1786 - Writer and linguist Wilhelm Carl Grimm is born in Hanau, Germany. (He and his brother Jacob will be the first to write down such classic folktales as Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty.)

1939 - Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon The Practical Pig (featuring the Three Little Pigs) is released.

1940 - Florida-born Frances Langford records the song "When You Wish Upon a Star." The release of Disney's Pinocchio prompts the successful singer-actress to record her own version of the tune. (Eight years later Langford's singing voice will be used in the Disney animated feature Melody Time.)

1943 - Master Disney animator Vladimir "Bill" Tytla resigns from the Disney Studios. His perception that he is unwelcomed at the Studio, has been given less challenging work, his wife's three-year long illness with tuberculosis, and a desire to live on his Connecticut farm has led him to this decision. Considered by many to be the best character animator working during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation, Tytla's credits include Grumpy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Stromboli in Pinocchio, and Chernabog in the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence from Fantasia.

1950 - Disney's first full-length animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (originally released in the U.S. in 1937) is released in West Germany.

1951 - Actress Debra Jo Rupp is born in Glendale, California. Best known from the hit TV series That '70s Show, her Disney credits include Air Buddies and the animated Teacher's Pet (both feature film & TV series).

1955 - Steve Jobs, one of the leading figures in the computer industry, is born to an American mother and Syrian father in San Francisco, California. A co-founder & CEO of Apple Computer, Jobs bought Lucasfilm's computer graphics division in the mid-1980s and turned it into Pixar Animation Studios. As of 2009 Jobs is currently the Walt Disney Company's largest individual shareholder and a member of its Board of Directors.

1956 - The Disney short Chips Ahoy, featuring Donald Duck and Chip 'n' Dale, is released. It is Disney's first short release of 1956.

1957 - The LP record Firehouse Five Plus Two - Firehouse Five Plus Two Goes to Sea is released on the Good Time Jazz label. The Dixieland group features animators Ward Kimball (on trombone) & Frank Thomas (on piano), and songwriter George Bruns (on tuba).

1960 - Disney's live-action adventure feature Kidnapped, starring Peter Finch, Peter O'Toole, and James MacArthur is released. It is based on the Robert Louis Stevenson classic historical novel Kidnapped - first published in 1886.

1963 - The TV series Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color airs part 2 of "Banner in the Sky."

1969 - Disney's Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day is nominated for an Academy Award.

1975 - Disney's Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too is nominated for an Academy Award.

1985 - The Disney Clothiers shop opens in the Magic Kingdom at Disney World.

1993 - It's a big night for Beauty and the Beast at the 35th Grammy Awards, held at the Shrine Auditorium. Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal goes to "Beauty and the Beast," performed by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson. Best Pop Instrumental Performance is awarded to "Beauty and the Beast," - Richard Kaufman conducting Nurenberg Symphony Orchestra. Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television is given to composer Alan Menken for Beauty and the Beast. Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television is awarded to "Beauty and the Beast," written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken.

1999 - Disney's The Lion King wins Best Musical Show Album at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards, which are announced at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California.

2001 - The animated series Disney's House of Mouse airs episode 6 "Timon & Pumbaa."

2003 - It is reported that baggage searches at Walt Disney World parks (which began after September 11, 2001) may continue for a long time. Disney has begun building a permanent bag check area at the Magic Kingdom to take the place of the folding tables now being used.

2004 - Today is the last day for Walt Disney World guests to view "75 InspEARations" (a tribute to Mickey Mouse). The statues will begin a U.S. tour in May.

2004 - The ABC-TV comedy series According to Jim airs part 1 of "When You Wish To Be A Star," an episode filmed aboard the Disney Magic. It is the first time ever an entertainment program has been filmed aboard either of the premier Disney Cruise Line ships.

2005 - Singabration (a song & dance event that includes 750 students performing on the Forecourt of Cinderella's Castle) kicks off at Walt Disney World.

2005 - Star Wars filmmaker Geroge Lucas visits the Disney-MGM Studios in Florida.

2005 - It is reported that the Florida Board of Governors has appointed Walt Disney World Resort President Al Weiss to the University of Central Florida board of trustees.

2006 - Comedic actor Don Knotts passes away at age 81 in Beverly Hills, California. Best known to fans of TV's The Andy Griffith Show as the loveable but nerdy Deputy Barney Fife, Knotts was a five-time Emmy winner. His Disney voice credits include Chicken Little (as Mayor Turkey Lurkey) and 101 Dalmations: The Series (as the dog catcher). Knotts also appeared in the Disney live-action features The Apple Dumpling Gang, The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again, No Deposit, No Return and Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo.

2006 - Sadly actor Dennis Weaver passes too in Colorado at age 81. Best known for his TV roles in Gunsmoke and McCloud, Weaver was the voice of Abner in Disney's 2004 animated feature Home on the Range. He also appeared in the Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color "Gallegher Goes West" series (which aired in 1966).

2008 - Brad Bird accepts the awarded for Best Animated Feature for the Disney/Pixar Ratatouille at the 80th Academy Awards.

2008 - After spending several weeks at Walt Disney World, nine sea turtles are released back into the Atlantic Ocean this morning. The turtles originally washed up on the Brevard County shore in December 2007 during a red tide bloom and needed to be nursed back to health.

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