Donald Duck

Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a beloved cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. He is an anthropomorphic white duck with a bright yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet, usually seen wearing a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is famous for his quick temper and funny, hard-to-understand way of talking, which makes him a very entertaining character.

Alongside his best friend Mickey Mouse, Donald was named one of the greatest cartoon characters of all time by TV Guide in 2002 and even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has appeared in more movies than any other Disney character, starting with The Wise Little Hen in 1934 and going on to star in over 150 funny animated cartoons. Many of these cartoons were honored at the Academy Awards.

Donald has also been a big star in comic books, with famous artists like Al Taliaferro, Carl Barks, and Don Rosa drawing his adventures. In Italy, Donald even has a superhero name called Paperinik, also known as Duck Avenger in the United States. He remains popular around the world, especially in Nordic countries and Italy, and continues to appear in new stories and shows today.

Characteristics

Donald Duck is a white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He usually wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known for having a voice that is hard to understand. He is often shown as impatient, immature, and quick to get angry. Despite his temper, Donald can be brave and determined when facing challenges.

Donald enjoys causing trouble, especially with his friends Chip and Dale and his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. He sometimes acts very confident but often fails when trying to prove himself. Donald also has a friendly but sometimes jealous relationship with his friend Mickey Mouse. Over time, Donald learns to work with Mickey as a team. He faces many funny and tricky situations with various characters, including animals and even historical figures in some stories.

Origin

Voice performer Clarence Nash tried out for Walt Disney Studios when they needed someone to make animal sounds for cartoons. Disney liked Nash's duck sounds and picked him to be the voice of the new character. Disney decided Donald's look and personality, giving him a sailor suit and a short temper. While Dick Huemer and Art Babbit first drew Donald, Dick Lundy helped make him the character we know.

On April 29, 1934, just before The Wise Little Hen's came out in theaters, a bandleader named Raymond Paige played the music from the cartoon on the radio. Clarence Nash and Florence Gill did the character voices, with Nash doing both Donald Duck and Peter Pig. This was the first time people heard Nash's famous duck voice.

There is a fun but unlikely story that Disney got the idea for Donald while watching a cricket game between Australia and the New York West Indians. Australia's player Don Bradman was called “out” for a “duck,” and Disney supposedly used this to name the character. But historians today doubt this story is true.

Animation

Early development

Donald Duck first appeared in the 1934 cartoon The Wise Little Hen, part of the Silly Symphonies series. This cartoon, released on June 9, is recognized as Donald's birthday by the Walt Disney Company. In this early appearance, Donald looked similar to his modern self but had slightly different features.

Donald quickly became popular. He appeared in many cartoons with Mickey Mouse, often causing trouble with his loud temper. One famous early cartoon is The Band Concert (1935), where Donald disrupts Mickey's orchestra performance. In 1936, Donald's design was updated to look cuter and rounder. He also began starring in his own cartoons, starting with Don Donald in 1937. That same year, Donald's love interest, Daisy Duck, was introduced. In 1938, Donald's nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, made their first appearance in Donald's Nephews.

Wartime

During World War II, Donald starred in several animated shorts. One famous cartoon, Der Fuehrer's Face (1943), shows Donald working in a factory under difficult conditions. The cartoon ends with Donald realizing he is dreaming and waking up appreciating his life in America.

Donald also appeared in a series of six cartoons about his time in the U.S. Army. These stories followed Donald from joining the army to his missions as a soldier.

Thanks to these wartime cartoons, Donald became a popular symbol. His image appeared on many military planes and vehicles.

Post-war

After the war, many of Donald's cartoons showed him being annoyed or bothered by other characters like his nephews, Chip and Dale, or Humphrey the Bear. Donald also appeared in educational films and made guest appearances in many Disney projects.

Donald appeared in the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and later in several television shows. He had a small role in the original DuckTales series and later starred in his own show called Quack Pack.

Donald returned as a main character in the DuckTales reboot, where he tries to reconnect with his sister Della and her sons while dealing with old disagreements with his uncle Scrooge.

Voice actors

Donald was first voiced by Clarence Nash, who voiced him for 50 years. After Nash passed away, Tony Anselmo took over as Donald's official voice. Anselmo was approved by Roy E. Disney to continue the tradition of keeping Donald's voice consistent. Other voice actors have also voiced Donald in different projects over the years.

Comics

Donald Duck's comic books are very popular in many European countries, especially Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland. They are also read in Germany, the Netherlands, and Greece. These comics are mostly made and published by Disney Italy and by Egmont in several Nordic countries. Donald has also appeared in comics in The Netherlands, France, and Japan.

According to Inducks, a database about Disney comics, stories from America, Italy, and Denmark have been printed in many countries such as Australia, Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, and more. Many of these publications still continue today.

Early development

Donald first appeared in comics in 1934 in a strip based on the cartoon The Wise Little Hen. Over the next few years, he appeared in more Disney strips. By 1936, he became a main character in the Silly Symphony strip. Ted Osborne wrote these strips, and Al Taliaferro was the artist. They also introduced many of Donald's friends, including his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

In 1937, an Italian publisher named Mondadori created the first Donald Duck story made just for comic books. This story, written by Federico Pedrocchi, was the first to show Donald as an adventurer, not just a funny character. Fleetway in England also began making comic stories with Donald.

Developments under Taliaferro

A daily Donald Duck comic strip drawn by Taliaferro and written by Bob Karp began in the United States on February 2, 1938. Taliaferro and Karp added many new characters to Donald's world, including a St. Bernard dog named Bolivar, and Donald's family members like cousin Gus Goose and grandmother Grandma Duck. They also gave Donald new girlfriends, Donna and Daisy Duck, and even a car known as the "313" from its license plate.

Developments under Barks

In 1942, Western Publishing began creating original comic stories about Donald and other Disney characters. Carl Barks and Jack Hannah later continued these treasure-hunting stories.

Barks became the main writer and artist for Donald's stories. Under him, Donald became more adventurous and less angry. Pete was one of the few characters from the Mickey Mouse comics who appeared in Barks' stories.

Barks placed Donald in the city of Duckburg and created many new characters such as Neighbor Jones, Uncle Scrooge McDuck, Gladstone Gander, the Beagle Boys, Gyro Gearloose, April, May and June, Flintheart Glomgold, Magica de Spell, and John D. Rockerduck. Many of Taliaferro's characters also joined Barks' stories. Donald often appeared with Uncle Scrooge, and by 1952, Scrooge had his own comic book. Barks later focused more on Scrooge's adventures, with Donald sometimes helping him.

Further developments

Many writers around the world continued to use Donald in their stories.

For example, Disney Studio artists created comics just for Europe. Dick Kinney and Al Hubbard made up Donald's cousin Fethry Duck. American artists Vic Lockman and Tony Strobl created Moby Duck. Strobl drew many stories written by Barks after he retired, and later, Dutch artist Daan Jippes redraw them in Barks' style.

Italian publisher Mondadori made many stories for Europe and introduced new characters like Paperinik, Donald's superhero alter ego created in 1969. Giorgio Cavazzano and Carlo Chendi created characters like Umperio Bogarto and O.K Quack. Romano Scarpa created Brigitta McBridge and Dickie Duck. Corrado Mastantuono created Bum Bum Ghigno. American artist William Van Horn introduced Rumpus McFowl. Danish artist Daniel Branca and writers Paul Halas and Charlie Martin created Sonny Seagull and Mr. Phelps.

Victor Arriagada Rios, known as Vicar, created Oona, a prehistoric duck princess. Don Rosa, an American artist, began making Disney comics in 1987 and wrote a series about Scrooge McDuck's life. Other artists include Freddy Milton and Daan Jippes. Japanese artist Shiro Amano worked on the graphic novel Kingdom Hearts.

Disney theme parks

Donald Duck is a big star in many Disney theme parks. He shows up in more shows and rides than even Mickey Mouse! Some of the fun places you can see him are Animagique, Mickey Mouse Revue, Mickey's PhilharMagic, Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years, Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros, and the new version of "It's a Small World". You can also meet Donald in person in the parks.

Children's books

Donald Duck has been a popular character in children's books since 1935. Most of these books were published by Whitman Publishing, which later became Western Publishing, or one of its subsidiaries. This list includes books where Donald is the main character, but it does not include comic books, activity books like coloring books, or the 1931 book The Adventures of Mickey Mouse, which features a different character also named Donald Duck.

Beyond Disney

Donald Duck has been used in many interesting ways outside of cartoons. He was named an honorary alumnus of the University of Oregon in 1984 and became the school's mascot called the "Fighting Duck". Fans even gave him an academic cap and gown during a visit to the airport.

Donald has also appeared in songs, like the original version of "Hooray for Hollywood" from 1937. He was even chosen as a mascot for a Brazilian soccer club in the 1940s. Donald's image has been used on products, like orange juice, and he appeared on a bomber plane named the Ruptured Duck during World War II. He also had a disco song called "Macho Duck" in the 1970s and was mentioned in a song by The Kinks.

In 2005, Donald received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has also been featured in video games like the Kingdom Hearts series. An asteroid was even named after him!

Appearances

Television series

• Disney anthology television series (1954-1968)
  • 25 episodes (many of which are compilations of earlier shorts)
• Donald Duck's 50th Birthday (1984)
• DuckTales (1987, as recurring character)
• Mickey's 60th Birthday (1988)
• Donald Duck Presents (compilation of earlier shorts)
• Donald's Quack Attack (compilation of earlier shorts)
• Bonkers (1993, episode "Going Bonkers")
• Quack Pack (1996–1997)
• Mickey Mouse Works (1999–2000)
• House of Mouse (2001–2003)
• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (2006–2016)
• Mickey Mouse (2013–2019)
• Mickey and the Roadster Racers/Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures (2017–2021)
• DuckTales (2017–2021)
• Legend of the Three Caballeros (2018)
• Mickey Go Local (2019)
• The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse (2020–2023)
• Mickey Mouse Funhouse (2021–present)
• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse+ (2025–present)

Video games

Notable illustrators