Tale As Old As Time: Walt and Lillian Disney’s Amazing Love Story
If there’s one thing Disney is known for, it’s for providing the world with some truly wonderful fairytales – especially ones that include “true love!” Appropriate for Valentine’s Day, don’t you think?
While we could focus on a couple like Rapunzel and Eugene Fitzherbert, or even the iconic duo of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, there’s another important Disney couple I think we should celebrate today: Walt and Lillian Disney!
That’s right – Walt Disney was the star of his own, personal romance with a lovely lady named Lillian Bounds. Together, they were a real-life fairytale couple who lived out “happily ever after” for an amazing 41 years.
The Meet Cute
Every good romance begins with a “meet-cute.”
Like Rapunzel smacking Eugene with a frying pan after he tries to hide in her tower because he stole a crown…you know, stuff like that.
While there aren’t any frying pans involved in Walt and Lillian Disney’s love story (thankfully!), their meet-cute is still a memorable one.
It all began with an invitation from Lillian’s sister, Hazel.
Lillian was still living in Idaho, where she grew up, but Hazel and her family were down in sunny California. (Los Angeles, to be exact!) Hazel asked Lillian if she’d like to come to live with them. Lillian accepted the offer and moved away from home, and right into the same city as Walt Disney.1
Some things are just meant to be!
When Lillian was looking for work, Hazel’s friend, Kathleen Dollard, had the perfect solution. She knew a couple of brothers who were looking to hire someone to help with the ink and paintwork on their cartoons.2
While she wasn’t necessarily an artist, Lillian did have a background in stenography, so, she had a steady hand. Inking wouldn’t be a problem! The only catch?
“Don’t vamp the boss,” Kathleen is said to have told Lillian.3 (That’s old-timey lingo for “don’t be a vampire,” AKA using feminine wiles to ensnare a helpless guy.)
What an absurd notion. Of course, Lillian wouldn’t do that!
But the boss didn’t get the memo.
“I think my dad fell in love with her almost immediately… she was an independent little lady,” daughter Diane Disney Miller recalled.4
At the end of the workday, Walt would offer to drive the ink-and-paint girls home in his new car. He always dropped Kathleen off first, even though Lillian’s home was closer. (Within walking distance to the studio, in fact.) It was obvious Walt enjoyed Lillian’s company, and in time, his gregarious charm won her over and the feeling was mutual.5
They started dating, and Walt took Lillian to see picture shows, for dinner at tea rooms, and for long drives through the orange groves in his Moon Roadster.6 It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
Walt and Lillian Disney: The Dream Team
On July 13, 1925, Walt and Lillian were married at her brother’s home in Idaho. The wedding was small, intimate, and beautiful.
The book Building A Company by biographer Bob Thomas offers Lillian’s remembrance of how it came to be: “I was not very artistic at all, and I was not very good at inking and painting…Later, Walt made me his secretary, but I made too many mistakes when he was dictating. He always said I was so bad that he had to marry me.”7
However, according to one story, it sounds like Lillian’s dictation mistakes may have been Walt’s fault – he was a bit distracting. You see, it was during those secretarial days that Walt and Lillian shared their first kiss. Their daughter, Diane, remembered Lillian reluctantly recounting the story for her. She and Walt had been working late, with Lillian diligently taking dictation, when,
“Suddenly your father leaned over and kissed me.”
“What did you do?” Diane asked.
“I blushed,” Lillian said. “It was customary in those days.”7
Needless to say, Walt and Lillian Disney were kind of adorable.
But they weren’t just cute together, they also truly complemented one another. Lillian was always looking out for Walt, calling herself his harshest critic. She was the sounding board for all of Walt’s ideas, and that was one of the things Walt loved most about his wife. He praised Lillian for being “a good listener. I’d talk to her about what I’d hope to do and she’d listen.”8
Perhaps the most notable idea that was criticized by Lillian Disney was the name of a certain mouse we all know and love.
Walt wanted to call his little mouse “Mortimer,” but historian Steven Branting said that Lillian “felt that was too old-fashioned, it just didn’t have the flavor of being joyous. Mortimer is an old fogie name.”9
But Lillian was the best kind of critic, the kind who not only diagnosed a problem but also came up with a solution. She came up with “Mickey.”
Yeah, Walt and Lillian Disney were goals.
Happily Ever After
Walt and Lillian Disney were married for 41 years (until Walt’s death).
During those years, they might’ve bickered now and then, but they always remained unequivocally smitten with each other. They had each other’s best interests at heart and worked together to raise two sweet daughters (Diane and Sharon) as well as build up the Disney company. Lillian worked behind the scenes, tirelessly supporting Walt and keeping the home, while Walt was the face of the company, working at the studio and engaging with the public (an arrangement that rather-shy Lillian preferred).
Of course, being the face of a company keeps a man pretty busy. (Especially a man who tended to get caught up in projects and lose track of time.) Nevertheless, “Walt would make sure he was home for dinner every night at 7:30 p.m. and once their daughters got married and had left the house, [he and Lillian] would still eat dinner on TV trays together and watch their favorite shows like Groucho Marx in You Bet Your Life.”10
Well, it’s hard not to be happy while watching Groucho Marx!
Still, the secret to Walt and Lillian Disney’s “happily ever after” wasn’t America’s favorite comedian. It was true love – choosing one another each and every day. Lillian fondly remembered her marriage with Walt Disney:
“We shared a wonderful, exciting life, and we loved every minute of it. He was a wonderful husband to me and a wonderful and joyful father and grandfather.”
No wonder Disney’s films always seemed to have a fairytale romance – he and Lillian felt like they were living one every day.
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! Who’s your favorite Disney couple? Let us know in the comments below!
Cover Image
Photo: Picryl
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