The Sound of Music meets The Little Mermaid
20th Century Fox’s “The Sound of Music” and Walt Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” are two of the most popular movie-musicals of all time, not just in the history of the producing/distributing companies, but in the history of films in general as well. There truly is nothing about either movie that we as audience today can imagine differently. Did you know, however, that these two movies have a very interesting connection to each other?
In the early 1960s, Walt Disney was casting his latest animated feature at the time, “101 Dalmatians,” and he hired an actor by the name of Ben Wright to provide the voice of Roger in the film. Ben Wright provided Roger’s speaking voice, but his singing voice was dubbed in by another actor named Bill Lee for the scene in the film where Roger sings the song “Cruella DeVill.” As much as you probably enjoyed him as Roger, you might be surprised to know that in 1965, Ben Wright appeared live on the screen in “The Sound of Music” as the ruthless Herr Zeller. Ironically, Bill Lee, who’s singing voice replaced Ben Wright’s singing in “101 Dalmatians,” also provided the singing voice for Christopher Plummer in “The Sound of Music.” He was re-hired by Disney in 1967 to voice Ramah, Mowgli's wolf-dad in "The Jungle Book." Years later, in the mid-1980s’, the Walt Disney studios was casting for “The Little Mermaid,” and they hired Ben Wright to play Grimsby, Prince Eric’s elderly guardian in the film. The amusing thing was that no one at the studio knew that he had been Roger in “101 Dalmatians,” until he told them so.
In my view, Ben Wright was a very talented actor who didn’t get all the attention that he deserved, and if he hadn’t’ve been a part of each of these movies, they just wouldn’t be the same. His voice was deep and authoritative and his appearance on screen is completely unmistakable. He might not have been an A-List Hollywood Movie Star, but his talent served as an asset for every movie he made.
