925 until his death in 1966. Born in Spalding, Idaho, Disney graduated from high school in Lapwai before moving to Lewiston to attend college. She left Idaho in 1923 to move to southern California, where she met future husband Walt while working as a secretary for his company.

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Eyvind Earle was an American artist, author and illustrator, noted for his contribution to the background illustration and styling of Disney's animated films in the 1950s. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rahr West Art Museum, Phoenix Art Museum and Arizona State University Art Museum have purchased Earle's works for their permanent collections. His works have also been shown in many one-man exhibitions throughout the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disney Legends</span> Award given by the Walt Disney Company

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<i>The Skeleton Dance</i> 1929 film

The Skeleton Dance is a 1929 Silly Symphony animated short subject with a comedy horror theme. It was produced and directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks. In the film, four human skeletons dance and make music around a spooky graveyard—a modern film example of medieval European "danse macabre" imagery. It is the first entry in the Silly Symphony series. In 1993, to coincide with the opening of Mickey's Toontown in Disneyland, a shortened cover of the cartoon's music was arranged to be featured in the land's background ambiance. The short's copyright was renewed in 1957, and as a published work from 1929 it will enter the US public domain on January 1, 2025.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Hahn</span> American film producer and director (born 1955)

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<i>Three Little Pigs</i> (film) 1933 short animated film directed by Burt Gillett

Three Little Pigs is a 1933 animated short film released by United Artists, produced by Walt Disney and directed by Burt Gillett. Based on the fable of the same name, the Silly Symphony won the 1934 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. The short cost $22,000 and grossed $250,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Retta Scott</span> American artist

Retta Scott was an American artist. She was the first woman to receive screen credit as an animator at the Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Ruth Irene Tompson was an American camera technician, animation checker and supercentenarian. She was known for her work on animated features at The Walt Disney Company and was declared a Disney Legend in 2000.

Events in 1911 in animation.

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