- Won a special Academy Award for lifetime achievement in 1979. Via the use of combined live action and animation, the award was "presented" by Lantz's most famous creation, Woody Woodpecker.
- Created Woody from a pesky woodpecker that was on top of his home.
- Since 1992, California Institute of the Arts Character Animation Program gives its highest rated student film the Walter Lantz Award; also nicknamed "The Woody".
- Lantz's cartoon department was responsible for the bat-to-vampire transformation artwork in "Son of Dracula".
- Woody Woodpecker was Stanley Kubrick's favorite cartoon character, and reportedly loved him so much that he wanted to feature him in every film he ever made, but Walter Lantz refused. Lantz would later state that he didn't regret his decision when he saw films like The Shining (1980) or A Clockwork Orange (1971), but he did regret the decision when he saw films like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) or Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).
- Loved Silver Lake in June Lake, California. Had a cabin there, family still owns. Married in Nevada, on his honeymoon with wife Gracie, he stopped by Silver Lake to show it to his new bride. She discovered fishing poles and a outboard motor in the trunk. June Lake's library was built by him, as was the baseball field in nearby Lee Vining.
- His house (located next to animator Joseph Barbera's) was burned to ashes in the 1960s by a huge brush fire. Surprisingly, his neighbor's house was not burned at all.
- Following his death, he was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) in Los Angeles, California.
- Walter Lantz passed away on March 22, 1994, a month away from what would have been his 95th birthday on April 27.
- He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on March 5, 1986.
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