The creator of Mickey Mouse and founder of Disneyland and Walt Disney World was born in Chicago,Illinois,on December 5,1901.His father,Elias Disney,was an Irish-Canadian.His mother,Flora Call Disney,was of German-American descent.Walt was one of five children,four boys and a girl.
Raised on a farm near Marceline,Missouri,Walt became interested in drawing at an early age,selling his first sketches to neighbors when he was only seven years old.At McKinley High School in Chicago,Disney divided his attention between drawing and photography,contributing both to the school paper.At night he attended the Academy of Fine Arts.
During the fall of 1918,Disney attempted to enlist for military service.Rejected because he was only 16 years of age,Walt joined the Red Cross and was sent overseas,where he spent a year driving an ambulance and chauffeuring Red Cross officials.His ambulance was covered from stem to stem,not with stock camouflage,but with drawings and cartoons.
After the war,Walt returned to Kansas City,where he began his career as an advertising cartoonist.Here,in 1920,he created and marketed his first original animated cartoons,and later perfected a new method for combining live-action and animation.