1859 - Writer and linguist Wilhelm Grimm dies in Berlin, Germany. He and his brother Jacob were the first to write down such classic tales as Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty.

1903 - Hardie Albright, one of the adolescent voices of Disney's 1942 Bambi, is born in Charleroi, Pennsylvania.

1929 - The Walt Disney Studios is incorporated as a partnership and replaced by 4 companies: Walt Disney Productions, Ltd.; Walt Disney Enterprises; Liled Realty and Investment Company; and the Disney Film Recording Company.

1929 - The Walt Disney directed Silly Symphony cartoon The Merry Dwarfs is released.

1937 - Actress Joyce Bulifant is born in Newport News, Virginia. Best known for her role of Marie Slaughter (Murray's wife) on the classic series Mary Tyler Moore, Bulifant appears in Disney's 1967 live-action feature The Happiest Millionaire as Rosemary.

1952 - WED Enterprises is founded as a private company owned solely by Walt Disney to design and create Disneyland and to manage Disney's personal assets. WED stands for Walter Elias Disney. (In 1986, it will be renamed Walt Disney Imagineering.)

1953 - Disney's animated Peter Pan is released in Italy.

1955 - The Mickey Mouse Club airs on ABC-TV. Today is Talent Round-Up Day.

1962 - The TV series Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color airs "Hurricane Hannah."

1966 - At 5:00 p.m. on this Friday, a private service is held for Walt Disney's immediate family at Little Church of the Flowers of Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. No announcements of the funeral are made until after it has taken place.

1977 - The Disney live-action feature Candleshoe - starring Jodie Foster as Casey Brown, Helen Hayes as Lady St. Edmund (in her last screen appearance), and David Niven playing 3 roles including the part of Priory - is released.

1978 - Disney's animated short The Small One, directed by Don Bluth, is released. Set in the town of Bethlehem on the eve of the first Christmas, it is based on the children's book by Charles Tazewell.

1983 - Disney's 25-minute Mickey Mouse short Mickey's Christmas Carol is released. A Disney version of the Charles Dickens tale, it is Mickey's first appearance since The Simple Things in 1953. The short features the final performance of Clarence Nash as Donald Duck (the only character in the film to be voiced by his original actor) and the first performance of Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse.

1990 - Disney Channel Christmas airs on the Disney Channel.

1990 - The Commisary restaurant opens at Disney-MGM Studios.

1994 - After extensive renovations, Walt Disney World's Snow White's Adventures reopens as Snow White's Scary Adventures. Meanwhile over in Tomorrowland, the new ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter offers a soft opening.

1997 - Ninety-eight-year-old Lillian Bounds Disney dies peacefully in her sleep at her home in West Los Angeles, after suffering a stroke the day before. (Her husband Walt had died thirty-one years ago and a day in the early morning of December 15, 1966.)

2001 - The Disney Family invites fans to celebrate the holidays at Walt's Carolwood Barn in Griffith Park, California. The festive gathering features free refreshments, candy canes, and "Engineer Santa."

2003 - Disney's 2003 comedy hit Freaky Friday is released on DVD and VHS.

2003 - Actor Edward James Olmos narrates Epcot's Candlelight Processional.

2003 - It is reported that Disney has set a July start date for its remake of the 1959 feature The Shaggy Dog. The studio has asked Brian Robbins to direct Tim Allen as a man who occasionally changes into a sheepdog.

2003 - Disney's Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Brother Bear, and Freaky Friday are all nominated for BFCA Awards (given by the Broadcast Film Critics Association).

2004 - The Walt Disney Company breaks ground on the first phase of a 125-acre campus that eventually will house its theme-park designers, sound stages and a high-tech business center. The Grand Central Creative Campus project (or GC3) at Grandview Avenue and Flower Street in Los Angeles is expected to be completed by December 2006.

2006 - The Central Florida Hotel & Lodging Association presents Al Weiss, president of worldwide operations for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, the 2006 Charles Andrew Hospitality Award for Community Leadership. Each year, the award honors one local leader for his or her contribution to the area's tourism industry through community service.

2006 - Florida governor-elect Charlie Crist spends the morning at Disney World's Magic Kingdom with 20 foster families for "Florida's Youth Day." Families are later led through the park with personal guides, armed with Fast Passes to the most popular rides and attractions.

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