Bill Walsh

Escritor, Productor, Actor

30 de septiembre de 1913 — 27 de enero de 1975 (61 años)
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.

Conocido por

  • Mary Poppins
    Mary Poppins1964
  • Flubber y el profesor chiflado
    Flubber y el profesor chiflado1997
  • La bruja novata
    La bruja novata1971
  • Cariño, estoy hecho un perro
    Cariño, estoy hecho un perro2006
  • Ahí va ese bólido
    Ahí va ese bólido1968
  • Un sabio en las nubes
    Un sabio en las nubes1961
  • Herbie, un volante loco
    Herbie, un volante loco1974
  • Un gato del FBI
    Un gato del FBI1965
  • Mi amigo el fantasma
    Mi amigo el fantasma1968
  • El extraño caso de Wilby
    El extraño caso de Wilby1959
  • El sabio en apuros
    El sabio en apuros1963
  • Davy Crockett, rey de la frontera
    Davy Crockett, rey de la frontera1955
  • Davy Crockett y los piratas del Mississippi
    Davy Crockett y los piratas del Mississippi1956
  • Se nos ha perdido un dinosaurio
    Se nos ha perdido un dinosaurio1975
  • El hijo de la jungla
    El hijo de la jungla1973
  • Un gato del FBI
    Un gato del FBI1997
  • El teniente Robinson
    El teniente Robinson1966
  • King Kong contra Godzilla
    King Kong contra Godzilla1962
  • Zafarrancho en la universidad
    Zafarrancho en la universidad1964
  • El Club de Mickey Mouse
    El Club de Mickey Mouse3 seasons

Filmography

2006
The Shaggy Dog · as Original Film Writer
1997
1997
Flubber · as Screenplay
1997
1975
1974
Herbie Rides Again · as Screenplay
1971
1971
Bedknobs and Broomsticks · as Screenplay
1971
Scandalous John · as Screenplay
1968
The Love Bug · as Screenplay
1968
Blackbeard's Ghost · as Screenplay
1966
Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. · as Screenplay
1965
That Darn Cat! · as Screenplay
1964
Mary Poppins · as Screenplay
1962
1962
1961
1960
1959
The Shaggy Dog · as Screenplay
1955
1954
1950

1953
The New Neighbor · as Tv Reporter

1969

1994
The Shaggy Dog · as Earlier Screenplay
1964