Movie Musings: Disney and More

Lesley Ann Warren: Cinderella/Disney Prodigy

Lesley Ann Warren was practically born into show business on August 16th, 1946, in New York, NY. Her mother, Margot Warren had been a nightclub singer, but gave up her career to be a full time wife and mother. Lesley’s father, William Warren, was a real estate agent and she was their only child. Raised in New York, she attended several prestigious schools, including the School of American Ballet. 

At 17 years of age she entered the Actors Studio studying under Lee Strasberg. She was the youngest student ever to be accepted into the school, and it led to her Broadway debut in the musical “110 in the Shade,” which won her the “Most Promising Newcomer” Award. Around this time, The Sound of Music (1965) was in-production at 20th Century Fox and Lesley auditioned for the role of Liesl Von Trapp. Sadly for her, Fox cast Charmian Carr in the role but little did she know that she was about to land the title role in CBS’s second television adaptation of Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1965). 

Television Director Charles Dubin, who was assigned to direct “Cinderella.” went to see her in “110 in the Shade” and he knew almost instantly that he had found his Cinderella. However, when Warren came to her first audition for the part, Dubin’s producing team, which consisted of Richard Rodgers and James S. Starkey, didn’t agree. Her first audition didn’t go very well simply due to her being intimidated at the idea of auditioning for the likes of Richard Rodgers. (Hammerstein unfortunately died of cancer five years earlier, so he didn’t get to see this production, nor the film version of “The Sound of Music.”) Dubin, however, insisted that Rodgers and Starkey both give Warren a second chance. For her 2nd audition, she was invited to Richard Rodgers’ apartment in New York where he taught her the song “My Funny Valentine,” from the Rodgers and Hart musical Babes in Arms. When she completely learned the tune, Rodgers relented from his original feelings, as did Starkey, and Warren was cast in the role.

“Cinderella,” wound up being a huge hit for CBS. It ultimately caught the eye of Walt Disney, who was casting for what would be his last live-action musical, The Happiest Millionaire (1967). Disney cast Warren in the role of Cordelia “Cordy” Biddle, Fred MacMurray’s daughter. Warren’s Disney/film debut paired her with the likes of Gladys Cooper, Geraldine Page, Tommy Steele and John Davidson, who played Cordy’s love interest, Angie Duke. She reunited with John Davidson the very next year in Disney’s The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968) where she played Alice Bower, one of the older members of the musically gifted Bower Family and Davidson again played her love interest, Joe Carder. Because neither one of the films did particularly well for Disney, Warren left the studio to pursue other things and hopefully grow maturely as an actress.

After “One and Only Family Band,” Warren had a recurring role on the original Mission: Impossible series (1966-1973). She continued to act on television until appearing in the Comedy film Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976). She also guest-starred as herself in an episode of The Muppet Show (1976-1981) in 1979. Her most acclaimed film role came in 1982 when she was paired with James Garner, Robert Preston, and Disney legend Julie Andrews in the Movie-musical comedy Victor Victoria, directed by Julie Andrews’s husband Blake Edwards. She played the role of James Garner’s prostitute girlfriend Norma Cassidy. (Ironically, Andrews had played the title role in CBS’s first production of Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1957) before she made her Disney/film debut, Mary Poppins (1964)). Andrews, Warren, and Preston all received Oscar Nominations and Golden Globe Nominations for their roles in “Victor Victoria.” Warren was offered the chance to reprise her role as Norma Cassidy when “Victor Victoria,” was readapted for the Broadway Stage in 1995, but declined due to various other movie commitments and was replaced by Rachel York. Warren did however return to Broadway in the musical Dream in 1997.

  Lesley Ann Warren also portrayed Miss Scarlet in Clue (1985) based on the board game of the same name. Carrie Fisher was originally attached to play the role, but she ended up in rehab a short while before filming was scheduled, and so Warren was cast at the last minute. Warren’s former husband, Jon Peters, was one of the Executive Producers of the film. She acted in the Suspense/Thriller Color of Night (1994) with Bruce Willis, distributed Disney-owned Buena Vista Pictures, and also had a recurring role on the ABC sitcom, Desperate Housewives (2004-2012). More recently, she played Technology icon, Steve Jobs’s mother, Clara Jobs in the movie Jobs (2013) with Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs and will next be seen in the Comedy Dying:101 (2017).

One could definitely say that Lesley Ann Warren’s career could be characterized as a Cinderella story, since she grew from being a child ballerina to a versatile, Academy-Award-Nominated Actress of Broadway, Television, and Film. Her career spans more than 50 years, and with her upcoming role in “Dying:101,” retirement doesn’t seem to be in the cards for Lesley Ann Warren quite yet. Despite a versatile carer, she will continue to be remembered by most as “Cinderella.”