Walt Disney

When I was a young teen-ager living in a home for boys, I didn’t have a father, even though my father was alive. I didn’t have anyone to encourage or inspire me. Until that day the man in the Nash Metropolitan wearing an Eisenhower jacket arrived to pick up me and my friend, Mike Howard, to spend the weekend at his home.

The man was Walt Disney. I credit Walt Disney with helping me overcome the hatred I developed for my father. Mr. Disney told me I had to forgive my father. He said, “Hatred will destroy you.” The weekends at the Disney estate were filled with love. Mr. and Mrs. Disney had a special way of making you feel you were wanted. It was Mr. Disney who encouraged me to join the U.S. Navy.

During the time that I knew Walt Disney he never really talked about himself, he let you talk. He just listened and every now and then offered advice. Advice that has stayed with me throughout my entire life. He and Mrs. Disney made a difference in my life.

If Marc Eliot had known the Walt Disney I have known, he would have never written a book based on dreadful lies.

CHRIS HARRIS

West Hollywood