Lillian Disney

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lillian Marie Bounds (February 15, 1901 – December 16, 1997) was the wife of Walt Disney from 1925 until his death in 1966. She later married John L. Truyens in 1969 and remained married to him until his death in 1981.

Lillian was born in Spaulding Idaho. She and Walt had two daughters - Diane Marie Disney and Sharon Mae Disney, the latter of whom they adopted. Her sister was named Hazel Sewell. She is aunt of Roy Edward Disney and grandmother to Chris Miller, Joanna Miller, Tamara Scheer, Jennifer Miller-Goff, Walter Elias Disney Miller, Ronald Miller and Victoria Brown.

Lillian Disney died of a stroke in 1997, exactly 31 years and a day after first husband Walt. She was 97, and resided in West Los Angeles, California at the time of her passing.

In 1987, Lillian Disney pledged $50,000,000 USD towards the construction of a new home for the L.A. Philharmonic. After many delays, the Walt Disney Concert Hall opened in 2003, six years after Lillian's death.

Her filmography includes work as an ink artist on the film Plane Crazy.

She is credited with naming 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". She replied that the name sounded "too sissified" and suggested "Mickey" instead.^[1]