He was born on December 5, 1901, Chicago, Illinois, U.S. He died on December 15, 1966, Los Angeles, California. Disney was completely opposed to the spread of communism, and accused many of his animator colleagues of being secret communists. He was also convinced the Screen Actors Guild was full of commies, and when his workers tried to unionize, he accused the union of being a communist front. At age 16, Disney dropped out of high school. World War I had broken out, and he was eager to join the fight. But he was too young to enlist, so he forged a birth certificate claiming he was 18 years old.
Walt Disney's childhood was anything but idyllic. His father was a strict disciplinarian who thought nothing of taking a switch to Walt and his brother Roy to administer "corrective" beatings that became a part of their daily routine.
Roy Oliver Disney was an American businessman, who co-founded Walt Disney Productions, along with his younger brother, Walter Elias Disney; the company is now known as The Walt Disney Company. A native of Illinois, Roy grew up delivering newspapers along with his brother for their father. After graduating high school, he left the newspaper-delivery business and held several jobs in the following few years, including at a farm and in a bank. In 1917, Roy enlisted in the US Navy but was discharged two years later when he was diagnosed with tuberculosis.
World War I provided Disney with yet another means of escape. At the age of 16, he joined the Red Cross Ambulance Corps and was sent to France.
After the war, Disney moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where he took a job with Film Ad Co. The firm's principal products were animated advertisements that were shown before feature films. Disney had found his calling. He loved bringing his drawings to life through the magic of animation.
It wasn't until he moved to Los Angeles in 1923 and teamed up with his shrewd and kindly older brother, Roy, who took care of business for him, that Walt began to modestly prosper. Even so, his first commercially successful creation, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, was stolen from him. Disney had carelessly allowed the character to be copyrighted not under his name, but under his distributor's name. It was a mistake Disney would not repeat. In subsequent years, he would gain a reputation for keeping close tabs on his creations and insisting on complete control.