Walt's life was a whirlwind of ups and downs from the beginning - from joining the war legally "too young", becoming a cartoonist and starting his own studio, to his original character being stripped away from him, to his first films that were box office successes and failures. Although the time of the Disney Strike was one of the worst times of his life, Disneyland was able to brighten it up immensely. Now, Walt at 65 years old, started to feel the rough times again.

May 1963

Walt had written a memo to Roy about an article he saw in a newspaper. It was about a businessman who had died and his corporation had gone downhill after that. Walt was concerned that this would happen to his company if he didn't spread out his investments, innovations, stocks, and more soon.

“When I’m up in heaven playing my harp, I really couldn’t put my heart into it, if I thought I had left things in a mess down there!”

— Walt Disney

August 1964

Walt had continued appearing on TV as "Uncle Walt" during the construction and after Disneyland had opened, and continued to dream up big projects for new parks (EPCOT), new merchandise, and most importantly new films. Walt had been working to get the rights to the beloved story of "Mary Poppins" for 40 years, and finally was able to release his version of it to the public on August 26th 1964. In the recent 2013 film "Saving Mr. Banks", it shows Walt (played by Tom Hanks) and his journey to earning the rights to the story from the author, P.L Travers. In the film, there are a few details that may be missed by audience members, but Tom Hanks made sure to make his coughing pronounced. Disney had been smoking cigarettes in his office and away from the public and the cameras, because he didn't want people to follow his actions or look at him differently. This is around the time when Walt's body started to fail him.

A letter to Julie Andrews from Walt, 1962

October 1966

Walt's doctor suggested that he have cervical vertebrae surgery to relieve the pain his body was going through after a polo incident. He scheduled a pre-surgery check up for October 25th 1966 at St. Joseph's Hospital, which luckily for him was right across the street from the studio, so he didn't have to stray too far from home. He didn't like leaving the studio or the parks, especially for a health issue. He was always determined not to get run down.

2 days later on October 27th, Walt had filmed and aired "An Evening with Walt Disney", in which he talked about the studio filming "Black Beard's Ghost". He also spoke about "The Happiest Millionaire" film, detailing the plot.

During that October, Lillian paid a visit to Dianne, Disney's eldest daughter, and stood in her kitchen doorway.

“Your father had an x-ray the other day, and they found a spot the size of a walnut on his left lung. ”

— Lillian Disney

At the end of the month, Walt, Sharon, and Sharon's husband Bob went to Williamsburg as Walt recieved an award from the American Association of Forestry on November 1st. They made it into a ski trip, spent Halloween there, and made it back by November 2nd.

November 1966

On November 3rd, he had an appointment with Doctor Bert Cotton, a pulmonary surgeon, and they set up a date for his surgery. It would be on November 7th.

The day before his surgery, November 6th, he decided to drive up to visit Dianne and her children and just spend some time with them. He sat outside and watched the grandchildren play football, and eventually drove off, making his way to the hospital to prepare for his surgery. He didn't think much of this visit.

On November 7th, Sharon, Dianne and Lillian were waiting in the waiting room at the hospital while Walt had his surgery. After it was over, Dr. Cotton came out to update them.

“It was just as I suspected, the tumor has metastasized. I give him six months to two years.”

— Dr.Cotton

Walt stayed in the hospital for 2 weeks after his surgery, and was itching to get out. Just by being across from his studio made him anxious and eager to go back to work. He barely had time in his life to take a break and this wasn't how he wanted to spend it. Once the 2 weeks were up, he was up and out and on the grounds of Disneyland working again. He was determined to work another 15 years, making him 80 years old, because he felt that was an ample amount of time to finish EPCOT.

It was November 24th and it was Thanksgiving time. The Disney's had their annual family dinner at Dianne's house. Walt spent some time with Ron, Dianne's husband, and admitted some things to him about his condition. He wasn't one to talk about it much or bring it up, but it seemed as though he knew what his fate was going to be. Ron was working at the studio at the time as a producer. He told Ron:

“I never thought this would happen to me. I am going to turn over the picture-making to you producers. I think you can work as a team because you have been showing the past three years. I am going to devote all my time to Disney World and Epcot... but that does not mean I’m not going to read those scripts!”

— Walt Disney

Right after Thanksgiving, Walt left for Palm Springs because he felt he'd be more comfortable there, and he had a home there as well. He was taking a lot of pain medication, was becoming weaker everyday, and didn't have the same focus that he used to. Because of this pain he was enduring, he had to return home and back to St. Joseph's Hospital.

December 1966

This next part of the story is best quoted by Dianne Disney Miller from the Walt Disney Family Museum. It hits a soft spot in the heart for me.

“On the evening of December 14th, mother called to tell me, “He got out of bed. He kept putting his arms around me and his grip was so strong. I know he is going to be well!” Roy, too, was encouraged by his visit that day. He told of how dad used the ceiling of his room which was covered with twelve inch acoustical tiles as a grid, and he pointed out the whole layout of Disney World!

Dad died the following day at about 9:35am.”

— Dianne Disney Miller

The October 27th airing of "An Evening with Walt" was Walt's last ever filmed appearance.

News stories broke out immediately, and art was being made by Disney fans all around the world once the news broke. The whole world felt it; family members, friends, business partners, employees, animators, fans, everyone. The glimmer of hope that fans, and even Lillian and Roy had had gone out immediately. The world had lost one of the greatest and most talented men of the 20th century.

“Whenever I see Mickey Mouse I have to cry, because he reminds me so much of Walt. ”

— Lillian Disney

Here is some of the artwork that floated around the world after the news of his death, paying tribute to him and his beloved characters:

Thank you for joining me on this series that took you through the big parts of Walt's life - it's important to me that the newer generations don't just know the Disney company name because of their toys or the new films that come out, but that they learn about who started it all. One of Walt's famous quotes is "it all started with a mouse", but now we know that it didn't, there was much, much more before that. Learning about his story at the Walt Disney Family Museum put a lot of things into perspective for me, and how true it is that you can achieve literally anything you want if you put work into it. Just a normal boy from Kansas City who loved to draw became one of the biggest names in history.

My next 2 posts will be the Walt Disney Family Museum Review, as well as the Mickey Exhibition review. There's so much more that's featured at this museum that I didn't touch upon during this series, so stay tuned for that.