Walt Disney (http://www.seven-teen.ru/poleznayzinfo/histiri_disnei/)

“An American filmmaker and entrepreneur, Walter Elias Disney (1901-1966) created a new kind of popular culture in feature-length animated cartoons and live-action "family" films” ("Walter Elias Disney"). He started with small animation jobs and quickly accumulated awards and successes. He eventually became the man that the world remembers. Disney's extreme popularity, though, never defined him. He is an inspiration because of his caring heart and persistent courage throughout his whole career and life.

Disney's persistence to do what he loved carried him to success. Failure is the toughest obstacle one can run into, and once it occurs, it is even tougher to keep going. For Disney, this was not the case: "Initial failure sent Disney to Hollywood in 1923, where in partnership with his loyal elder brother Roy, he managed to resume cartoon production" ("Walter Elias Disney"). At the start of his career, Disney encountered failure like many others in the world, but he had courage to keep persevering through it. Disney had a lot of trouble pursuing the career of cartoon production and only "managed" to keep at it after failing. Even after failing, he went on to create one of his first films and took a risk by making it the first sound cartoon: "Steamboat Willie--starring the most famous of cartoon mice, Mickey--has the distinction of being the very first sound cartoon. While that feat may not seem so remarkable in the context of modern sound technology, by 1928 standards it was a bold and potentially disastrous step on the part of Walt Disney. Not only was early equipment difficult and cumbersome to use, but Disney had to decide what cartoons should sound like" (Obalil). Without knowing what the public would think because of no other released sound cartoons, Disney courageously created what he thought a cartoon should be and sound like. He had no example cartoons to copy, plus bad equipment to start off with, and still ended up making a cartoon character that the world has known ever since. Throughout obstacles, Disney kept his courageous spirit and never gave up.

Walt Disney at Disneyland (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=69256269160)

Even though Disney became famous and successful, his humble heart was full of care for the future and family. He cared for family and family time so tremendously that he created Disneyland: "The idea for the park came to him after taking his children to other amusement parks and watching them have fun on amusement rides. He decided to build a park where the entire family could have fun together" ("Walter Elias Disney"). Disney was a family man and enjoyed fun days at the amusement parks with his daughters. Because of his care for his daughters, he even went further and created a whole amusement park so that families could have fun just like he loved doing with his daughters. Since he loved what he did, he wanted others to be able to enjoy it too. For this reason, Disney also created a university for people in the future to enjoy just what he loved to do: "Disney created and endowed a new university, the California Institute of the Arts, known as Cal Arts... Disney once commented: 'It's the principle thing I hope to leave when I move on to greener pastures. If I can help provide a place to develop the talent of the future, I think I will have accomplished something'" ("Walter Elias Disney"). Disney hoped to leave a legacy behind that not only people could remember him by, but that would help the people who enjoyed his same career succeed at it. He thought that if he just did this one thing, his life would be complete because he helped create the future of the world. Disney's caring heart impacted the world tremendously.

Walt Disney (http://juraiporncartoon.blogspot.com/2009/06/blog-post.html)

Disney's great success and huge popularity helped him in his career, but did not change his character. He started his career as a humble man and finished it as one. Love for his work kept him moving and his courage and caring heart helped him along the way. Whatever stood in Disney's way, he persevered through it and took a courageous step forward every time. An inspiration is just a glimpse of what Disney is. Even though everyone knows his name, it is the character underneath Disney’s fame that changed the way of cartoons and impacted the world so greatly that we have yet to forget him.

"Disney, Walt." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 409-410. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 12 Dec. 2010.

Obalil, Linda J. "Steamboat Willie." International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. 4th ed. Vol. 1: Films. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. 1148-1149. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 15 Dec. 2010.

"Walt Disney: A Short Biography." Just Disney.com. Brad Aldridge Productions, 8/1/2002. Web. 14 Dec 2010.

"Walter Elias Disney." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 9 Dec. 2010.