Walt Disney is known for creating some of the most beloved children's movies in history. But his path to success wasn't a direct one. Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney's journey began in 1923, when he moved to California to make cartoons. He made a series of silent cartoons called Alice Comedies, which became successful and led to the founding of the Walt Disney Studio. In 1927, Walt Disney created a new cartoon character called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and made 26 short films with him in just one year. However, when Disney asked for more money to continue making them, he discovered that his distributor had secretly hired his animators to make Oswald cartoons without him. Worse still, Disney didn't own the character of Oswald — the distributor did. This setback forced Disney to create a new character. And that's how he came up with his most famous creation — Mickey Mouse. Mickey first appeared in the 1928 movie Steamboat Willie, and became an instant hit. Disney then made the world's first full-color cartoon, 1932's Flowers and Trees, winning him an Oscar for Best Short Subject. Building on these successes, Disney began working on his first full-length movie in 1934 — Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Over 300 people were involved in making the movie, including animators and artists. It went four times over its budget, and some dubbed the movie "Disney's Folly," believing it would fail. But it didn't — when it was released in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became the highest-grossing film of all time, although it lost that title two years later to Gone with the Wind. Walt Disney passed away in 1966, but his legacy lived on. His company continued to release successful animated movies like The Little Mermaid and The Lion King, and now also creates successful computer animated films like Frozen and Moana.