Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is one of the world ' s best known cartoon characters , created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks in 1928 as Disney ' s new star , following the loss of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit to Charles Mintz and Universal Studios . Though his first produced film was the silent short " Plane Crazy " , Mickey made his theatrical debut in " Steamboat Willie " , which has the distinction of being the first sound cartoon short . In more recent times , for several decades , Mickey ' s active animation career became secondary to his more visible role as the face and mascot of The Walt Disney Company . Background . Mickey Mouse ( voiced primarily by Walt Disney , until sound effects artist James MacDonald took over in 1946 ) went on to star in dozens of theatrical cartoons , and in 1932 , Disney received an Honorary Special Academy Award for the creation of Mickey Mouse . Four of Mickey ' s starring shorts also received Academy Award nominations for Best Animated Short Subject . Fred Moore , one of the key animators on Mickey , described the character in a 1930s analysis sheet for studio artists : The character ' s fame soon extended into merchandise , his own comic strip ( launched in 1930 , and featuring a more intrepid Mickey ) , and a short - lived radio series , " The Mickey Mouse Theatre of the Air " ( 1938 ) . Gradually , Mickey was overshadowed by the more volatile Donald Duck as the studio ' s main star and by the 1950s , Mickey was reduced to playing foil to his own dog , Pluto . One of his most notable later appearances was his star turn as " The Sorcerer ' s Apprentice " in " Fantasia " ( 1940 ) . As his cinematic star declined , Mickey gained a new lease as the mascot and host of TV ' s " The Mickey Mouse Club " , the title song to which sings the Mouse ' s praises . The series in many ways marks the early stages of the mouse ' s transition from movie star to corporate symbol of The Walt Disney Company . Wayne Allwine , MacDonald ' s former apprentice , took over as the voice of Mickey in the 1970s , vocalizing the mouse ' s sporadic theatrical comebacks ( such as " Mickey ' s Christmas Carol " in 1984 and " The Prince and the Pauper " in 1990 ) as well as various TV appearances . Bret Iwan took over as the voice of Mickey in 2009 . Mickey continues to appear in walk - around form in countless shows and parades at Disneyland and Walt Disney World , returned to television in " Mickey Mouse Works " , " House of Mouse " , and most recently , CG animation form as the star of Disney Channel ' s Disney Junior series " Mickey Mouse Clubhouse " . Jim and Mickey . Jim Henson was a known admirer of the works of Walt Disney and occasionally spoke of Mickey when discussing or even developing his own characters . Caroll Spinney recalled that when he asked Henson how Big Bird should sound , the latter said " maybe like Mickey Mouse ' s pal Goofy . " Designer Kermit Love later compared the bird and the mouse , claiming that " Like Mickey Mouse , he never gives in to violence . " Kermit the Frog , as the most iconic Muppet and the leader and " straight man " of his troupe , has often been likened to Mickey , and Henson himself compared the two , not as personalities , but as similar abstractions . He discussed how Kermit became " a bit rounder , a bit more froglike . As a parallel , Mickey Mouse looks nothing like a mouse , but he fits into that category . I mean , if nobody ever said Mickey Mouse was a mouse , we wouldn ' t know what he was , would we ? " Henson even kept a Mickey figurine on the fireplace mantel in his office . During the failed Disney sale in 1989 , Michael Eisner discussed the company ' s expected ownership of Kermit by saying " Mickey Mouse has a new sibling , and he ' s going to have to get used to it . " References . Rizzo the Rat . Due to their both belonging to the taxonomic order Rodentia , many references have been made to Mickey by way of Rizzo the Rat .