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New
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The Family Grows
(1) |
Walt, Lilly and their children
on board the Queen Elizabeth.
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By and large, neither girl was overly
delighted with the burdens their father's fame placed
on them. "To us, he was just Daddy," said Sharon.
"I always wished he was just ordinary people," said
Diane. "From the first moment I became aware of
his fame, I hated it. I didn't like the attention
drawn to me. . . . I loved him, respected him, admired
him, and thought he was a wonderful father. And
we had a wonderful life. But it feels like for the
rest of my life, I'm living being Walt Disney's
daughter, without being an ordinary somebody." In
1951 Diane started at the University of Southern
California, while Sharon attended Westlake High
School. Like so many fathers, Walt decided by this
point that he had them pegged: Diane was the intellectual
and Sharon was the beauty. He'd comment on Sharon,
as she prepared for a date, "Look at her. This is
my glamour puss. This is my beautiful daughter."
While at USC, Diane had a blind
date with a handsome, six-foot-five football player
named Ron Miller. Soon enough -- with Walt and Lilly's
blessing -- they announced their desire to marry. |
Walt cried at Diane's wedding. Tears
were running down his cheeks as he gave away his
precious daughter. But, she said, "at the reception
afterwards he was his old . . . self. He's wonderful.
He had to stand on tiptoe for the photographers
because Ron is so tall." Ron and Diane, for their
part, giggled through much of the ceremony in a
style reminiscent of Lillian, almost 30 years before.
After the wedding, Ron worked for Walt for a while
and then joined the army. He and Diane lived in
Pacific Grove, near Fort Ord.
Diane was pregnant and Walt was
delighted; he'd introduce her as the "custodian
of my grandson." However, when Christopher Miller
was born, there was one disappointment. Walt had
assumed that if Diane's first child was a boy he'd
be named Walter. But when the time came, Diane decided
that this child needed a brand-new name. Walt was
nice about it, but he proclaimed that the next boy
would be Walter. And that's what indeed came to
pass -- Walt would have to wait while Diane had
three girls in between: Joanna, Tamara, and Jennifer.
After Ron got out of the service, he signed on with
the L.A. Rams and played a year for them. "We didn't
have a place to live right away, so we lived with
Walt and Lilly for a while," recalled Ron. "That
was quite an experience. Here's this big guy sleeping
until eleven o'clock, and Walt had been up for four
or five hours by then." |
Diane and Ron's wedding in 1954.
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Walt in his beloved Disneyland,
standing underneath the window
that reads 'Elias Disney - Contractor'
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In 1955 Walt's career took a turn
that propelled his family even more squarely into
the public eye. His television show, "Disneyland,"
began on ABC on October 27, 1954. Walt was the master
of ceremonies, and his face soon became known throughout
the world. No longer could he visit places and be
an unrecognized tourist. Now he was immediately
besieged by men and women in search of an autograph.
He loved the fame -- much of the time. But after
Disneyland, the park, opened the following year,
Walt came to understand that his now-famous face
meant he was besieged by crowds there once it opened
in the morning. This was fun, but it also stopped
him from actually getting any work done. So he sometimes
disguised himself with sunglasses and a floppy-brimmed
hat. If people recognized him and requested autographs,
he'd ask them to send a note to the studio. Sometimes,
though, a child would approach him. He would place
his finger to his lips -- conspiring with his young
admirer to keep his identity a secret -- and hand
the child an autograph he had prepared that morning
in the apartment he and Lilly kept over the firehouse
on Main Street. |
When Diane was pregnant with her second
child, the young couple started making plans for
a new house. Walt drew up the plans himself. At
that time he was very excited about the Monsanto
House at Disneyland, and told Diane he thought she
should use her kitchen as a laboratory of new labor-saving
devices. When Joanna was born, Ron called his in-laws
immediately. Lilly answered and conveyed the news
to Walt that Diane had a little girl. "Oh, how wonderful
for Ron," he said, "A daughter. Oh, Ron will just
love this." Then, Lillian reported, he lit a cigarette,
got out the house plans and said, "Now, let's get
separate bathrooms for the children." After one
season in which Ron played for the Rams, Walt was
worried. The two times he had gone to see Ron play,
his son-in-law got hurt -- on one occasion knocked
unconscious. "If you keep playing football," Walt
told him, "you're going to die, and I'm going to
have to raise those little guys." Ron went to work
with Walt on a number of television and film projects,
including "Old Yeller" and "Darby O'Gill and the
Little People." "Walt thought of Ron as being his
son," said artist and family friend Herb Ryman.
"He would stand outside the studio watching the
cars come in and he'd explain to Ron who the various
people were so that Ron would know how the business
worked." |
Walt with Chris Miller, his first
grandchild.
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