Walt Disney
Disney in 1954, NASA GRIN: GPN-2000-000060, Author NASA
Birth Name: Walter Elias Disney
Date of Birth: December 5, 1901
Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Date of Death: December 15, 1966
Place of Death: Burbank, California, U.S.
Ethnicity:
*father – Irish, as well as some English
*mother – English, German, remote Scottish
Walt Disney was an American entrepreneur, animator, actor, and film producer.
He was the son of Flora (Call) and Elias Charles Disney. His father was born in Bluevale, Huron, Ontario, Canada, to Irish parents. His mother was born in Steuben, Huron, Ohio, to an American father and a German mother.
Walt was married to ink artist Lillian (Bounds) Disney, with whom he had two children.
Walt’s paternal grandfather was Kepple Elias Disney (the son of Arundel Elias Disney and Maria Swan). Kepple was born in Clone, County Kilkenny, Ireland. Arundel was the son of Kepple Disney, whose paternal grandparents were born in Sudbury, Suffolk, England, and of Frances Best.
Walt’s paternal grandmother was Mary J. Richardson (the daughter of Robert Richardson and Ruth/Rose Lark). Mary J. was born in Ireland, likely in Aghaboe, County Laois. Ruth was the daughter of Robert Lark and Grace.
Walt’s maternal grandfather was Charles Call (the son of Eber Call and Violette/Violet Lawrence). Charles was born in New York, to parents from Colrain, Franklin, Massachusetts, and had English ancestry. Eber was the son of John Call, Jr. and Fanny Johnson. Violette was the daughter of Daniel Lawrence and Violette Dean.
Walt’s maternal grandmother was Henrietta Gross (the daughter of Johann/John Georg/George Gross and Maria Catharina/Catherine Schmidt/Smith). Henrietta was German, born in Miehlen, Rhineland-Palatinate. Johann was the son of Johann Georg Gross and Catharina/Katherine Maria Schmidt. Walt’s great-grandmother Maria Catharina was the daughter of Johann Heinrich Schmidt and Marie Juliane Pfeifer.
Sources: Genealogies of Walt Disney – http://www.geni.com
http://www.wikitree.com
http://famouskin.com
http://www.findagrave.com
Seriusly i think everyone should just chill out and enjoy the site for what it is : Entertainment. There’s some people here that want to pose as super experts on ethnicities and put everyone in a little box like “you are this thing and you are that thing and that’s it” Lol… At the end of the day we are all humans guys, lets try to have some fun talking about this mild, useless thing that is celebs backgrounds, and not lose ourselves in stupid toxic arguments and personal attacks. Peace.
You all need to read Hollywoods Dark Prince..it will tell you his real ethnic heritage. No remote French ancestry. Read the book, he was of Spanish ancestry. This was hidden and the Disneys were actually his adopted parents. When the press asked him if it was true he was Spanish he did not deny it. In fact he was also good friends with Spanish painter Salvador Dali. Do some research. Articles were written in Newspapers in the 1940s and 50s about his Spanish Castilian features. Read the book.
The spanish invaded Ireland and stayed there many years, but that was a long time ago, that’s not to say the irish did not mixed with other europeans since then, especially the brits(mainly scots), wich btw were themselves already quite mixed with continental europeans. But Walt Disney really does not strike me as a super “iberian looking” guy, these pics that we have from him are not really reliable, since, when not in black and white, the colours, resolution, and shadows give a very inacurate dipiction, especially when It comes to skin colour, seems like everyone had either a olive complexion or were straight up orange (like JFK). Disney was likely quite pale actually, don’t know if his eyes were light, but overall he looked very standard northwestern european, small eyes and big pointy noses are not an exclusive iberian trait.
@jonas
Walt Disney confortably passed as Iberian and anywhere in Southern Europe. He looked like Peter Sellers too who was half Jewish.
Btw stop with this off-white dilemma you have. Europeans love tanning.
Back then people was a lot more tanned than today. Just watch old movies, tv-shows, sport events and politicians. Lifestyle was different, more outdoor activities and no useless indoor tech stuff.
JFK loved sailing.
It’s not often that im able to get my points straight i will give you that, but please read carefully. I said : “Walt Disney really does not strike me as a super “iberian looking” guy” did not said he did not looked iberian at all, sure there’s some spaniards or frenchman that look a bit like him, i saw some high quality images since my comment, and he was indeed naturally quite pale, he had red spots, his tan was not deep as in someone with a natural olive complexion, JFK was also very burned, wich appeared orange instead of red in more poorly aged pics. If you see Disney later in his life, shortly after he discovered he had lung cancer, you will notice(since he was ill and was not under the sun as often as before) his natural complexion, and you will picture him perfectly in the UK or Ireland. And about the “Btw stop with this off-white dilemma you have”… Are you serius? Still with this talking point? I have refuted this in other discussions, it’s clear you just keep with it to piss me off, wich just goes to show that you really think that north americans and europeans are somehow “better” than south americans and we all want to be like you guys, americans for example often have this thought that the entire world envy them, as if everything is great in the U.S … Really dude get over yourself and your blatant xenofobia, we latin americans are pretty fine being ourselves, we don’t have to prove anything to you guys in the Northern Hemisfere. I personally don’t care at all how you, or anyone perceive me, you can think im a golden flying horse, i don’t care, you are the one obssessed in putting everyone in a box and choosing who is “white” and who’s not. Im here only for the amusement, this is a celeb trivia site. If i feel like, i will give my personal take about a particular famous person, i never claimed to be an expert, i don’t need to seek validation so bad like some people here, im just having fun, why you take yourself so seriusly? Is this your job? Lol chill out dude…
Spanish never invaded Ireland. You might be mixing up the wrecking of the Spanish Armada. Ireland was invaded by Normans from England which is why Ireland ended up being controlled by Britain. The Disney surname has Norman origins.
lol
He has French ancestry too.
He had remote Norman French ancestry, “Disney” comes from Northern France, the nobles of this family mover to Ireland around 1140. My surname, for exemple, is also Norman French, it was originally “Bethéncourt”, but then they moved to Portugal and the mame was changed to “Bettencourt”, the variation with the “i” it’s the most commun
*moved
And there is a region in northern France called “Normandy”
*and the name