Donald Duck

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Lore & Background

Donald Duck first appeared in The Wise Little Hen (1934), but his second appearance in Orphan's Benefit that same year introduced him as a temperamental comic foil to Mickey Mouse. Throughout the next two decades, Donald appeared in over 150 theatrical films. In the 1930s, he typically appeared as part of a comic trio with Mickey and Goofy and was given his own film series starting with Don Donald (1937). These films introduced his love interest and permanent girlfriend Daisy Duck and often included his three nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. After Chips Ahoy (1956), Donald appeared primarily in educational films before returning to theatrical animation in Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983). His final appearance in a theatrical film was in Fantasia 2000 (1999). Since then, Donald has appeared in direct-to-video features such as Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004), television series such as Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (2006–2016), and video games such as QuackShot (1991), Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers (2000) and the Kingdom Hearts series (2002–present). In addition to animation, Donald is well known worldwide for his appearances in comics, most famously drawn by Al Taliaferro, Carl Barks, and Don Rosa.

In Their Own Story

The character of Donald Duck is portrayed as an impatient, immature, and arrogant duck with a pessimistic attitude and an insecure disposition. His two dominant personality traits are his fiery temper and his cynical attitude to life. Donald typically starts off every cartoon in a jolly mood until certain events happen to greatly distress him. His rage proves to be disadvantageous when he goes too far, though he is capable of temporarily controlling his temper, if not enough to handle his conflicts. However, he is capable of courage and perseverance, able to defeat threats of any kind and complete difficult tasks when combined with his outbursts. As animator Fred Spencer put it: 'The Duck gets a big kick out of imposing on other people or annoying them, but he immediately loses his temper when the tables are turned. In other words, he can dish it out, but he can't take it.'

Reader's Guide

Voice performer Clarence Nash auditioned for Walt Disney Studios when he learned that Disney was looking for people to create animal sounds for his cartoons. Disney was particularly impressed with Nash's duck imitation and chose him to voice the new character. Disney came up with Donald's iconic attributes including his short temper and his sailor suit (based on ducks and sailors both being associated with water). While Dick Huemer and Art Babbit were the first to animate Donald, Dick Lundy is credited for developing him as a character. The character is known for possessing an only partly intelligible voice, developed by Donald's original performer, Clarence Nash. During an interview, Tony Anselmo revealed that 'Most people believe that Donald's voice is done squeezing air through the cheek, that is not true. I can't reveal how it's actually done, but it is definitely not done by squeezing air through the cheek.' Nash reputedly originally developed the voice as that of a 'nervous baby goat' before Walt Disney interpreted it as sounding like a duck.

Did You Know?

• Donald Duck has appeared in more films than any other Disney character.
• His first appearance was in The Wise Little Hen (1934), but his second appearance in Orphan's Benefit that same year introduced him as a temperamental comic foil to Mickey Mouse.
• Donald's voice was originally developed by Clarence Nash as that of a 'nervous baby goat' before Walt Disney interpreted it as sounding like a duck.
• Donald was included in TV Guide's list of the 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time in 2002.
• He has earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.