History Fun Facts When he wasn’t building an animation empire that still dominates Hollywood more than half a century after his death, Walt Disney was busy moonlighting as an FBI informant. He was initially recruited on November 10, 1940, and was then made a “Special Agent in Charge Contact” in 1954 — essentially a voluntary FBI contact who could be called on for information about communist influence in Hollywood. Disney continued his relationship with the bureau until his death in 1966. Though his title was largely ceremonial and Disney certainly wasn’t a spy (despite sharing the government’s fiercely anti-communist views), he did enjoy a friendly relationship with the bureau — at least until he produced a positive segment about the agency for the original Mickey Mouse Club and didn’t show the final copy to the FBI until just before it aired. (The FBI decided to stop producing anything with Disney after that.)
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