Movie Musings: Disney and More

25 Facts You Might or Might Not Know About Beauty and the Beast

On November 22nd, 1991, Walt Disney Animation Studios released a film that Walt Disney himself had unsuccessfully attempted to adapt for the screen twice throughout his career. The film would be the very first animated feature ever to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, as well as 5 additional nominations, and like its predecessor from 2 years earlier, The Little Mermaid (1989), it also received the Oscars for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. On November 22nd, 2016, Walt Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (1991) will celebrate 25 years of being one of the most beloved movie-musicals of all-time, in the history of Disney and in the history of films in general.

The film received 6 Academy Award Nominations: Best Picture, Best Sound Mixing, Best Original Score, Best Original Songs “Beauty and the Beast,” “Belle,” and “Be Our Guest.” (The film won Best Original Score and Best Original Song “Beauty and the Beast.”)

Before Paige O’Hara was cast as the voice of Belle in the film, Disney originally considered casting Jodi Benson, who voiced Ariel in “The Little Mermaid,” in the part. Disney ultimately moved forward with O’Hara as Belle, believing that she could give the character a more “European,” sounding voice.

“Beauty and the Beast,” was the very first Disney movie ever to be readapted for the Broadway Stage. The show opened on April 18th, 1994 at the Palace Theatre and played 5,461 performances. The show received 9 Tony Award Nominations including Best Musical and won the trophy for Best Costume Design.

Tony Nominee Susan Egan received her nomination for originating the role of Belle in “Beauty and the Beast,” on Broadway. Egan later went on to provide the voice of Megara in the film version of Hercules (1997).

Christy Carlson Romano, who played Ren Stevens in the Disney Channel Original Show Even Stevens (2000-2003) and voiced Kim Possible in the Disney Channel Animated Series Kim Possible (2002-2007), also played Belle in “Beauty and the Beast,” on Broadway.

Howard Ashman who wrote lyrics for “Beauty and the Beast,” and also served as the film’s executive producer. He was terminally ill with AIDS throughout production of the film and unfortunately died at the age of 40, six months before the release of the movie. There is a special dedication to him that can be seen in the end credits.

Before Disney cast Angela Lansbury as the voice of Mrs. Potts, the studio originally considered Julie Andrews in the role. 

David Ogden Stiers, who provided the voice of Cogsworth initially auditioned for Lumiere. When the studio cast Jerry Orbach as Lumiere, he accepted the role of Cogsworth, though the studio also cast him as the narrator for the film’s opening sequence, which is a role that he reprised for the Broadway version.

When it came time for Angela Lansbury to fly into New York to record the song “Beauty and the Beast,” her flight was delayed due to a bomb scare. The film’s producer, Don Hahn, offered to postpone the recording until the next day, and tell the film’s orchestra, the New York Philharmonic to go home, but she insisted that she would just change planes and still come. When she finally got there, the first take of the song recorded wound up being used in the movie.

Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, the fin’s co-writers/co-directors, also went on to write and direct The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001).

David Ogden Stiers improvised Cogsworth’s line “Flowers, Chocolates, Promises you don’t intend to keep.”

The dancing scene between Belle and the Beast at the very end of the film is actually the exact same dancing scene used from Sleeping Beauty (1959) with Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip. The scene was redrawn with Belle and the Beast when the animators ran out of time during production of the movie to create a completely unique ending scene for Belle and the Beast.

The Beast’s real name is Prince Adam, and it is never mentioned in the film, but is acknowledged in the Broadway show.

Andreas Deja was the supervising animator for Gaston in the film, and was also the supervising animator for many other classic Disney villains including: Jafar in Aladdin (1992), Scar in The Lion King (1994) and Queen Narissa in Enchanted (2007).

The supervising animator for Belle, Mark Henn, was also the supervising animator for many other classic Disney Princesses, including Ariel in “The Little Mermaid,” Jasmine in “Aladdin,” Pocahontas in Pocahontas (1995), Mulan in Mulan (1998) and Tiana in The Princess the Frog (2009).

The voice of Gaston in the film, Richard White, was also in consideration to voice the villainous Governor Ratcliffe in “Pocahontas.” However, the studio decided that viewers would hear his voice and confuse the character for Gaston, so they cast David Ogden Stiers as Governor Ratcliffe instead. 

You can see a very brief cameo of Mrs. Potts and Chip in Disney’s Tarzan (1999) in the “Trashin’ the Camp,” sequence.

Walt Disney attempted to adapt “Beauty and the Beast,” for the silver screen in the ‘30s and the ‘50s. The movie was released in 1991, 25 years after his death in 1966.

Howard Ashman’s death occurred when “Aladdin” was in-production at Disney as well. Prior to that, he and Alan Menken wrote the songs for the film “Arabian Nights,” “Friend Like Me,” and “Prince Ali.” To finish writing the rest of the material, Disney hired Sir Tim Rice to collaborate with Alan Menken on the songs “A Whole New World,” “One Jump Ahead,” and “Prince Ali (Reprise).” Rice reunited with Alan Menken for the Broadway versions of “Beauty and the Beast,” and “Aladdin,” and also collaborated with Sir Elton John for the film and Broadway versions of The Lion King (1994).

Each of the film’s original voice cast members reprised each of their characters for the direct-to-video sequels to “Beauty and the Beast,” Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997) and Beauty and the Beast: Belle’s Magical World (1998).

In addition to being the very first animated feature ever to receive an Academy Award Nomination for Best Picture, the fact that “Beauty and the Beast,” was nominated in that category also marked the first time that the Disney Studios had received an Best Picture Oscar Nomination since Mary Poppins in 1964.

As a child, Angela Lansbury knew a cook with a very friendly cockney accent named Beatrice whom she called “Beatty.” Beatty’s voice served as Lansbury’s character voice for Mrs. Potts.

Tony Jay who provided the voice of Monsieur D’Arque in the film was hired on the spot in his try-out to voice the character by Don Hahn, Gary Trousdale, and Kirk Wise. He was later re-hired by the exact same 3 men to voice the main antagonist, Judge Claude Frollo in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”  

“Beauty and the Beast,” will be readapted as a live-action film to be released on March 17th, 2017. The cast includes Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Ewan McGregor, Emma Thompson, and Sir Ian McKellen. It is under the writing/direction of Oscar-nominated screenwriter, Bill Condon.

Jesse Corti who voiced Lefou in the film was a Spanish dignitary in “Frozen.” Josh Gad voiced Olaf the snowman in “Frozen,” will portray Lefou in the live-action “Beauty and the Beast” film.                                 

“Beauty and the Beast,” still reigns as one of Disney’s best films and will be remembered for many, many years. While every Disney movie has its own unique history at the studio, “Beauty and the Beast’s,” history truly is one of the studio’s most special chapters.