Lillian Marie Disney ( Bounds; February 15, 1899December 16, 1997) was an American ink artist at the
Disney Studios
The Walt Disney Studios is an American film and entertainment studio, and is the Studios Content segment of the Walt Disney Company. Based mainly at the namesake studio lot in Burbank, California, the studio is best known for its multifacete ...
and the wife of
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
from 1925 until his death in 1966. Born in
Spalding, Idaho, Disney graduated from high school in
Lapwai before moving to
Lewiston to attend college. She left Idaho in 1923 to move to
southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...
, where she would meet future husband Walt while working as a secretary at
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...
.
Lillian and Walt married on July 13, 1925, and had two daughters,
Diane Marie Disney
Diane Marie Disney-Miller (December 18, 1933 – November 19, 2013) was the eldest daughter of Walt Disney and his wife Lillian Bounds Disney. Diane co-founded the Walt Disney Family Museum alongside her family. She was president of the Board ...
(1933–2013), their only biological child, and
Sharon Mae Disney (1936–1993), who was adopted. Lillian and Walt had ten grandchildren, including seven by Diane and three by Sharon. During a train ride in 1928, Walt revealed to his wife a new animated character, whom he called "Mortimer Mouse". Lillian suggested that he rename his character "
Mickey Mouse", a name which has since become synonymous with the Disney brand.
Walt Disney died from lung cancer on December 15, 1966, after which Lillian remarried John L. Truyens (a
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...
real estate developer) from 1969 until his death in 1981. On December 15, 1997, Lillian Disney suffered a stroke and died the following morning in Los Angeles at age 98.
Early years
Born Lillian Marie Bounds in
Spalding, Idaho, she grew up in nearby
Lapwai on the
Nez Perce Indian Reservation
The Nez Percé (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning "we, the people") are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who are presumed to have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region for at least 11,500 years.Ames, K ...
, where her father Willard worked as a blacksmith and federal marshal.
[Lillian Disney profile](_blank)
legends.disney.go.com; accessed February 9, 2015. She was the youngest of ten children, and the family struggled financially; her father died when she was seventeen. After graduation from
Lapwai High School, Bounds and her mother moved down to
Lewiston; she attended a year of business college then moved to
southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...
in 1923 to live with her sister She was working at the Disney Studio in "ink and paint" as a secretary when she met Walt.
Marriage to Walt Disney
Lillian Bounds and Walt Disney married on July 13, 1925,
in Idaho at her brother's home. The wedding was officiated by the rector of Lewiston's Episcopal Church of the Nativity. Walt Disney's parents did not attend. As Bounds's father was deceased, her uncle, who was chief of the Lewiston Fire Department, gave the bride away. She wore a dress that she had made herself. The couple had two daughters,
Diane Marie Disney
Diane Marie Disney-Miller (December 18, 1933 – November 19, 2013) was the eldest daughter of Walt Disney and his wife Lillian Bounds Disney. Diane co-founded the Walt Disney Family Museum alongside her family. She was president of the Board ...
and
Sharon Mae Disney the latter of whom was adopted. Disney had ten grandchildren: seven by Diane and her husband (Ron W. Miller), and three by Sharon and her two husbands, Robert Brown and William Lund.
Recognition
![Lilly Belle (28099528540)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Lilly_Belle_%2828099528540%29.jpg)
Her film career includes work as an ink artist on the film ''
Plane Crazy
''Plane Crazy'' is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The cartoon, released by the Walt Disney Studios, was the first Mickey Mouse film produced, and was originally a silent film. It was given a test sc ...
''. Disney is credited with having named her husband's most famous character,
Mickey Mouse, during a train trip from New York to California in 1928. Walt showed a drawing of the cartoon mouse to his wife and told her that he was going to name it "Mortimer Mouse". Lillian replied that the name sounded "too depressing" and she was very proud to have suggested the name "Mickey Mouse" instead of Mortimer.
At the
Carolwood Pacific Railroad
The Carolwood Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a -inch () gauge ridable miniature railroad run by Walt Disney in the backyard of his home in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It featured the ''Lilly Belle'', a 1:8- scale li ...
, Walt Disney named his 1:8-scale live steam locomotive the "Lilly Belle" in his wife's honor. Additionally, Walt named one of the
Disneyland Railroad
The Disneyland Railroad (DRR), formerly known as the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad, is a 3-foot () narrow-gauge heritage railroad and attraction in the Disneyland theme park of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, in the United St ...
cars the "Lilly Belle" in her honor, and the
Walt Disney World Railroad
The Walt Disney World Railroad (WDWRR) is a 3-foot () narrow-gauge heritage railroad and attraction located within the Magic Kingdom theme park of Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, in the United States. Its route is in length and encir ...
has a locomotive named "Lilly Belle", where each locomotive is named for someone who greatly contributed to the Walt Disney Company.
Walt Disney Imagineering
Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc., commonly referred to as Imagineering, is the research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation, design, and construction of Disney theme parks and attra ...
created "The Empress Lilly", a paddle steamer replica, at
Walt Disney World
The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...
in
Disney Springs
Disney Springs (previously known as Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village in 1975, Walt Disney World Village in 1977, Disney Village Marketplace in 1989, and Downtown Disney in 1997) is an outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment complex at the ...
and Disney christened it on May 1, 1977. Disney was inducted into the
Disney Legends in 2003.
Later years and death
Walt Disney died of lung cancer on December 15, 1966, aged 65, and Lillian was married to John L. Truyens from May 1969 until his death on February 24, 1981, aged 73.
In 1987, she pledged a $50 million gift towards the construction of a new concert hall in Los Angeles. After several delays, the
Walt Disney Concert Hall opened in 2003, six years after her death. She also helped fund the founding of The
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...
.
In the 1990s, reflecting on her 41-year marriage to Walt Disney, she said, "We shared a wonderful, exciting life, and we loved every minute of it. He was a wonderful husband to me, and wonderful and joyful father and grandfather."
Disney suffered a stroke on December 15, 1997, which was exactly 31 years after the death of her first husband, Walt. She died the following morning at her home in West Los Angeles at the age of 98. She was interred at
Forest Lawn Memorial Park in
Glendale, California.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Disney, Lillian
1899 births
1997 deaths
American philanthropists
People from Greater Los Angeles
People from Nez Perce County, Idaho
Philanthropists from California
Lillian
People from Lapwai, Idaho
fr:Famille Disney#Lillian Marie Bounds
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Walt Disney Animation Studios people