Disney's unflappable Donald Duck turns 75He is the most curmudgeonly cur·mudg·eon n. An ill-tempered person full of resentment and stubborn notions. [Origin unknown.] cur·mudg character in a star-studded Disney menagerie that includes Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Goofy, and Pluto. Donald Duck -- the irrascible but unflappable waterfowl waterfowl, common term for members of the order Anseriformes, wild, aquatic, typically freshwater birds including ducks, geese, and screamers. In Great Britain the term is also used to designate species kept for ornamental purposes on private lakes or ponds, while in -- is preparing to be feted in grand fashion, as he turns 75 years old Tuesday. From the beginning, fabled cartoonist Walt Disney envisioned Donald Duck as a foil to Mickey Mouse, his good-as-gold, animated star created a half-dozen years earlier. While goody-two-shoes Mickey was most appealing to children, Disney sought to create in Donald Duck a more piquant character with adult appeal -- and succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. In his 75 years, his feathered anti-hero anti-hero, principal character of a modern literary or dramatic work who lacks the attributes of the traditional protagonist or hero. The anti-hero's lack of courage, honesty, or grace, his weaknesses and confusion, often reflect modern man's ambivalence toward has tried his hand at more than 100 different professions, but failed at them all. Donald always seems to be short of cash and make a habit of lurching from one misadventure misadventure n. a death due to unintentional accident without any violation of law or criminal negligence. Thus, there is no crime. (See: homicide) MISADVENTURE, crim. law, torts. An accident by which an injury occurs to another. to the next. But no matter how often thwarted and how deeply humiliated, Donald Duck forges on -- which is what has made him such a big hit with his legions of fans. "He's a loser, not a quitter quit·ter n. One who gives up easily. Noun 1. quitter - a person who gives up too easily individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul - a human being; "there was too much for one person to do" , and he'll go down fighting," wrote the Disney company in its description of the beloved character on their website. Known for his barely decipherable speech and his penchant for running afoul of the other Disney characters, Donald, beneath it all, has a heart of gold, another quality that has charmed adoring fans over the decades. The prickly but long suffering duck made his celluloid debut on appeared on June 9, 1934 in a short animated feature called "Little Wise Hen," a movie fable fashioned on the "Little Red Hen" fairy tale about a chicken who finds that help is scarce when she tries to recruit workers to plant and harvest her corn crop. He had his first starring role in 1937 as a troubadour troubadour One of a class of lyric poets and poet-musicians, often of knightly rank, that flourished from the 11th through the 13th century, chiefly in Provence and other regions of southern France, northern Spain, and northern Italy. "Don Donald" a short film set in Mexico in which he appears with "Donna Duck" -- who shows up in later films re-baptized as his steady sweetheart "Daisy." Over the years, he's been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a pavement along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States, which is embedded with more than 2,000 five-pointed stars featuring the names of not only human celebrities but fictional characters honored by , and impressions of his webbed feet grace the sidewalk near Hollywood's famed Grauman's Chinese Theater Grauman’s Chinese Theater famous for the imprints of movie stars’ footprints in its forecourt. [Am. Cinema: Payton, 284.] See : Fame , along Tinseltown's other top stars. And, the achievement that probably would please Donald most, he has appeared in 128 films -- more than his nemesis Mickey Mouse. His extended family also has come to have a loyal following, including his trio of rambunctious nephews -- Huey, Dewey, and Louie -- offspring of his sister Della Duck and his crotchety crotch·et·y adj. Capriciously stubborn or eccentric; perverse. crotch  et·i·ness n. Uncle Scrooge.
And Donald's fame goes clear around the world. Fans know him in Denmark as Anders And, in Indonesia as Donal Bebek and in Italy as Paperino. While Mickey Mouse often enjoys top billing in the United States, in much of Europe -- especially among Germans -- it is Donald Duck who is the undisputed star. "Just as the French are obsessed ob·sess v. ob·sessed, ob·sess·ing, ob·sess·es v.tr. To preoccupy the mind of excessively. v.intr. with Jerry Lewis, the Germans see a richness and complexity to the Disney comic that isn't always immediately evident to people in the cartoon duck's homeland," wrote literary critic and translator Susan Bernofsky in the Wall Street Journal last month. "When it comes to voicing the hidden and not-so-hidden truths and tastes of German society, the philosopher with a beak is hard to beat," wrote Bernofsky, who notes that his Donald's German incarnation -- humming Wagner melodies and spouting spout·ing n. Chiefly Pennsylvania & New Jersey See gutter. See Regional Note at gutter. spouting Noun NZ a. Schiller poems -- is somewhat more philosophical and intellectual than the cartoon character familiar to most Americans. Meanwhile, legions of loyal fans have launched a contest for the best birthday portrait of the veteran duck in his sailor jacket. The winner's depiction is to be displayed later his year at the Anaheim, California Convention Center next to Disneyland. "What do you give a duck that has everything on his 75th birthday? You let the ones who love him most offer this most sincere form of flattery, of course," said Steven Clark, head of the Disney fan club "D23." "Disney fans are some of the most passionate and creative people anywhere, and we can't wait to see their fun and imaginative depictions of our feisty, yet lovable, leading duck!" 
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