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| Born Dec. 5, 1901 in Chicago, and raised on a farm in Missouri, Walt Disney and the company he founded -- has won nearly a thousand awards, including 48 Academy Awards, and 7 emmys. He recived honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, USC, and UCLA, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, France' Legion of Honor and Officer d'Academie, Thailand's Order of the Crown, Brazil's Order of the Southern Cross, Mexico's Order of the Aztec Eagle, and the Showman of the World Award from the National Association of Theatre Owners. Many agree with the late British political cartoonist David Low, who called Disney "the most significant figure in graphic arts since Leonardo." Disney was already interested in drawing and photography when he attended Chicago's McKinley High Shcool. In 1918, after being rejected from the army (he was only 16 at the time), he joined the Red Cross, and drove an ambulance covered with cartoons for a year. Returning to Kansas City, Disney created and sold his first animated cartoons in 1920. Three years later, he left the midwest for Hollywood, with $40 and a short animated fairy tale. In 1928, Disney's creation Mickey Mouse made his debut in the world's first sound cartoon (it premiered at the Colony Theatre in New York on November 18, 1928). Disney's 1932 Flowers and Trees won his first Academy Award. Produced during the depression for the unprecedented cost of $2 million, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (the first full-length animated musical feature), remains one of the significant milestones of the motion picture industry. Classic films like Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi were produced in the next few years. With the start of World War II, Disney's worked mostly for the government, preparing training and health-related films, as well as short comedy bits to bolster morale both at home and overseas. In 1955, he launched Disneyland's Magic Kingdom, and in 1971 the Disney company opened a second theme park near Orlando, FL, which was as much a prototype "Community of Tomorrow" as an amusement park. Today his company owns a diverse portfolio of properties, including Walt Disney Cruises, broadcast (ABC) and cable (ESPN, Disney Channel) stations, and even sports teams (Anaheim Angels, Mighty Ducks).
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