Mickey Mouse A young Walt Disney created a character named Oswald who starred in a series of 26 silent cartoons between 1927 and 1928. When Walt lost the rights to Oswald, he came up with the character known as Mickey Mouse. He made his debut on November 18th 1928 in the short cartoon "Steamboat Wille". With Walt as the voice of Mickey, it premiered to great success. In 1939, animators made his body more pear-shaped and added pupils to his eyes. In 1940 came Mickey's first feature film as he played a sorcerer's apprentice in "Fantasia". The 1950s were a plentifull decade as Mickey became leader of "The club for you and me", The Mickey Mouse Club. He also appeared in another feature-lenght movie; "Fun and Fancy Free" playing Jack from the classic tale "Jack and the Beanstalk". In his career that has spand 7 decades, he has starred in over 120 cartoons and various comics and has become the most popular cartoon character of all time.