Walt Disney PBS Documentary Shares Peek Into 'Demanding' Man Who Created Mickey Mouse

A new PBS documentary will try to peel the layers of Walt Disney, the man behind the iconic Mickey Mouse.

STL Today observed that while the PBS documentary was exhaustive in trying to show the real persona of the man who created the "Happiest Place on Earth, it wasn't "exhausting."

"Most people today know Disney through his theme parks and classic animated movies, and possibly 'Finding Mr. Banks,' in which Tom Hanks played a greatly sanitized Disney," the report said. "The real man was much more complicated, exacting in everything he did, as demanding of himself as he was of those who worked for him."

A fabled tale was that Walt Disney demanded that each of his employee call him "Walt," if somebody makes the mistake otherwise, they were immediately fired.

The PBS documentary on Walt Disney also doesn't pussyfoot around the reports that he hated Jews and blacks, based on his writings and films.

But director Sarah Colt said that she doesn't think Walt Disney was anti-Semite or racist based on their extensive research on the man.

"He was a man of his time," she said.

The producers of the show also credited Walt Disney as a pioneer in using cartoons as a platform for promoting merchandise, which is where the real money is.

Biographer Neal Gabler told NY Daily News that the conflicts with Walt Disney were within himself.

"He created Uncle Walt as a character he played to promote the movies and TV show. He always said he wasn't Uncle Walt - that Uncle Walt didn't smoke or drink, and he did," he said. "But he had to play him all the time, because it served the company. I'm just not sure it served him as a human being."

The documentary with the title "American Experience: Walt Disney," airs 8-10 p.m. Monday and Tuesday on PBS.