Walt Disney: An Influential Role Model

Many people think of Walt Disney as just the creator of television shows. While this is true, there is so much more that he has contributed to the world of entertainment. He has drastically changed animation techniques, and he is a role model for all people to look up to. Walt Disney was an influential producer and innovator because of his early life successes, animation and entertainment expertise, and long lasting legacy throughout history. Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. However, most of his early years were spent in Marceline, Missouri, with his four other siblings. This is where he began developing an interest for drawing. Walt would also neglect his homework just to sketch and draw pictures. After he drew …show more content…
His uncle, Mike Martin, was a train engineer. This was part of the reason why Walt suddenly became interested in trains. Another reason was because there were train tracks located near Walt’s house. He would wait and listen to see if he could hear them coming. In a biography written by Just Disney, they quote, “Walt would often try to recapture the freedom he felt when aboard those trains, by building his own miniature train set” (par. 7). Walt even worked a summer job at railroad tracks selling newspapers, food, and other items to the people riding the trains. This hobby did not continue to be a big part of his life, because he soon followed his art …show more content…
He was not allowed in, but he did join the Red Cross. So, Walt spent a year in France. When he came back in 1919, he chose a career as a newspaper/commercial artist. This job enabled him to start working in the filming industry. After he had a numerous amount of successful animations, Walt started to produce films at a theater in Kansas City. Fred Harman was Walt’s first employee, followed by Harman’s brothers Hugh and Iwerks. They named their animations Laugh-O-Grams. It was successful because many people enjoyed watching them, but in 1923 the business became bankrupt. Instead of giving up on his career, he decided to continue and moved to Hollywood at a young age of 22. When Walt took off to Hollywood, he barely had any money. The only thing he had was a finished animation film he had made, Alice Comedies. When Roy agreed to help Walt, they pooled their money and started Disney Brothers’ Studio. Iwerks, an old employee of Laugh-O-Grams, also joined Roy and Walt. Their company seemed to be very successful because they soon got a deal with a New York Distributor to produce the Alice Comedies Walt had previously