1921 - Character actor Richard Deacon is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His Disney credits include Blackbeard's Ghost, The Gnome-Mobile, Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N., and That Darn Cat!. (TV fans know him as Mel Cooley on The Dick Van Dyke Show and as Lumpy's father Fred on Leave It To Beaver.)

1923 - Walt Disney writes to New York film distributor Margaret J. Winkler, looking for a distributor for his new Alice's Wonderland film.

1925 - Actor Alvin Epstein - the voice of the Bookseller in Disney's 1991 classic Beauty and the Beast - is born in New York City.

1928 - Disney's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit black & white silent short Hungry Hoboes is released.

1942 - Academy Award-winning composer and songwriter Frank Churchill passes away in California. In December 1930, he joined The Walt Disney Studios where he scored nearly 65 animated shorts and wrote such timeless tunes as "Whistle While You Work," "Heigh-Ho" and "Someday My Prince Will Come."

1944 - Filmmaker George Lucas is born in Modesto, California. His popular Star Wars and Indiana Jones adventure movies will be the inspiration for Disney attractions.

1948 - Director, writer, and co-creator of Hannah Montana, Richard Correll is born in Los Angeles, California. His Disney Channel credits also include The Suite Life of Zak and Cody, Cory in the House, and That's So Raven.

1952 - Academy Award-winning movie director, producer and writer Robert Zemeckis is born in Chicago, Illinois. He will be known for his innovative use of special effects, especially in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (in which he will direct the live-action sequences).

1958 - The Walt Disney Presents TV series features episode 99 - "Magic Highway U.S.A." written and produced by Ward Kimball. The first 45 minutes of the show teaches viewers about highway development, through archival footage. (Only recently have Americans been introduced to the Interstate road system.) The last 15 minutes of the episode features a sleek and stylized presentation of future America. Informally titled "The Road Ahead," and using limited animation, the segment demonstrates futuristic transportation concepts.

1958 - Disney's 1953 animated feature Peter Pan is re-released in theaters.

1961 - The TV series Walt Disney Presents airs part 2 of "Andrew's Raiders."

1971 - Walt Disney Productions releases The Aristocats (the twentieth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon) in Argentina.

1972 - In Los Angeles, Sotheby's holds the first auction devoted to Disneyana.

1977 - TV Guide features an article on The New Mickey Mouse Club.

1992 - CBS This Morning broadcasts segments from Disneyland. Weatherman Mark McEwen plugs various attractions at Disneyland, such as "Fantasmic!," and then delivers the nation's weather forecast. Disney's popular barbershop harmony group, the Dapper Dans open a segment of the show by entering on a fire truck, and singing and playing the CBS This Morning theme song: "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" (from Oklahoma!).

1999 - Walt Disney Pictures' 1982 landmark computer-animated feature Tron returns for a special one-week limited engagement at The El Capitan Theatre in California.

1999 - The Disney film Endurance (which depicts the true story of Ethiopian long-distance runner Haile Gebrselassie) is released.

2001 - Disney Online and Compaq Computer Corporation unveil an all-new high-tech exhibit at Disney's Internet Zone at INNOVENTIONS (located at Walt Disney World's Epcot). Disney's Internet Zone features the Mission: SPACE Launch Center exhibit. The experience is a precursor to the Mission: SPACE attraction which is scheduled to open in 2003.

2002 - Disney's 1988 Oliver and Company (inspired by the classic Charles Dickens novel "Oliver Twist") is released on DVD and VHS.

2002 - Disney Interactive announces their newest 3D action role-playing game, KINGDOM HEARTS.

2004 - Starting today, Star Wars characters come to life at Disney's MGM Studios for 5 consecutive weekends.

2004 - Disney's "Blast to the Past: A Celebration of Walt Disney Art Classics" begins its 3-day run at Disneyland.

2005 - Sadly, a 26-year-old African elephant whose calf died in its womb last month at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom, dies from a uterine infection.

2005 - The creative teams behind three Disney Channel series, Walt Disney Television Animation's Kim Possible and Brandy & Mr. Whiskers and the Playhouse Disney hit from William Joyce and Nelvana Ltd., Rolie Polie Olie, win Daytime Emmy Awards at the 32nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards creative arts ceremony in Beverly Hills, California.

2007 - Disney announces the donation of $12.5 million to the city of Orlando, Florida for a new performing arts center, the same day Walt Disney World officials unveil the rededicated Walt Disney Amphitheater at Lake Eola Park in downtown Orlando.

2008 - Slapstick Studios opens at Innoventions West in Epcot. Guests participate in a wacky game show and discover creative ways to solve problems.

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