Walt Disney built an entertainment empire, and earned more than 700 awards (including a record 30 Academy Awards), by seizing opportunities and taking risks.

Disney was among the first to capitalize when The Jazz Singer introduced sound to movies in 1927. His seven-year-old cartoon company, which he had formed at the age of 19, had struggled. Planning to introduce a new character, Mickey Mouse, in two silent short cartoons, Disney hurried production of a third cartoon containing music and voices. Steamboat Willie, the first cartoon to use synchronized sound, became an instant, international phenomenon.

Disney next began production on the first feature-length cartoon. Although industry experts insisted that audiences would not be willing to sit through a lengthy cartoon, and claimed that human characters did not translate well to animation, Disney poured his money into Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Released in 1937, it became one of the most popular movies ever made.

Disney proceeded to embrace television, a medium that every other major movie producer either had ignored or viewed as a threat. In 1961, he introduced the first television series in color, Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. Disney finally crowned his empire with the development of his famed theme parks, Disneyland and Disney World, the latter under construction at the time of his death in 1966. The Disney amusement parks later expanded to Europe and Asia.

PostScript: Disney did none of the drawings for his major animated films. He did provide the high-pitched cartoon voice for Mickey Mouse.