50 Fun Facts About Donald Duck

In which 1934 Silly Symphony did Donald Duck make his first screen appearance?

The Wise Little Hen introduced Donald in 1934; he and Peter Pig fake bellyaches to dodge the hen's chores and are rewarded at the end with a dose of castor oil.

What date does the Walt Disney Company officially recognise as Donald's birthday?

June 9 marks the 1934 release of his debut cartoon, and Disney uses it as his official birthday; the 1949 short Donald's Happy Birthday instead placed it on March 13.

What is Donald's middle name?

Fauntleroy is revealed as his middle name on the draft notice addressed to Donald Fauntleroy Duck at the start of the 1942 short Donald Gets Drafted.

Who voiced Donald for roughly half a century, from 1934 until his death in 1985?

Clarence Nash, nicknamed 'Ducky', voiced Donald from 1934 until his death in 1985, producing the quack with buccal speech, using the inner cheek rather than the larynx.

According to legend, Donald's voice actor originally developed the sound as an impression of what animal?

A nervous baby goat was what the voice actor was imitating while reciting 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' at his Disney audition; Walt Disney decided it sounded like a duck instead.

Which Disney animator, mentored by the original voice, took over Donald's voice in 1985?

Tony Anselmo, a Disney animator personally coached by his predecessor, took over the voice in 1985 and went on to voice Donald in DuckTales and Kingdom Hearts.

What does Donald typically wear?

A sailor shirt and cap, usually blue with a bow tie, is the outfit he has worn in nearly every cartoon from his 1934 debut onward.

In which 1934 Mickey Mouse cartoon did Donald's famous temper first emerge?

Orphans' Benefit, released in August 1934, first showed Donald's temper as he tries to recite poetry and is heckled by the orphans; it was remade in colour in 1941.

What was the title of the duck's first solo cartoon, released in 1937?

Don Donald, released in January 1937, launched his own cartoon series and introduced his first girlfriend, Donna Duck, who later evolved into Daisy.

In which 1940 short did Daisy first appear under that name?

Mr. Duck Steps Out, released in 1940, marked the first appearance of Daisy under that name; Donald arrives to court her and the nephews keep getting in the way.

Which of Donald's nephews wears green?

Louie wears green, Huey red and Dewey blue; the names came from politicians Huey Long and Thomas Dewey and Disney animator Louis Schmitt.

In the comics, why were the nephews originally sent to stay with Donald?

Their prank put their father in hospital: they had set firecrackers under his chair, and their mother asked Donald to take them 'temporarily' in the 1937 strip; the visit never ended.

What is the name of the nephews' mother, Donald's twin sister?

Della Duck was mostly an off-page name in the comics and a mere postcard signature until the 2017 DuckTales reboot made her a central character.

The nephews belong to which scouting organisation in the comics?

The Junior Woodchucks, introduced in a 1951 story, have a Guidebook that famously contains the answer to almost any question, and they pile up medals and ranks with absurd titles.

Which cartoonist created Scrooge McDuck and the city of Duckburg?

Carl Barks created Scrooge in 1947 and built out Duckburg over three decades of stories; working uncredited, he was known to fans only as 'the Good Duck Artist'.

In which 1947 story did Scrooge McDuck make his first named appearance?

Christmas on Bear Mountain, a December 1947 Four Color issue, introduced Scrooge as a grumpy old miser who tests Donald's bravery with a bear; he was named after Dickens' Ebenezer Scrooge.

How is Scrooge McDuck related to Donald?

Uncle on his mother's side: Scrooge is the brother of Hortense McDuck, Donald's mother, which makes Donald's father Quackmore Duck his brother-in-law.

What is the licence plate number of Donald's car in the comics?

313 is the plate on Donald's little red car, a 1934 Belchfire Runabout that first appeared in the newspaper strip in 1938.

Which artist drew the daily Donald Duck newspaper strip that began in 1938?

Al Taliaferro drew the daily from its 1938 launch until his death in 1969, working with writer Bob Karp; the strip itself ran until 1995.

Which Donald Duck cartoon won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film?

Der Fuehrer's Face, in which Donald dreams he is toiling in a Nazi munitions factory, won the Oscar in 1943; Spike Jones's recording of its theme was a hit before the film opened.

What was the Oscar-winning wartime short originally titled?

Donald Duck in Nutziland was the working title; the finished short ends with Donald waking from his nightmare and hugging a miniature Statue of Liberty in gratitude.

A B-25 bomber bearing Donald's face flew in which famous 1942 mission?

The Doolittle Raid of April 1942 included the 'Ruptured Duck', a B-25 whose nose art showed Donald above crossed crutches; sixteen bombers took off from USS Hornet to strike Tokyo.

With what rank did the U.S. Army 'retire' Donald from active duty during his 50th birthday celebrations?

Buck Sergeant was the rank the Army gave Donald with his honourable discharge at his 50th birthday in 1984; he had been 'drafted' in a 1942 short and spent the war in Army cartoons.

In The Three Caballeros, Donald teams up with a Brazilian parrot and a rooster from which country?

Mexico is home to the pistol-toting rooster Panchito Pistoles, who joins Donald and the Brazilian parrot José Carioca; the film premiered in Mexico City in December 1944 under the Good Neighbor policy.

What links the segments of The Three Caballeros together?

Donald opening birthday gifts from his Latin American friends frames the film; one present contains a projector and another a pop-up book, and Aurora Miranda dances with Donald in live action.

In the original DuckTales, why does Donald leave the nephews with Scrooge?

He joins the Navy in the 1987 pilot Treasure of the Golden Suns, dropping the nephews at McDuck Manor, where they meet Launchpad McQuack, Mrs. Beakley and Webby.

How many episodes did the original DuckTales run for?

100 episodes aired between 1987 and 1990 in syndication; Mark Mueller wrote the theme song, sung by Jeff Pescetto, and the feature film Treasure of the Lost Lamp followed in 1990.

In the 2017 DuckTales reboot, which actor voiced Scrooge McDuck?

David Tennant, the Scottish Doctor Who star, voiced Scrooge in the 2017 reboot; Alan Young had voiced the character from 1974 until his death in 2016.

In Donald's own 1996 series Quack Pack, what replaced his sailor suit?

A Hawaiian shirt became Donald's everyday outfit in Quack Pack, which recast him as a cameraman for a TV news show and aged the nephews into teenagers.

In Fantasia 2000, Donald stars in a segment based on which Bible story?

Noah's Ark is the setting of the Pomp and Circumstance segment, in which Donald herds the animals aboard as Noah's assistant and spends the flood believing Daisy was left behind.

In the Kingdom Hearts video games, Donald and Goofy travel with which protagonist?

Sora, a boy from the Destiny Islands, wields the Keyblade and travels between Disney worlds with Donald and Goofy in the series, which began on the PlayStation 2 in 2002.

The 1959 film Donald in Mathmagic Land was nominated for an Oscar in which category?

Best Documentary (Short Subject) was the nomination for the 27-minute film, which became one of Disney's most-used classroom titles, teaching the golden ratio and the geometry of billiards.

In which region of the world did Donald become the most successful of all Disney characters?

The Nordic countries embraced Donald above Mickey; he is Kalle Anka in Sweden, Anders And in Denmark and Aku Ankka in Finland, where the weekly comic ranked among the nation's biggest-selling magazines.

At what time on Christmas Eve did Sweden's SVT1 traditionally broadcast the Donald Duck special?

3:00 p.m. is the slot Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul occupied every Christmas Eve from 1960, routinely ranking among Sweden's most-watched broadcasts of the year.

A 1978 Finnish debate jokingly faulted Donald for living with Daisy unwed and what else?

Not wearing trousers was the other charge, aired after Helsinki's youth board dropped its Aku Ankka subscription to save money, a decision that spread worldwide as a Finnish 'ban' on Donald.

Which American college's sports teams use Donald's image as their mascot under a deal with Disney?

University of Oregon's Duck mascot grew out of a 1947 handshake agreement between Walt Disney and athletic director Leo Harris, later formalised in a licensing contract.

How does Donald rank among the studio's cast for number of film appearances?

First of all Disney characters by number of film appearances, ahead of Mickey; he also holds a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, awarded in 2004.

Which pair of chipmunks are among Donald's most persistent on-screen tormentors?

Chip 'n' Dale first battled Donald over a log in the 1947 short Chip an' Dale and went on to feud with him over nuts, trees and Christmas decorations through the 1950s.

Where had Donald's nephews already appeared a year before their 1938 animated debut?

The Sunday newspaper comic strip introduced them on 17 October 1937 in the Silly Symphony page, months before the short Donald's Nephews reached cinemas in April 1938.

Which of these Duckburg villains did the 'Good Duck Artist' create in 1961?

Magica De Spell, the Vesuvius-dwelling sorceress after Scrooge's Number One Dime, debuted in 1961; the Beagle Boys date to 1951 and Glomgold to 1956.

Who took over as the principal voice of Daisy Duck in 1999?

Tress MacNeille became Daisy's voice in 1999 with Mickey Mouse Works, succeeding Kath Soucie, who had played her in Quack Pack.

Which of these breeds is Donald's dog Bolivar in the comics?

St. Bernard is Bolivar's breed, a huge, placid dog drawn into the newspaper strip in March 1938, a few weeks after the daily launched.

In the 2001–03 series set at Mickey's nightclub, what did Donald want to rename the venue?

His jealousy of Mickey even led him to side with Mortimer Mouse before Daisy reminded him how Mickey had always supported him.

In the short Sea Scouts, what does Donald finally defeat with a single well-placed punch?

A shark menaces Donald and the nephews on their sailboat in the 1939 short Sea Scouts, until an enraged Donald knocks it cold with a single punch.

The Wall Street Journal called Donald Duck 'The Jerry Lewis of' which country?

Germany was the country in the 2009 Wall Street Journal piece, which noted that the Micky Maus weekly sold about 250,000 copies there and that Donald, not Mickey, was its star.

In Italian comics Donald has a masked superhero identity, known in English by what name?

The Duck Avenger is the English name for Donald's masked alter ego, created in 1969 by Guido Martina and Giovan Battista Carpi as an outlet for his grudges against Scrooge and Gladstone.

A doubted origin story has Walt Disney inspired by which cricketer being 'out for a duck'?

Don Bradman was dismissed for a duck against a New York West Indian side on his 1932 North American tour, and the tale says Disney was watching; historians doubt it.

By what name is Donald Duck known in Italy?

Paolino Paperino is his full Italian name, though almost everyone in the Italian stories, nephews included, simply calls him Paperino; the Italian weekly Topolino began running his stories in its pocket format in 1949.

Which animator is credited with developing Donald Duck as a character?

Dick Lundy animated Donald's first on-screen tantrum in 1934 and is credited with shaping his personality; Dick Huemer and Art Babbitt had animated his screen debut earlier that year.

Whose German translations gave Donald's comics their famously literary, philosophical dialogue?

Erika Fuchs, chief editor of the German Micky Maus magazine from 1951, laced her translations with quotations from Schiller and Goethe; Germans coined 'Erikativ' for her verb-stem sound words.