Walt's younger daughter Sharon was adopted by Walt and Lilly in
January, 1937, several years after the birth of her older sister
Diane. She was interviewed by Katherine and Richard Greene over
the course of a few sessions in January of 1986, and several times
over the next years. Sharon was gracious, candid, thoughtful and
very hospitable. Sharon conducted very few interviews so her observations,
made some 15 years ago, have taken on a rather significant historical
importance.
Sharon had one child during Walt's lifetime: Victoria. She lost
her first husband, Bob Brown, to cancer shortly after Walt's death.
She later remarried and had twins, Brad and Michele. Sadly, Sharon
died of cancer in 1993.
Following are some excerpts from the 1986 interview, primarily
pertaining to Sharon's memories of her father at home and during
a brief period when she worked at the studio. More excerpts will
follow in months to come in the Walt Disney Family Museum.
Q. When you
were a child, were you aware of your father's fame?
A. "I was not aware of any of that. We weren't raised with
the idea that this is a great man who was doing things that no one
else has ever done. He was Daddy. He was a man who went to work
every morning. He came home every night. I don't think we recognized
the fact that he was a famous producer. Even when we went to Europe
I never knew that the people we were associating with were incredibly
brilliant people."
Q. Tell us
about your father's attitude toward homework.
A. "It always made him mad that we had homework. I remember
him going to the principal of the school and saying, 'I don't think
it's fair. You've got my daughter in school from 8:00 in the morning
to four in the afternoon and I don't think it's fair that she should
have to come home and do homework rather than being with her family.'
There were many nights when they would run movies and Diane and
I would just have too much homework."
Q. Was it
painful missing out on those screenings?
A. "Oh, very. The first thing I would ask when I came into
the house was, 'What's Daddy running tonight?'"
Q. Did he
show films every night?
A. "No, usually a couple of nights a week. He'd run movies
from many studios because he wanted to see what everyone else was
doing. We'd have dinner, and dinner was over by 7:30, and then go
right to the playroom because he went to bed at 10 o'clock. He and
Mommy weren't night people."
Q. But didn't
he work at night?
A. "He'd get up in the middle of the night, but around ten
he'd say, 'Good night, kid,' and they'd go to bed early. Diane and
I would be up doing our homework long after they'd go to bed."
Q. Was he able
to leave his work behind him at the studio when he got home?
A. "He never brought studio problems home. He never said,
'I'm really having a hard time with a script.' But you knew it.
You could sense it. He'd be deeply buried in what he was reading,
in what he was working on. We had this brown leather chair that
was Daddy's chair, it was the most comfortable chair in the world,
and he'd sit there with a script and you'd look at his face and
you could tell he was having a hard time. His eyebrow would go up
and he'd mouth the words. You could tell by the way he was reading
that he was having a hard time with something."
Q. Didn't
you perform in his film "Johnny Tremain"?
A. "I was modeling then and I wanted to get in the Screen
Actor's Guild for commercials, but you couldn't get in unless you
had been in something with a speaking part. It was a Catch-22 situation.
So he put me in "Johnny Tremain" and gave me a one word
line."

Q. What was that one word?
A. "'Yes.' But they kept me there for seven
days. I was in all the mob scenes. It was fun, a great experience
but I decided I was definitely not going to be an actress. I
just wanted a chance to do a commercial."

Q. You also worked at the studio as a secretary. What was that
like?
A. "When I worked at the studio, I knew he
was keeping track of me. He knew that I was punching a time
clock. He knew if I was late. And he called the personnel office
every so often and asked, 'Is she goofing off or what?' He was
very proud that I was there for two years, on time every morning
and never left early."

Q. Was it tough on your bosses having Walt Disney's daughter
as their secretary?
A."Not on my boss, but maybe on some other
people. Rumors go around. They said I was in there as a spy,
and that I was going home and reporting to Daddy all the things
that were going on. I think I made one comment one night and
Daddy said, 'You stick to your job and I'll stick to mine.'
That was it. I never said another thing."
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