My Favorite Villain
Throughout the entire history of storytelling, we’ve always had heroes and villains. The villains have always gotten a bad rap. Although it’s their life’s ambition to pursue their “happily ever afters” just like the heroes, they always seem to go about pursuing them in the wrong way. But really, villains are the characters that make things happen in the stories. They serve as the motivation for the hero/heroine to pursue their happily ever afters. So maybe, they’re the real stars of their show, because if you had a story full of heroes and no villains, nothing would happen in the story! Use your imagination with me-maybe villains are people that you can love to hate (instead of just hate!)
Walt Disney hired a huge number of talented people to provide the voices of the villains in his cartoons. One such person was a radio/television/film actress named Eleanor Audley. Audley portrayed the Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella (1950) and Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty (1959). In addition to these two film roles, she also played Madame Leota in the Haunted Mansion attraction at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. A favorite voice-over artist of Walt’s, she initially turned down the role of Maleficent when Walt offered it to her, because she was battling tuberculosis at the time. However, she managed to overcome the disease, and accepted the role just in time. Besides lending her voice to all of these characters, she provided all of the live-action referential modeling for the animators at the studio as well. Unlike many of the more modern Disney villains, neither the Stepmother nor Maleficent get to sing a song in either of their movies. What makes them entertaining, though, is simply the indelible images that come from pairing her distinctively deep voice with Frank Thomas’s genius animation on the Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella (1950) and Marc Davis’s breathtaking animation on Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty (1959). Those combinations cause a powerful thrill!
Since Eleanor Audley’s passing in 1991, all of the characters that she portrayed for Disney have been re-adapted for live-action by Academy-Award-Winning actresses: Angelina Jolie (Best Supporting Actress: Girl, Interrupted (1999)) played Maleficent in Maleficent (2014), Cate Blanchett (Best Supporting Actress: The Aviator (2004) and Best Actress: Blue Jasmine (2013)) played the Wicked Stepmother, also known as “Lady Tremaine” in Cinderella (2015), and Jennifer Tilly (Best Supporting Actress Nominee: Bullets Over Broadway (1994)) played Madame Leota in The Haunted Mansion (2003).
Susan Blakeslee who voiced Wanda (the Fairy)/Mrs. Turner on The Fairly OddParents (2001-) has voiced the Wicked Stepmother and Maleficent for Disney Video Games such as Disney’s Kingdom Hearts series and Disney Infinity. She also voiced the Wicked Stepmother for Cinderella’s two direct-to-video sequels, Cinderella 2: Dream’s Come True (2002), and Cinderella 3: A Twist in Time (2007).
Eleanor Audley is, of course, only one of the many brilliant actors who have voiced Disney villains. While the majority of Disney villains are female, each of them are “wickedly” fascinating in their own unique way. I’m sure we can all agree that had Eleanor Audley not voiced the Stepmother nor Maleficent, neither film would be quite the classic that they are. The Haunted Mansion attraction wouldn’t be the beloved ride that it is, either. Her voice has left a most enduring legacy for cartoon storytelling and it will continued to be remembered for generations.
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