10 beauties who served as prototypes of beautiful Disney heroines
The appearance, manners and character traits of Disney characters were taken from various sources. Some cartoon beauties were literally copied from actresses, dancers and models. How did Snow White, Cinderella and Pocahontas?
The world's first full—length animated film — "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" — was created using a rotoscope projector, which allows the animator to outline the shots of full-scale shooting. The living model of Snow White was 14-year-old Marge Champion (nee Belcher), chosen from more than two hundred applicants. This American actress, choreographer and beautiful dancer not only became the living embodiment of the girlfriend of the seven dwarfs, but also posed for the Blue Fairy in the cartoon "Pinocchio".
After the absolute triumph of Snow White, Disney decided to continue a full-length animation line with beauties in the title role. If in "Snow White" and "Pinocchio" the animators simply sketched sketches of live actors, then starting with "Cinderella" the sitters were filmed on film, and then the frames with the models were "outlined". Therefore, Cinderella's appearance almost completely corresponded to her prototype — the actress and ballet dancer Helen Stanley. The animators noted Helen's incredible grace—according to one of them, "she moved like a princess." Later, Helen gave her image to Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and Anita Radcliffe in 101 Dalmatians.
In 1951, 13-year-old Briton Catherine Beaumont gave the animated Alice her appearance and voice. The actress admits that the role of Alice has become the most important in her life. By the way, a few years later, Disney invited Catherine to pose for the role of Wendy Darling, the heroine of Peter Pan. After the projects, the actress starred in several films, took up singing, but eventually became an acting teacher.
Initially, it was assumed that Marilyn Monroe would become the prototype of the fairy, but the choice of the studio still fell on the young actress Margaret Kerry. She gained fame after working on the image of a fairy in the 1953 cartoon "Peter Pan", and still 89-year-old Margaret receives letters from guys in love with Tinker Bell.
When creating The Little Mermaid, the artists initially doubted whether they should hire a live model of Ariel at all. By that time, rotoscoping had not been used in the studio for 30 years. In the end, the Little Mermaid still had a model. Disney animators copied the appearance of the main character of the cartoon from the actress Alyssa Milano, who was 16 years old at the time of the cartoon's release. Later, she was called to lead a film about the creation of The Little Mermaid.
The spectacular appearance and facial expressions of the main character of the cartoon "Beauty and the Beast" in 1991, Belle, were literally copied by artists from actress Judy Garland, a star of the 50s and the mother of actress and singer Liza Minnelli. The animators didn't want to make the heroine too perfect, because it's hard to love with all your heart. A little wrong, but at the same time, Judy's pretty face added a special zest to Belle and made her more "real".
According to animator Mark Henn, one day at Disneyland he saw an incredibly beautiful young visitor with long blue-black hair. Her appearance served as an inspiration for the image of Jasmine. The second prototype model for the Arab princess was the young actress Jennifer Connelly.
If actresses were the prototypes of Disney beauties before, then the image of Pocahontas is based on a real historical figure: an Indian princess named Matoaka from the Powhatan tribe. This woman, nicknamed Pocahontas, which translates as "prankster", made an invaluable contribution to the history of America by reconciling Indians and settlers. There is little information about the life of a girl who died at the age of 22, but her real fate, of course, is far from a Disney fairy tale.
The main character of the 2009 cartoon "The Princess and the Frog" Tiana became the first black girl in a series of Disney princesses. This Cinderella of the new time does not sweep the floors in the house of an evil stepmother, but works as a waitress in New Orleans until she marries Prince Navin. After that, she puts on a crown, and with it — the role of a business lady and opens her own restaurant. Behind Tiana's appearance is actress Jennifer Hudson.
18-year-old Rapunzel was one of the last to try on the crown under the Walt Disney Pictures brand. The living model for this heroine was the princess of the pop scene Taylor Swift. The singer not only gladly agreed to become the prototype of the bold goldilocks, but also participated in this image in the photo shoot of the legendary fashion photographer Annie Leibovitz "Year of a million Dreams" (Year of a million dreams).