Walt Disney--Frozen or Not?

[goofystitch]

Neil Gabler in the introduction to his new and expansive biography of Walt Disney has this to say:

He was frozen. At least that was the rumor that emerged shortly after his death and quickly became legend: Walt Disney had been cryogenically preserved, hibernating like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, to await the day when science could revive him and cure his disease. Though it is impossible to determine exactly, the source of the rumor may have been a tabloid named National Spotlite, whose correspondent claimed to have sneaked into St. Joseph's Hospital where Disney had expired, disguised himself as an orderly, picked the lock on a storage room door, and spotted Disney suspended in a metal sylinder. The story also surfaced in 1969 in a French publication, Ici Paris, which said it based its report on individuals close to Disney, and it was repeated in The National Tattler, an American scandal sheet, which added that Disney had instructed dosctors to thaw him until 1975... Ward Kimbal, a puckish animator at the studio, took some pride in keeping the rumor afloat. And Disney himself may have lent it credence. Accordiing to one account, just weeks after his death studio department heads were invited to a screening room with naneplates on the seats, then watched a film of Disney sitting at his desk eerily pointing to and addressing each of them on future plans. He concluded by smiling knowingly and saying that he would be seeing them soon.

In truth, Disney's final destination was fire, not ice; he had been cremated and his ashes interred in a mausoleum in a remote corner of the Forest Lawn Cemetary in Glendale, California, not far from his studio.

So there you have it. The origination of the rumor and then the actual facts. And if you are interested in the life of Walt, Neal Gabler's book is incredible. I'm 1/4 of the way through it and I can't put it down.