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Donald Duck

GENUS PEDIGREE: Duckbill
KNOWN ALIASES: Don; Donald "Fauntleroy" Duck*; Duck Avenger; the Masked Mallard.
KNOWN RELATIVES:

$crooge McDuck, Ludwig von Drake; Rumpus McFowl, Gideon McDuck, Douglas Duck (uncles); Huey, Dewey & Louie, Dugan Duck, Bubba Duck, Shamrock Gander, Socrates M. Gosling (nephews); April, May & June, Webbigail Vanderquack (nieces); Gertie Goose, Matilda McDuck (aunts); Della (twin sister); Daisy Duck, Gus Goose, Fred Goose, Gladstone Gander, Fethry Duck, Kildare Coot, Abner "Whitewater" Duck, Buck Duck, Donna Duck, Dimwitty, Moby Duck (cousins); Quackmore (father); Hortense (mother); Andold Temerary (medieval ancestor a.k.a. "Wild Duck," and his ladylove, Aydis); Cornelius Coot (founder of Duckburg; great-great-grandfather); Humperdink Duck (a.k.a. Grandpa Duck); Elvira Coot (a.k.a. Grandma Duck - Duck family matriarch).

KNOWN PETS: Bolivar ("Bornworthy") the St. Bernard; Grand Genius III of Old Siwash the Smugsnorkle Squattie; Tabby the cat; Bolivar's puppy, Behe (Behemoth); Tootsie (penguin); Joey (kangaroo); Boo-Boo Chicken (chicken).
CITIZENSHIP: Duckburg, Calisota, USA
KNOWN CONFIDANTS: Mac; Donna Duck (from UK MMW adventure series "Donald & Donna"); Mickey Mouse; Daisy Duck; Goofy; Huey, Dewey & Louie; Gyro Gearloose; Uncle $crooge; Cousin Gus; Grandma Duck; Admiral Grimitz; Gwumpki the Cook; Ludwig von Drake; Buzz-Buzz/Spike the Bee; Bootle Beetle.
KNOWN RIVALS: Dirty Bill; Eli Squinch; Bad Pete; Neighbor J. Jones; the Claw; Gladstone Gander; Kent Powers; Flintheart Glomgold; Magica de Spell; Chip 'n' Dale; Argus McSwine.
PARAPHERNALIA: 313 (Donald's car, a 1934 Belchfire Runabout); his boat the "Miss Daisy."
1st PRINT APPEARANCE: "Mickey Mouse Annual" in "More HooZoo" (1931); "Silly Symphonies" comic strip in "The Wise Little Hen" (serialized Sep. 16, 1934, after which the title became "Silly Symphonies, featuring Donald Duck," and then simply to "Donald Duck").
1st FILM APPEARANCE: "The Wise Little Hen" (June 9, 1934); semi-regular on the "DuckTales" since the 5-part serial "Treasure of the Golden Suns" (Sep. 18, 1987); later regular on "Quack Pack" (1996).
VOICE ACTOR: English: Clarence "Ducky" Nash (1934-1985); Tony Anselmo (1985-present); Daniel Ross (2017-present).
Albanian: Lorenc Kaja (1993-present).

German: Peter Krause (1996-present).
Japanese: Kōichi Yamadera (1983-present).

SIGNATURE: Barely comprehensible "nash-speak" and his irascible temperament.
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS:

Donald is irascible, impetuous and plagued by ignonomy, but has the uncanny ability to always believe the best about himself. Although the son of Uncle $crooge's older sister Hortense and her husband, Quackmore, and twin to his sister, Della, Donald was primarily raised by Grandma Duck.

In his later years Donald was saddled with the responsibility of raising his own triplet nephews, Huey, Dewey & Louie (triplet sons of the aforementioned twin sister, Della). Donald also has a pet St. Bernard named Bolivar and his offspring, the puppy, Behemoth.  For a brief time, Donald enlisted in the Navy and left his Nephews with his own uncle $crooge McDuck, retrieving them upon his discharge.

Donald's long-time girlfriend is Daisy Duck (who is also his cousin), and is constantly vying for her affections with his other cousin, the "Lucky Duck," Gladstone Gander. Donald was a semi-regular in the series "DuckTales", and in Donald's latert incarnation, on "Quack Pack," he is still an unmarried single father though he now works as a photographer for a local television news-magazine, where Daisy is a reporter.

One of his best known roles is from the feature film "The Three Caballeros" where he co-stars with his Latin amigos Jose Carioca and Panchito. He is often the subject of his wacky uncle Ludwig von Drake's psychological tests. His introductory film, "The Wise Little Hen," also featured his first pal, Peter Pig. Some of Donald's most notorius rivals include Bad Pete, Neighbor Jones, and Argus McSwine. Some of the pests who have served as his bane (and sometimes friend) include Humphrey Bear, Buzz-Buzz Bee, Bootle Beetle, the Aracuan, Louie the Mountain Lion, and most assuredly, Chip 'n Dale; as well as his own lazy, gluttenous cousin, Gus Goose.

Donald is the alter-ego of a national costumed hero, the Duck Avenger (a.k.a. Super Donald), like his cousin Fethry Duck who uses the costumed name of the Red Bat). Duck Avenger (or Paperinik as he is called in Italian and Dutch comics) is a creation of the Italian Disney-comics licensee Mondadori's studios. He first appeared in the Italian comics in 1969 and has been in continuous use since then.  Duck Avenger is essentially an ordinary man who utilizes various gadgets and gizmos to cause mischief or defeat criminals in Duckburg. The origin of Duck Avenger is as follows: Donald inherits, by a mistake, a big house (mansion) that once belonged to the famous gentleman-burglar Fantomius and finds the burglar's diary and all his secret tools. Donald uses the equipment to get revenge on his uncle $crooge McDuck, and to get his rival Gladstone Gander away from Daisy [he does this by stealing $crooge's bed and making it look like Gladstone did it]. Thus the original reason Donald donned his costume was to conduct his mischief without recieving the blame. All this is told in the very first Paperinik story. Later writers began moving Donald away from doning the costume to cause mischief to using the costume and gadgets to fight criminals on the streets of Duckburg. Ocassionally Donald, in his costumed identity, is assisted by a little alien from another dimension simply called Little Gum, especially when battling such criminals as the Beagle Boys. No one knows that it's the lazy Donald Duck who is the marvelous super-hero. He keeps his equipment in a secret cellar beneath his house, and ocassionally gets new gadgets over the years from the inventor Gyro Gearloose. Like DarkWing Duck, it's nothing "super" about the character himself, it's the gadgets that makes the hero. But Donald is still irascible Donald, which means that even as a superhero he is very different from DarkWing. Duck Avenger is not much for theatrical entrances, fame and glory. He's fights crime and injustice mainly because he as Donald Duck he has often been the victim of the same. Since 1996 ther has been a "new" Duck Avenger who is very nontraditional for a Disney comic; he is more futuristic and Marvel-styled (or like D.C. Comics' "Dark Knight"). In this version, Donald works as a caretaker of the Ducklair Tower, a huge skyscraper built by the eccentric billionaire and inventor Everett Ducklair, who later sold it to $crooge McDuck. The Ducklair Tower is a futuristic fully computerized building, run by the central computer with artificial intelligence and named Globus. Everett Ducklair constructed a lot of gadgets, which Donald as Super Donald starts to use. The threat is not only scoundrels on Earth, but an alien race as well. Both versions of Paperinik are still made in Italy and published in Italy, Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and probably in some other countries as well. More recently, a new version of Duck Avenger has been created for Disney Adventures Magazine as a sort of compromise between the original version and the New Adventures version. In this version he is given a special costume by Professor Von Drake with special devices and also calls himself the Duck Avenger. He is also teamed up with his former cartoon foil, now serving as his sidekick using the name Spike.

The film "This is Your Life, Donald Duck" (Mar. 11, 1960), and the comic book "This is Your Life, Donald Duck" (Dell Four-Color #1109 - Aug. 1960, recently reprinted in Gladstone's "Donald and Mickey" #25 - Sep. 1994) tell a version of Donald's history and rise to fame. The British magazine "Mickey Mouse Weekly" co-featured a female duck named Donna Duck (not Daisy) with Donald in their comic from May to August 1937. Donna was later replaced as Donald's co-star by a sailor named Mac until May 1940. Another important character from Donald's life is his "other" lover, the Princess Reginella. [As an aside, based on many of the early "Donald Duck" daily strips, it would seem that Donald and Clarabelle Cow had anything but a civil relationship.]

HISTORICAL FACTS: Walt had wanted to add a duck named Donald to Mickey's gang for some time, but didn't realize that goal until he heard a radio show featuring Clarence Nash doing a duck in his now famous "nash-speak." Walt hired Clarence and the rest is history. In comics Al Taliaferro was Donald's first artist, and drew his strip from 1934 - 1969 (until his death), Bob Karp wrote for the strip from 1934 - 1974, but Carl Barks is Donald's (as well as many of the other Ducks') best known artist and story-teller, hence Carl has been dubbed "The Duck Man." He was responsible for the creation of Uncle $crooge; Gyro Gearloose, Gladstone Gander and many others). Many of the "DuckTales" stories were based on Carl's comic strip and book tales. Other well known Duck writers and artists include William van Horn, and most assuredly Don Rosa (who has basically inherited Barks' title as the "New Duckman" for his work with both Donald and $crooge).
LITTLE KNOWN SECRETS: Donald's first depiction was drawn in the book "Mickey Mouse Annual," in the poem "More HooZoo," where he was an unassuming little winged duckling who wore buttoned pants (perhaps the last time he would ever wear pants). At least two cartoons present Donald and Daisy as married "Donald's Diary" (Mar. 5, 1954) and "How to Have an Accident at Work" (Sep. 2, 1959). The later of which even gives them an unnamed son. Though the first was most assuredly, like "Mickey's Nightmare," a dream. The second was more like the "Geef" shorts, presenting Donald as "everyman" and was presumably just a film role. The studio's general theory is that Donald's temperament is the one thing that stands between Donald and Daisy ever actually tying the knot.
*Donald's full name Donald Fauntleroy Duck, according to David Gerstein, was established in the 1942 cartoon "Donald Gets Drafted", where we see a close-up of his draft card.
WORKING THEORIES: none
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