‘Absolute control’: how Walt Disney’s obsessive habits built a 100-year empire

Walt Disney died nearly 60 years ago, but his creativity and quirks are still celebrated across the company. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

At the heart of the Walt Disney headquarters in Burbank, California, there is an illuminated cabinet holding some of Walt’s favorite foods: V8 vegetable juice; Jell-O; Spam.

Disney was, by the end of his life, one of the most famous people in America, head of a company that made $100m a year, an iconic figure of the 20th century.