Walt Disney was an informant for the FBI.

  • Walt Disney, 1953
Walt Disney, 1953
Credit: © Allstar Picture Library Ltd—AA Film Archive/Alamy
Author Michael Nordine

April 9, 2026

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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.)

Disney’s file is still available on the FBI website. “Because of Mr. DISNEY’s position as the foremost producer of cartoon films in the motion picture industry and his prominence and wide acquaintanceship in film production matters,” the document reads, “it is believed that he can be of valuable assistance to this office and therefore it is my recommendation that he be approved as an SAC contact.” FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, for his part, was a big enough fan of Disney that he was photographed wearing a Mickey Mouse mask at a New Year’s Eve party on December 31, 1937.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

Walt Disney’s last written words were “Kurt Russell.”

Though no one knows why, least of all the actor himself, Walt Disney’s last written words before he died on December 15, 1966, were “Kurt Russell.” Russell, who was 15 at the time and had already appeared alongside Elvis Presley in 1963’s It Happened at the World’s Fair, has since gone on to star in such classics as The Thing, Escape From New York, and Tombstone. But he wasn’t exactly a star in those days, despite having just signed a 10-year contract with Disney, and he’s as confused as anyone as to why the studio head wrote his name on a note shortly before his passing. When asked about the note in a 2017 Huffington Post interview, Russell said, “Oh gee. I don’t know what it’s connected to.”

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