Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by Walt Disney and Dick Lundy. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Often described by critics and scholars as a global pop culture icon of animation, Donald is known for his semi-intelligible speech and his volatile, boisterous, and high-energy personality. Along with his friend Mickey Mouse, Donald is one of the most recognizable characters owned by the Walt Disney Company, and was included in TV Guides list of the 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time in 2002, as well as earning a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has appeared in more films than any other Disney character.Not including television episodes but including short films, Donald has appeared in 197 films. (Donald Duck at IMDb, retrieved August 15, 2014) The Disney character with the second most film appearances is Mickey Mouse at 167. (Mickey Mouse at IMDb, retrieved August 15, 2014)
Donald Duck has appeared in over 150 animated short films in the golden age of American animation, several of which were recognized at the Academy Awards. Donald's first appearance was in the Silly Symphony film The Wise Little Hen (1934), but was reworked as a temperamental comic foil to Mickey Mouse in Orphan's Benefit. 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 Donald's love interest and permanent girlfriend Daisy Duck and often included his three nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Donald gradually outshone Mickey, who was relegated to a side character in newer cartoons while Donald maintained his own series until 1961.
After the film Chips Ahoy (1956), Donald appeared primarily in educational films before eventually returning to theatrical animation in Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983). His final appearance in a theatrical film was in Fantasia 2000 (1999). However, 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. Donald was most famously drawn by Al Taliaferro, Carl Barks, and Don Rosa. Barks, in particular, is credited for greatly expanding the "Donald Duck universe", the world in which Donald lives, and creating many additional characters such as Donald's rich uncle Scrooge McDuck. Donald has been a popular character in Europe, particularly in Nordic countries. In Italy, Donald is a major character in many comics, including a juvenile version named Paperino Paperotto, and a superhero alter ego known as Paperinik (Duck Avenger in the US and Super duck in the UK).
Characteristics Appearance Donald Duck is portrayed as a white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and webbed feet, the color pattern of a domestic duck of the American Pekin breed, but instead of wings he has arms and three-fingered hands with opposable thumbs. He usually wears an originally black, later blue sailor shirt with a black or red bow tie and a blue sailor's cap, but no pants or footwear.
Voice
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. The Hanna-Barbera character 'Yakky Doodle' is done that way. Donald Duck is not." Nash reputedly originally developed the voice as that of a "nervous baby goat" before Walt Disney interpreted it as sounding like a duck.
Personality
Donald Duck is portrayed as an impatient, immature, and arrogant duck with a pessimistic attitude and an insecure disposition. In addition, 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 anger him, in part due to his antagonistic behavior, jealousy or general incompetence. 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.
Donald has a mischievous side, taking delight in causing chaos as well as imposing superiority on Chip and Dale and Huey, Dewey and Louie. As animator Fred Spencer put it:
However, with a few exceptions, Donald means no ill will and is apologetic at times. In Truant Officer Donald, for example, when he is tricked into believing he has accidentally killed Huey, Dewey, and Louie, he shows great regret, blaming himself. His nephews appear in the form of angels, and he willingly endures a kick by one of them—that is, of course, until he realizes he has been tricked, whereupon he promptly loses his temper.
Donald is also a bit of a poseur. As a jack of all trades, he typically overestimates his abilities out of hubris, so that when he sets out to make good on his boasts, he fails spectacularly to hilarious effect. A running gag in the Donald Duck comics involves him being physically unhealthy and unmotivated to exercise in spite of his appearance and achievements. Donald had a stint in the U.S. Army during World War II that culminated with him serving as a commando in the film Commando Duck, and he was frequently away serving in the U.S. Navy in the television cartoon series DuckTales.
Friendly rivalry with Mickey Mouse Donald is occasionally shown as a foil of Mickey Mouse, being envious of his success and refusing to be second banana, in spite of his popularity surpassing that of Mickey's in real life. Chuck Jones used this relationship as the basis for the rivalry between Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny in his cartoons. In most Disney theatrical cartoons, Mickey and Donald are shown as friends and have little to no rivalry (exceptions being The Band Concert, Magician Mickey and near the end of Symphony Hour, which were due to Donald's antagonistic schemes). However, by the time The Mickey Mouse Club aired on television, it was shown that Donald always wanted the spotlight.
In the TV special Mickey's 60th Birthday, Mickey is cursed by a sorcerer to become unnoticed, causing Donald Duck to be arrested for the apparent kidnapping of Mickey, but his charges are dismissed due to a lack of evidence. Walt Disney, in his Wonderful World of Color, would sometimes make reference to the rivalry. Walt, one time, had presented Donald with a gigantic birthday cake and commented how it was "even bigger than Mickey's", which pleased Donald. The clip was rebroadcast in November 1984 during a TV special honoring Donald's 50th birthday, with Dick Van Dyke substituting for Walt.
The rivalry between Mickey and Donald was shown in the 2001-2003 television series House of Mouse. It was shown that Donald wanted to be the club's founder and wanted to change the name from House of Mouse to House of Duck, which is obvious in the episodes "The Stolen Cartoons" and "Timon and Pumbaa". In the episode "Everybody Loves Mickey", Donald's jealousy is explored and even joins sides with Mortimer Mouse. However, Donald has a change of heart when Daisy reminds Donald how Mickey has always been there to support him. Since then, Donald accepted that Mickey was the founder and worked with Mickey as a partner to make the club profitable and successful.
Enemies Donald has numerous enemies, who range from comical foil to annoying nemesis: Chip 'n' Dale, Pete, Humphrey the Bear, Spike the Bee, Mountain Lion Louie, Bootle Beetle, Witch Hazel (in Trick or Treat), Aracuan Bird and Baby Shelby (in Mickey Mouse Works). During the Second World War, propaganda cartoons produced saw Donald set against Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.
In the comics, he is often harassed or on the run from the Beagle Boys, Magica De Spell, Gladstone Gander and Mr. Jones.
In the video game Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers, he saves Daisy from Merlock.
The Italian-produced comic PKNA – Paperinik New Adventures stars Donald Duck as Paperinik, or Duck Avenger, in his battles against new alien enemies: Evronian Empire, founded by emperor Evron.
Origin Voice performer Clarence Nash auditioned for Walt Disney Productions 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.
On April 29, 1934, five days before The Wise Little Hen's first theatrical release, bandleader Raymond Paige performed the score to the cartoon on his California Melodies program for the Los Angeles AM radio station KHJ. The main vocals were performed by a trio, the Three Rhythm Kings. Clarence Nash and Florence Gill performed the character voices for this radio treatment, with Nash performing both Donald Duck and Peter Pig, making it the first time the public heard Nash's duck voice.
An apocryphal alternative story for how Donald was created came about from a claim that Disney was watching an exhibition cricket match between Australia and the New York West Indians and Australia's star batsman Don Bradman was out for a duck. Disney allegedly used this as inspiration for the character. However, the veracity of this has been doubted by modern historians.
Animation Early development
Donald Duck's first film appearance was in the 1934 cartoon The Wise Little Hen, which was part of the Silly Symphonies series of theatrical cartoon shorts. The film's given release date of June 9 is officially recognized by the Walt Disney Company as Donald's birthday, though historian J.B. Kaufman, consultant of the Walt Disney Family Museum, discovered in recent years that The Wise Little Hen was first shown on May 3, 1934, at the Carthay Circle Theater for a benefit program, while its official debut was on June 7 at the Radio City Music Hall. Donald's appearance in the cartoon, as created by animator Dick Lundy, is similar to his modern look – the feather and beak colors are the same, as are the blue sailor shirt and hat – but his features are more elongated, his body plumper, his feet smaller, and his sclerae white. Donald's personality is not developed in the short, being presented as a generic anthropomorphic duck. Peter Pig was also introduced in the film, but never caught on as a character due to his overt resemblance to Porky Pig.
Burt Gillett brought Donald back in a 1934 Mickey Mouse cartoon, Orphans' Benefit. Donald is one of a number of characters who are giving performances in a benefit for Mickey's Orphans. Donald's act is to recite the poems "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Little Boy Blue", but every time he tries, the mischievous orphans heckle him, leading the duck to fly into a squawking fit of anger. This explosive personality would remain with Donald for decades to come.