Some Quick Facts: Disney

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Walt Disney (1901-1966) holds the record for most Academy Awards earned by an individual, having won 22 Oscars from 59 nominations. 

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The name of Wall E, the trash compactor robot in the film of the same name, made by Pixar for Disney, comes from Walter Elias Disney, Walt Disney’s full name. 

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Walt’s father Elias purchased a newspaper delivery route in 1911 when Walt was 10. He and his brother Roy woke up at 4:30 every morning to deliver newspapers before school and again after school. The schedule was exhausting and Walt often received poor grades after falling asleep in class. Nonetheless he continued his paper route for more than six years. 

Young Walt Disney 

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It was announced in late 2017 that Disney is buying most of 21st Century Fox’s stock, including its movie and television studios, from the Murdoch family for $52.4 billion. Murdoch will form a new company to keep the U.S. television networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network and Fox Broadcasting. “The Simpsons” will continue to air on Murdoch’s Fox stations. The deal is intended to enable Disney to compete with the likes of Netflix when it launches ESPN- and Disney-branded streaming services in the coming years. Rupert Murdoch has said that what remains of his family’s business will be able to focus on American news and sports. 

 On June 27 2018 it was announced that the United States Justice Department had granted antitrust approval to the Disney – Fox deal on the condition that Disney sells Fox’s 22 regional sports networks. The Justice Department had argued that the companies purchase of Fox’s regional sports networks could result in higher prices for sports programming on cable. 

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Though his parents were Irish-Canadian immigrants, Disney was a descendant of Robert d'Isigny, a Frenchman who came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066. "Disney" was an anglicization of the more "d'Isigny." Walt even bears a resemblance to the Norman king. 

William the Conqueror 

Walter the Animator 

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Early Disney films often avoided having mothers included or featured: The Jungle Book, Pinocchio, Bambi. It has been suggested that this was because of Walt’s guilt over the death of his mother in 1938. Fresh from the success of Snow White, he had bought a home for his parents, but a faulty heating system led to Flora Disney's death from carbon monoxide poisoning. 

Elias and Flora Disney 1913 

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The sorcerer in Fantasia is called 'Yen Sid' . . . (work it out). 

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Disney was a founding member of the right-wing, anti-communist group the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. The group was seminal in the formation of the Hollywood blacklist. In 1947, at the height of the Red Scare, Disney testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, during which he named several animators and producers as active communists. 

Walt Disney testifying before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1947. 

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Contrary to popular belief, Walt’s head was not severed from his corpse, cryogenically frozen, and stored under the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. According to his wishes, Disney was cremated, and his ashes were interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. The icy rumors are traced back to a cabal of Disney animators with a dark sense of humor playing a crazy prank on their onetime boss. 

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Some Disneyisms . . .