Walt Disney
1901 – 1966 · United States
Known for: Imagineer of the modern fairy tale
“It's kind of fun to do the impossible.”
Biography
A Missouri farm boy who was told a mouse would never work. Walt Disney went bankrupt once, was fired for "lacking imagination," and then built the most beloved storytelling empire in history, the first synchronized-sound cartoon, the first feature-length animated film, and finally a kingdom in an orange grove where the castle is real.
He collected 26 Oscars, more than anyone ever, but measured success differently: in the faces of families walking down Main Street. His frozen-in-time warning still guides every studio he never lived to see: "It was all started by a mouse, and we must never forget that."