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Bill Walsh

Screenwriter / Film Producer / Film Director / Writer | * 09/30/1913 († 61, 01/27/1975) | New York City, New York (United States of America (USA))
William Crozier Walsh (September 30, 1913 – January 27, 1975) was a film producer, screenwriter and comics writer who primarily worked on live-action films for Walt Disney Productions. He was born in New York City. For his work on Mary Poppins, he shared Academy Award nominations for Best Picture with Walt Disney, and for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium with Don DaGradi. He also wrote the Mickey Mouse comic strip for more than two decades. In 1970 an article in Variety listed him as the second most successful film producer of all time in terms of money-earning movies even though he was "a guy no one's ever heard of". ()
Photo of Bill Walsh

Bill Walsh was born in New York to immigrant parents (father from Canada, mother from Ireland). In his teen years he lived with relatives in Cincinnati, OH, and later attended the University of Cincinnati. In 1933 he joined the stock touring company of husband / wife team Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Fay as a writer, but the couple divorced the next year and Walsh found himself stuck in Hollywood with no job and no prospects. He wound up working as an agent for a publicity agency, one of his clients being ventriloquist Edgar Bergen.Walsh joined Walt Disney Studios in 1943, working for both the Publicity and Story departments. One of his jobs was to write jokes for the syndicated Mickey Mouse comic strip (he continued doing that on a voluntary basis for more than 20 years, long after he left those departments). Walsh brought his former client Edgar Bergen to Disney to narrate some cartoons and TV shows. Walt Disney, who at first saw television as basically a tool to promote his films, was impressed with Walsh's publicity savvy and chose him to head the studio's television division. His first few projects were resounding successes, and when Disney made a deal with ABC Television to invest in its Disneyland amusement park in exchange for Disney developing a TV series, Walsh was named the series' producer. The show turned out to be The Mickey Mouse Club (1955). Walsh developed the show basically by himself, with little input from Disney, who was more concerned with developing Disneyland. He hired both the child performers and adult hosts on the show, came up with the basic format--rotating "theme" days, animated opening and closing sequences and recurring live-action series, among other innovations--and even helped to develop the famous Mousketeer "ears" each performer wore.After several seasons on "The Mickey Mouse Club", Walsh wanted to get out of television production and left the show to produce live-action films. He produced quite a few of Disney's comedies and adventure films, the most famous being Mary Poppins (1964), which was one of the studio's biggest successes and pleased critics as much as it did fans. Most of the films he produced, however, were derided by critics as dull and low-quality and helped to cement Disney's reputation for turning out unimaginative, repetitive, assembly-line pap. The films made money for the studio, though, and Walsh and Walt Disney remained close until Disney's death in 1966.Bill Walsh died of a heart attack in 1975.

Most frequent genres for this person: Kids & Family | Comedies | Fantasy

Known for these Movies & Shows

Awards & Nominations for Bill Walsh

Disney Legends Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award for Best Picture
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Movies with Bill Walsh as Actor(2)

as Self (archive footage)2006 The Shaggy Dog Kids

Movies with Bill Walsh as Crew(34)

Writing/Author2006 The Shaggy Dog
Writing/Original Film Writer2006 The Shaggy Dog
Writing/Screenplay1997 Flubber
Writing/Writer1997 The Love Bug
Production/Producer1974 Herbie Rides Again
Writing/Screenplay1974 Herbie Rides Again
Production/Producer1971 Scandalous John
Writing/Screenplay1971 Scandalous John
Production/Producer1971 Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Writing/Screenplay1971 Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Production/Producer1968 Blackbeard's Ghost
Writing/Screenplay1968 Blackbeard's Ghost
Production/Producer1968 The Love Bug
Writing/Screenplay1968 The Love Bug
Production/Co-Producer1966 Lt. Robin Crusoe U.S.N.
Production/Co-Producer1965 That Darn Cat!
Writing/Screenplay1965 That Darn Cat!
Production/Producer1964 Mary Poppins
Writing/Screenplay1964 Mary Poppins
Writing/Screenstory1964 The Misadventures of Merlin Jones
Production/Co-Producer1963 Son of Flubber
Writing/Writer1963 Son of Flubber
Production/Associate Producer1961 The Absent-Minded Professor
Writing/Screenplay1961 The Absent-Minded Professor
Production/Associate Producer1959 The Shaggy Dog
Writing/Screenplay1959 The Shaggy Dog
Production/Producer1956 Westward Ho, The Wagons!
Writing/Writer1955 The Littlest Outlaw
Production/Producer1954 Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter
Production/Producer1950 One Hour in Wonderland
Writing/Writer1950 One Hour in Wonderland

TV Shows/Series with Bill Walsh as Crew(2)

Production/Producer1956 Corky and White Shadow
Creator/Creator1955 The Mickey Mouse Club

Full Name: William Bill Walsh
Born: Tuesday, 09/30 1913 (September) in New York City, New York (United States of America (USA))
Died: Monday, 01/27 1975 (January) in Los Angeles (aged: 61)
Zodiac sign: Libra (Chinese zodiac sign: Ox)
Languages: English (EN)
Educated at: University of Cincinnati
Member of: Writers Guild of America, West
Other names for Bill Walsh (nicknames, foreign languages etc.):
"William Walsh"
"Bill Walsh (producer)"
"Bill Walsh (Produzent)"
Bill Walsh frequently works together with these people:
Robert Stevenson (11x, Crew)
Cotton Warburton (10x, Crew)
Carroll Clark (10x, Crew)
Walt Disney (9x, Crew)
Robert O. Cook (9x, Crew)
Edward Colman (8x, Crew)
Don DaGradi (7x, Crew)
Emile Kuri (6x, Crew)
Hal Gausman (6x, Crew)
George Bruns (5x, Crew)
Tommy Kirk (5x, Actor)
William Beaudine (2x, Crew)

Other people with this name: Bill Walsh (US)

WatchPlayStream ID: PEOPLE:1451705, Added: 09/05/2019, Last updated: 03/23/2024