William Crozier "Bill" Walsh was an American comic author, film producer, and screenwriter, who primarily worked on live-action films for Walt Disney Productions, most notably Mary Poppins, The Love Bug, The Shaggy Dog, The Absent-Minded Professor, Blackbeard's Ghost, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
Walsh began his work at Disney as a press agent while writing comic strips for characters, like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and gag-of-the-day strips before moving to television operations, which led to successes, like The Mickey Mouse Club and Davy Crockett. His greater success came when he moved to live-action feature films.
He co-wrote with Don DaGradi and produced an adaptation of P.L. Travers' Mary Poppins books which achieved commercial and critical acclaim as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. He and DaGradi would become a frequent collaborators in later productions.
After Walt Disney's death in 1966, Walsh was part of the seven man committee who ran the company. In 1970, an article in Variety magazine listed him as the second most successful film producer of all time in terms of money-earning movies even though he was "a guy no one's ever heard of."
Walsh died of a heart attack in 1975 and became a Disney Legend in 1991.
Disney Filmography[]
| Year | Film | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Fun and Fancy Free | 1947 | songwriter: "My, What a Happy Day" "My Favorite Dream" |
| One Hour in Wonderland | 1950 | writer, producer |
| The Walt Disney Christmas Show | 1951 | producer |
| The Disneyland Story | 1954 | writer, producer |
| The Magical World of Disney | 1954-1957 | writer, producer |
| Davy Crockett | 1954–55 | producer |
| The Littlest Outlaw | 1955 | writer |
| Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier | 1955 | producer |
| The Mickey Mouse Club | 1955–56 | producer |
| Corky and White Shadow | 1956 | producer |
| The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure | 1956 | producer |
| Adventure in Dairyland | 1956 | producer |
| Further Adventures of Spin and Marty | 1956 | producer |
| Davy Crockett and the River Pirates | 1956 | producer |
| Westward Ho, the Wagons! | 1956 | associate producer |
| The Fourth Anniversary Show | 1957 | producer |
| The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Ghost Farm | 1957 | producer |
| The Adventures of Clint and Mac | 1957 | producer |
| Walt Disney Presents: Annette | 1958 | producer, composer: additional music |
| Disneyland '59 | 1959 | producer |
| The Shaggy Dog | 1959 | writer, associate producer |
| Toby Tyler or Ten Weeks with a Circus | 1960 | writer, producer |
| The Absent-Minded Professor | 1961 | writer, associate producer |
| Bon Voyage! | 1962 | writer, associate producer |
| Son of Flubber | 1963 | writer, co producer |
| The Misadventures of Merlin Jones | 1964 | story |
| Mary Poppins | 1964 | writer, co-producer |
| That Darn Cat! | 1965 | writer, co-producer |
| Lt. Robin Crusoe USN | 1966 | writer, co-producer |
| Blackbeard's Ghost | 1968 | writer, co producer |
| The Love Bug | 1969 | writer, producer |
| Scandalous John | 1971 | writer, producer |
| Bedknobs and Broomsticks | 1971 | writer, producer |
| The Grand Opening of Walt Disney World | 1971 | writer, executive producer |
| The World's Greatest Athlete | 1973 | producer |
| Herbie Rides Again | 1974 | writer, producer |
| One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing | 1975 | writer, producer |