Movie Musings: Disney and More

Disney “Role” Models

In the early days of the Walt Disney Studios, whenever they cast an animated film, they filmed the voice-actors live, as a visual reference for the animators. However, if the voice actors didn’t closely resemble the designs that the animators had come up with for the characters, they would hire other actors to film as stand-ins for the voice actors. You might remember from one of my earlier blogs, that was how the character of Cruella De Vil was brought to life on screen in 101 Dalmatians (1961). Betty Lou Gerson provided the voice of the character, but actress Mary Wickes, served as her model. And just like voice actors at Disney, the model actors were re-hired for a multiple amount of times by the studio. In this blog, I’d like to tell you about two of Disney’s finest “visual” models.

Marge Champion was just 18 years old when she was hired by the Walt Disney Studios to serve as the model for Snow White in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). (She did some of the modeling for Dopey as well!) She was dating Disney Animator Art Babbitt at the time, and Babbitt supervised the majority of the reference filming. Just 4 months prior to the premiere of “Snow White,” Champion and Babbitt tied the knot on August 8th, 1937. (The animation on Snow White that Marge Champion modeled for was reworked for Duchess in The AristoCats (1970) and for Maid Marian in Robin Hood (1973)). Champion went on to do modeling for the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio (1940) and Hyacinth Hippo in Fantasia (1940), along with Ruby Dandrige, and Mr. Stork in Dumbo (1941). She also helped choreograph the hippo sequence in “Fantasia.” Champion and Babbitt unfortunately divorced after 4 years of marriage in 1941, and she would remarried twice, to Broadway star Gower Champion (1947-1973), and Boris Sagal from 1977, until he was killed in an unfortunate helicopter accident in 1981. Since then, she has retired to New York where she still continues to dance, even at age 96. She is the only surviving “cast” member of “Snow White.”

Helene Stanley served as the model for Cinderella, as well as the stepsister, Anastasia Tremaine in Cinderella (1950) at the age of 21. She also modeled for Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty (1959), and Anita in 101 Dalmatians (1961). Stanley also portrayed Davy Crockett’s wife, Polly Crockett in the live-action Disney film, Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier (1955). She married Dr. David Niemetz in 1959, and after modeling for Anita, permanently retired from show business and became a full-time wife and mother in 1961. She died of unknown causes at the age of 61, on December 27th, 1990.

These are just two of many people who have modeled for Disney characters. Disney does continue to hire human models today, as well as animal models (with trainers) who serve as inspiration for their animal characters. The models are never actually seen on screen. They unfortunately are not given screen credit in the film either, but the extraordinary efforts that they give to inspire the magical, colorful drawings that we see move about the screen in Disney movies never ceases to pay off.