All actors have a special gift with the ability to hide behind a character.
Voice actors are able to go one step further by masking their physical appearance to become
someone completely different.
Disney has created countless beloved characters for generations but viewers may not realize
that many characters were played by the same actor.
Here are 10 Actors You Didn’t Know Voiced More than one Major Disney Movie Character
Sterling Holloway Cheshire Cat and Winnie the Pooh
Cheshire Cat and Winnie the Pooh were voiced by Sterling Holloway.
The actor was one of the original voice actors hired by Walt Disney.
His credits expand far beyond the two characters but Cheshire Cat and Winnie the Pooh may be
his most beloved work in his sixty year career.
1951’s Alice in Wonderland based on Lewis Carroll's novel, showcased Holloway as the
devious feline who insists on confusing Alice in the mysterious land.
Holloway also played the similarly mischievous Kaa from Disney’s The Jungle Book.
He was then given the role of Winnie Pooh in the 1960s.
He continued the role in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh until 1977.
Pooh’s rumbly-tumbly and bumbly persona may seem like a completely different character
for Holloway but he defined the role as others only impersonate the sound he created.
Kathryn, Beaumont, Alice and Wendy
Kathryn Beaumont was only twelve years-old when she was discovered by Walt Disney and
given the role of Alice in Alice in Wonderland.
Her youthful voice lent an innocence that could not be easily feigned by an older actress.
When Walt was casting the role of a similarly positive young girl who ends up in a magical
land, he looked no further than Beaumont, for the role of Wendy Darling in 1953's Peter
Pan.
The two characters don’t just sound similar, they also have a nearly identical face as
the animators based the characters on the small featured actress.
Kathryn Beaumont was pleased to be a Disney legend and showed that appreciation by voicing
the two characters until 2005 for television specials and video games.
After that she retired and a younger actress stepped into the petite shoes of Alice and
Wendy.
Verna Felton Fairy, Godmother and Queen of Hearts
It may be hard to believe that the person who played Cinderella’s kind and generous
Godmother also played the villainous Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, but actress
Verna Felton voiced the greatly contrasting women.
Felton was an actress born in 1890 so by the time she was playing two of Disney’s most
recognizable characters, she was already a seasoned actress in radio, film, and television.
Just like most of the actors who work for Disney, she was given many roles throughout
her time working for the famous mouse.
Her ability to play the gentle Fairy Godmother with genuine believability did not exactly
type-cast her as she was given the role of the nasty Queen of Hearts one year later.
Providing memorable voices was a family affair as Felton’s husband actor Lee Millar was
the voice of Pluto.
Bill Thompson, Smee and White Rabbit
Smee is Captain Hook’s first mate and practically his personal assistant so it may not come
as a surprise that the actor who played him also voiced The White Rabbit.
Just as Smee supports Hook even at his most demanding, The White Rabbit’s first instinct
is to ensure the Queen of Heart’s comfort at every turn even when she requires outlandish
things.
Bill Thompson was a vaudevillian and radio actor when he began working with Disney.
He started performing in shorts voicing Droopy dog.
Just like many of the characters who are voiced by the same actor, there is a resemblance
to White Rabbit and Smee even though one is a neurotic rodent who has issues with being
tardy.
They both are short, stout, and eager to please
Eleanor Audley, Lady Tremaine and Maleficent Two of the most wicked antagonists to Disney
princesses are Cinderella's evil stepmother, Lady Tremaine, and Aurora’s insanely bitter
Godmother Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty.
Their similar devilish demeanor and chilling voices are from actress Eleanor Audley.
Audley worked in television, film and radio for years before obtaining the roles.
She initially turned down the role for Maleficent due to her battling tuberculosis at the time,
but she was made for the role.
The animators based both characters on the actress as it was common to dress the model
in the character's attire to get a realistic design.
The malevolent evil-doers were not the only voice Audley did for Disney, she can be heard
to this day as Madame Leona, the psychic spirit in The Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland
and Disney World.
Bobby Driscoll, Goofy Jr. and Peter Pan Bobby Driscoll was one of the first child
actors to receive a contract with Disney in the 1940’s.
He started out in the live action film Song of the South.
In 1952, the fifteen year-old Driscoll was given the voice role of Goofy Jr. in the classic
Disney short, Father’s Lion, in which Goofy and his son go on a hunting trip.
Younger viewers may be more aware of Goofy’s son Max from A Goofy Movie, but it was Father’s
Lion that introduced the silly dynamic of Goofy and his son.
Driscoll scored his most memorable role a year later as the maturity stunted boy, Peter
Pan.
Bobby was also the model for Peter.
Unfortunately, Driscoll’s fame came at too early of an age and he was unable to maintain
success.
He died from an overdose at the age of thirty-one as he was a truly lost boy.
Jodi Benson, Ariel and Barbie Ariel is a teenage mermaid who just wants
to be part of our world which requires feet but apparently not much talking.
Barbie is a Mattel creation that became part of Andy’s toy crew.
The two characters share a bubbly disposition and struggle unnaturally on the legs they
are given.
They were also both played by Broadway actress Jodi Benson.
The Tony Award winning actress began her career in the early 1980s.
She cross paths with someone involved with 1989’s The Little Mermaid so she decided
to send in a demo of herself.
After getting the part she has continued to voice Ariel in films, television, video games,
and specials.
For the role of Barbie in Toy Story 2, Disney did not have to look far as Benson was the
ideal sound for the leggy blonde.
Phil Harris, Thomas O’Malley and Baloo What do the sly and confident Thomas O'Malley
from The Aristocats, the carefree and lovable Baloo from Jungle Book, and Robin Hood’s
right-hand bear Little John have in common?
They were all voiced by comedian, actor and jazz musician Phil Harris.
A jazz musician playing the three too cool-for-school characters was a perfect fit.
His voice became known for generations after not only playing the speaking voice but also
singing songs like “The Bare Necessities” and “Everybody wants to be a Cat”.
After more than a decade without Disney, Harris recorded Baloo once again for the 1990 series,
Talespin.
Unfortunately, the producers decided his aged voice was not a good fit and replaced him
with a sound-alike.
Jimmy McDonald, Mickey Mouse, Chip, Dormouse, and Jacque
While most of the actors who work for Disney stick to their job as a performer, Jimmy McDonald
was a man of many skills.
He started out as the head of Disney’s sound department.
He was responsible for not only creating the sound effects but also composed the music
for some early Disney shorts.
He began doing supplemental voice work for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but his big
break into acting was becoming the new voice of Mickey Mouse in 1947.
He remained the legendary mouse for thirty years.
In addition he was Chip of Chip and Dale, Jacque the helpful mouse in Cinderella and
the sleepy Dormouse from Alice in Wonderland.
His aptitude for voicing likable critters has cemented his position as one of the most
versatile Disney employees in history.
Barbara Luddy, Lady and Roo Barbara Luddy played two dogs and two maternal
guides.
Lady is known to be the delicate and composed cocker spaniel who falls in love and has a
memorable spaghetti dinner with a boisterous mutt in Lady and the Tramp.
Then there is Roo’s adoring mother Kanga who has a kind voice and sensible disposition.
Actress Barbara Luddy played the two enduring characters and spent most of her career working
with Disney.
Along with Lady, she also voiced Rover from 101 Dalmatians.
Using the same protective cadence she used for Kanga, she also provided the voice of
one of Aurora’s Godmother, Merriweather in Sleeping Beauty.
Luddy started out as a Vaudevillian actor and worked occasionally on television, but
her Disney work remained her legacy.
There’s our list.
What did you think?
Which Disney voice actors did we forget?
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