Lillian Disney
{{Short description|Wife of Walt Disney (1899–1997)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Lillian Disney
| image = LilianBounds1951.jpg
| caption = Disney in 1951
| birth_name = Lillian Marie Bounds
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1899|2|15}}
| birth_place = Spalding, Idaho, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1997|12|16|1899|2|15}}
| death_place = West Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| burial_place = Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California, U.S.
| occupation = Ink and paint artist
| years_active = 1924–1997
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Walt Disney|1925|1966|end=d}}
- {{marriage|John L. Truyens|1969|1981|end=d}}
}}
| relatives = See Disney family
| children = 2, including Diane Disney Miller
}}
Lillian Marie Disney ({{née}} Bounds; February 15, 1899{{spaced ndash}}December 16, 1997) was an American ink artist at the Walt Disney Animation Studios and the wife of Walt Disney 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, where she met future husband Walt while working as a secretary for his company.
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.{{Cite news |last=Davidson |first=Jacob |date=2013-10-16 |title=10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Walt Disney |url=https://entertainment.time.com/2013/10/16/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-walt-disney/ |access-date=2025-05-23 |work=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X}}{{Cite web |last=Oliver |first=Myrna |last2=Haithman |first2=Diane |date=1997-12-18 |title=Lillian Disney Dies at 98; Began Concert Hall Project |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-dec-18-mn-65467-story.html |access-date=2025-05-23 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Weinraub |first=Bernard |date=1997-12-18 |title=Walt Disney's Widow, Lillian, Dies at 98 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/18/arts/walt-disney-s-widow-lillian-dies-at-98.html |access-date=2025-05-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
Walt Disney died from lung cancer on December 15, 1966, after which Lillian remarried, to John L. Truyens (a Southern California 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, where her father Willard worked as a blacksmith and federal marshal.[http://legends.disney.go.com/legends/detail?key=Lillian+Disney Lillian Disney profile], 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 in 1923 to live with her sister {{nowrap|Hazel's family.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=D7peAAAAIBAJ&pg=4762%2C3438544 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |agency=Associated Press |title=Walt Disney dies of cancer at 65 |date=December 16, 1966 |page=1}}{{cite news |url=http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1997/dec/18/lillian-disney-dies-philanthropist-widow-of-walt/ |work=Spokesman-Review |location=(Spokane, Washington) |title=Lillian Disney dies |date=December 18, 1997 |access-date=December 11, 2017}}{{cite web |url=http://waltdisney.org/blog/important-women-disney-history-hazel-sewell |work=Walt Disney Family Museum |last=Litzinger |first=Brenda|title=Important women in Disney history: Hazel Sewell |date=March 13, 2012 |access-date=December 11, 2017}}}} She was working at the Disney Studio in "ink and paint" as a secretary when she met Walt.{{cite web|url=http://waltdisney.org/blog/walt-and-lilly|work=Walt Disney Family Museum |last=Taylor |first=George |title=Walt and Lilly |date=February 14, 2012 |access-date=December 11, 2017}}
Marriage to Walt Disney
Lillian Bounds and Walt Disney married on July 13, 1925,{{cite web|url=http://waltdisney.org/blog/remembering-walt-lillians-anniversary-diane-disney-miller|work=Walt Disney Family Museum |last=Miller |first=Diane Disney |title=Remembering Walt & Lillian's Anniversary |date=July 12, 2011 |access-date=December 11, 2017}}Idaho, County Marriages, 1864–1950 in Idaho at her brother's home. The wedding was officiated by the rector of Lewiston's Episcopal Church of the Nativity.[http://www.nativitylewiston.com/ Episcopal Church of the Nativity (Lewiston, Idaho) website], nativitylewiston.com; accessed February 9, 2015. 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 {{nowrap|(1933–2013)}} and Sharon Mae Disney {{nowrap|(1936–1993),}} 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
File:Lilly Belle (28099523610).jpg
Her film career includes work as an ink artist on the film Plane Crazy. 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.{{cite book|last1=Jackson|first1=Kathy|title=Walt Disney: Conversations|date=2006|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|isbn=1-57806-713-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/waltdisneyconver00disn/page/120 120]|edition=First|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/waltdisneyconver00disn/page/120}}
At the Carolwood Pacific Railroad, Walt Disney named his 1:8-scale live steam locomotive the "Lilly Belle" in his wife's honor. Additionally, the parlor car of the Disneyland Railroad was named the "Lilly Belle" in her honor, and the Walt Disney World Railroad has a locomotive named "Lilly Belle", where each locomotive is named for someone who greatly contributed to the Walt Disney Company.{{Cite magazine|last=Broggie|first=Michael|title=View from the Cupola|url=https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/carolwoodwp/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/chron68.pdf|magazine=Carolwood Chronicle|publisher=The Carolwood Society|page=7|date=Winter 2018|access-date=March 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190317085458/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/carolwoodwp/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/chron68.pdf|archive-date=March 17, 2019}} Walt Disney Imagineering created "The Empress Lilly", a paddle steamer replica, at Walt Disney World in Disney Springs 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, at the age of 65. Lillian was later remarried John L. Truyens in May 1969 until his death on February 24, 1981, at the age of 73.[http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ Profile], Social Security Death Index website; accessed February 9, 2015.
In 1987, she pledged a $50 million gift towards the construction of a new concert hall in Los Angeles.[http://www.laphil.com/philpedia/wdch-overview.cfm About Walt Disney Concert Hall] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091126033609/http://www.laphil.com/philpedia/wdch-overview.cfm |date=November 26, 2009 }}, laphil.com; accessed February 9, 2015. 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.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/18/arts/walt-disney-s-widow-lillian-dies-at-98.html|title=Walt Disney's Widow, Lillian, Dies at 98|last=Weinraub|first=Bernard|date=December 18, 1997|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=September 6, 2016}} In 1996, she donated $100,000 to the Nez Perce indigenous people in support of buying back tribal artifacts.
In response to a controversial biography, Lillian made a rare public statement about her marriage with Walt, "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."
Lillian Disney suffered a stroke on December 15, 1997, exactly 31 years after Walt's death. 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 alongside her first husband, Walt Disney.{{cite news|last1=|first1=|title=LILLIAN DISNEY DIES AT 98|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1997/12/20/lillian-disney-dies-at-98/313294b5-a8b1-4da9-9239-58e485cb07e3/|access-date=January 27, 2021|newspaper=Washington Post|date=December 18, 1997}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Portal|Biography}}
- {{IMDb name|id=1089524|name=Lillian Disney}}
{{Disney Legends Awards 2000s}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Disney, Lillian}}
Category:People from Greater Los Angeles
Category:People from Nez Perce County, Idaho
Category:Philanthropists from California
Category:People from Lapwai, Idaho
Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)