50 Fun Facts About 101 Dalmatians

Who wrote the 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians?

She also wrote I Capture the Castle and the play Dear Octopus.

In what year did Disney's animated One Hundred and One Dalmatians open in theaters?

It was Wolfgang Reitherman's feature directing debut alongside Hamilton Luske and Clyde Geronimi.

What are the names of the two adult Dalmatians in the Disney film?

In the novel the mother is Missis; the film merged her with the adopted mother Perdita.

How many puppies are in the adult Dalmatians' own litter?

Cruella's men also steal 84 more Dalmatians bought from shops, making 99 puppies plus the two parents.

What is Roger's profession in the animated film?

His radio hit about Cruella pays for the big country house at the end.

How does Cruella know Anita?

Cruella visits after learning Perdita is expecting and offers to buy the whole litter.

What are the names of the two crooks Cruella hires to steal the puppies?

In the novel Horace was called Saul; the surname Badun stayed.

What is the name of the nationwide dog gossip network Pongo uses to find the puppies?

The message reaches the Colonel, a shaggy sheepdog on a Suffolk farm.

What kind of animal is Sergeant Tibbs, who helps rescue the puppies?

In the novel the character was a female cat named Pussy Willow.

What breed is the Colonel?

Thurl Ravenscroft, the voice of Tony the Tiger, plays his horse, Captain.

How do the Dalmatians disguise themselves to slip past Cruella?

Cruella spots them anyway and tries to ram their van off the road.

Which cheap animation process, championed by Ub Iwerks, gave the 1961 film its scratchy outlined look?

Chuck Jones estimated it let Disney make the film for about half what hand-inking every spot would have cost.

Which Disney animator was the sole animator of Cruella de Vil?

He drew on Bette Davis, Rosalind Russell and Tallulah Bankhead, with actress Mary Wickes as a live model.

Who voiced Cruella de Vil in the 1961 film?

She described the voice as "someone who's set sail from New York but hasn't quite reached England".

Which Australian actor voiced Pongo?

He is better known on screen for The Birds and The Time Machine.

The 1961 film was the first Disney animated feature with a story developed by a single writer. Who?

He condensed the novel, dropping Cruella's husband and cat and merging the two nannies.

Who wrote both the words and music for the film's songs, including "Cruella De Vil"?

Unusually for Disney at the time, the songs were not written by a team.

The name Cruella de Vil is a pun on which two words?

Her country house is nicknamed Hell Hall to hammer the point home.

Which Rolls-Royce model, owned by the novel's author, may have inspired Cruella's name and car?

Smith and her own Dalmatian, Pongo, often traveled in it.

Where did Cruella rank on the AFI's list of the 100 greatest heroes and villains?

She has been voiced or played on screen by three different women across the animated film, the live-action films and the prequel.

What was the family's surname in the original novel, before Disney renamed them Radcliffe?

Mr. Dearly is a "financial wizard" given lifelong tax exemption for wiping out the government debt.

What was the name of the runt puppy in the novel whose traits were given to Lucky in the film?

She rode in a toy cart pulled by the other puppies on the walk from Suffolk to London.

What is the title of the 1967 sequel novel to The Hundred and One Dalmatians?

It picks up where the first book ends.

Under what title was the novel first serialized in Woman's Day?

In the book Cruella has married a furrier so she can wear his stock at will.

Who plays Cruella de Vil in the 1996 live-action 101 Dalmatians?

She initially turned the screenwriter down, then earned a Golden Globe nomination.

What is Roger's job in the 1996 live-action film?

Jeff Daniels plays him, and the animals do not talk.

Which writer-director of Home Alone wrote the 1996 remake?

Stephen Herek directed; the film was a big hit despite tepid reviews.

Roughly how much did the 1996 remake gross worldwide?

It was the sixth-highest-grossing film of 1996 despite reviews calling it a "bland, pointless remake".

Which French actor plays the furrier in 102 Dalmatians (2000)?

Ioan Gruffudd, Alice Evans and the voice of Eric Idle also feature; the film was Oscar-nominated for costume design.

What is unusual about Oddball, the puppy in 102 Dalmatians?

Dalmatian puppies are actually all born white and get their spots within about ten days.

Who plays the young Cruella in the 2021 prequel Cruella?

Emma Thompson plays her rival, the Baroness, in 1970s punk-era London.

What is Cruella's birth name in the 2021 film?

The orphaned girl runs away to London and teams up with two street thieves.

Which Academy Award did Cruella (2021) win?

It was also nominated for makeup and hairstyling; a sequel is in development.

Cruella (2021) hit theaters and streaming simultaneously under which paid early-viewing label?

It grossed over $233 million worldwide during the pandemic.

Which three puppies star in the 1997 animated 101 Dalmatians: The Series?

They are often joined by Spot, a chicken who wants to be a dog.

The 2019 series 101 Dalmatian Street is set in which London neighborhood?

Mother Delilah is a great-great-granddaughter of the 1961 film's parent dogs, and every puppy's name begins with D.

The 1961 film was the first animated feature to earn over what sum in its initial release?

It grossed $14 million domestically and, counting reissues, $303 million worldwide.

What is the name of the TV dog hero the puppies watch, whose villain is Dirty Dawson?

Kanine Krunchies, whose jingle plays in the film, sponsor the show.

The Dalmatian breed traces its origins to which country?

The dogs once ran alongside horse-drawn fire carriages, which is why they became firehouse mascots.

What was the title of the direct-to-video 2003 animated sequel?

A new actress voiced Cruella after the original voice actress's death.

Which Disney film immediately preceded 101 Dalmatians and was still in production when it began?

Its huge cost was one reason the studio embraced the cheaper Xerox process for the dogs.

Which co-director made his feature-length directorial debut on the 1961 film?

Reitherman went on to direct The Jungle Book, The Aristocats and Robin Hood for the studio.

In which English county do the Colonel and Sergeant Tibbs find the stolen puppies?

The Twilight Bark carries Pongo's message from London all the way to a farm run by a retired cavalry officer.

How many extra puppies had Cruella bought and paid for in shops, on top of the stolen litter?

Pongo and Perdita decide to adopt every one of them, which is how the family reaches its famous headcount.

Which actress was hired in January 1959 as the live-action model for Cruella De Vil?

Wickes had played the maid Katie in the Mickey Mouse Club serial Annette; live-action reference was standard practice for Disney animators.

In which year's theatrical re-release did the film gross $60.8 million in the United States?

That fourth re-release made it the 17th highest-grossing film of the year, three decades after its debut.

One Hundred and One Dalmatians was the first Disney animated feature to be what?

Writer Bill Peet worked songs into the story anyway by making Roger a struggling songwriter.

The Kanine Krunchies jingle is sung by Lucille Bliss, who voiced which Cinderella character?

Cruella's own voice, Betty Lou Gerson, had also worked on Cinderella as its narrator.

Cruella's animator named Rosalind Russell, Tallulah Bankhead and which actress as inspirations?

He also borrowed voice actress Betty Lou Gerson's cheekbones for the character's gaunt face.

How do the animals in the 1996 live-action remake differ from those in the animated original?

The 1996 film also had a sequel, 102 Dalmatians, in 2000, and both kept the animals silent.