Lillian Disney

Lillian Disney (February 15, 1899 - December 16, 1997) was the wife of Walt Disney from 1925 until his death in 1966.

Her filmography includes working as an ink artist for the short film Plane Crazy. Lillian is credited with having named her husband's famous character, Mickey Mouse, during a train trip from New York to California in 1928. Walt showed a drawing of the cartoon mouse to his wife and told her that he was going to name it "Mortimer Mouse." Lillian replied that the name sounded "too pompous" and she was very proud to have suggested the name "Mickey Mouse" instead of Mortimer.

Walt named one of the Disneyland Railroad cars the "Lilly Belle" in her honor, and the Walt Disney World Railroad in Magic Kingdom has the locomotive named "Lilly Belle", where each locomotive is named for someone who greatly contributed to the Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Imagineering created "The Empress Lilly", a paddle steamer replica, at Downtown Disney at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida which was christened by Lillian herself on May 1, 1997. Lillian was inducted to the Disney Legends in 2003.

Lillian Disney suffered a stroke on December 15, 1997, which was exactly 31 years after the death of her first husband, Walt. She died the following morning on December 16, 1997 at her home in Los Angeles, California. She was 98 years old.