98 Fun Facts About Disney Characters

Who co-created Mickey Mouse with Walt Disney in 1928?

Ub Iwerks animated the first Mickey cartoon, Plane Crazy, in a matter of weeks, turning out about 700 drawings a day.

According to Disney legend, what did Walt first want to name Mickey Mouse?

Mortimer is the name in the studio legend, and it came back in 1936 on a rival who competes for Minnie's affections in the short Mickey's Rival.

According to Disney legend, who talked Walt out of his first name for Mickey Mouse?

Walt's wife, Lillian, is said to have rejected his first choice on the 1928 train ride home from New York and suggested Mickey instead.

Mickey Mouse was created as a replacement for which earlier Walt Disney character?

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit belonged to Universal, so when Walt lost him in 1928 he set out to create a character whose rights he could keep.

In 2006 Disney won back an early Walt Disney cartoon character by releasing which sportscaster to NBC?

Al Michaels wanted out of his ABC and ESPN contract to rejoin John Madden on NBC's Sunday night NFL games, so NBC Universal handed over the character's rights as part of the price.

What are the names of Minnie Mouse's twin nieces?

Millie and Melody appeared in a 1962 comic book story, then made their animated debut almost 50 years later in the preschool series Minnie's Bow-Toons.

Pluto debuted in 1930's The Chain Gang tracking escaped prisoner Mickey Mouse as what breed of dog?

A bloodhound with no name in The Chain Gang, he came back later in 1930 as Minnie's dog Rover and only became Mickey's pet Pluto the following year.

Which Pluto short won an Academy Award in 1942?

Lend a Paw has Pluto rescue a kitten, then grow so jealous of it that his shoulder angel and devil fight over whether he should get it into trouble.

What distinguishes Pluto from the rest of the "Sensational Six"?

He is not dressed as a human because Pluto was created as an actual pet dog with no speaking voice, while Goofy, also a dog, was created as a human character who walks upright and talks.

What was Goofy first called in the early 1930s, before he became Goofy?

Dippy Dawg, as he was soon named, first turned up in the audience of Mickey's Revue, laughing loudly at the show in a voice supplied by former circus clown Pinto Colvig.

What is the name of Goofy's teenage son in the 1995 film A Goofy Movie?

Max is dragged on a father-son fishing trip when he would rather be with his girlfriend Roxanne, and the lie he tells her about why he is leaving causes all sorts of complications.

What is Donald Duck's middle name, shown on screen in a 1942 wartime cartoon?

Fauntleroy appears in Donald Gets Drafted, where the Army's induction order gives Donald's full name, and he soon regrets reporting once his drill sergeant gets hold of him.

In which 1934 short did Donald Duck first appear?

The Wise Little Hen has Donald and his friend Peter Pig refuse to help the hen plant and harvest her corn, so when the feast is ready they get none of it.

Daisy Duck first appeared under the name Daisy in which 1940 short?

Mr. Duck Steps Out follows Donald as he tries to court Daisy on a date while his three nephews keep turning up to cut in.

In the 1937 short Don Donald, what is the name of the sweetheart Donald Duck tries to win over?

Donna Duck is the tempestuous sweetheart Donald tries to please in this south-of-the-border short by trading his burro for a car.

In which fictional U.S. state is the Disney comics city of Duckburg?

Calisota is usually read as a blend of California and Minnesota, two states its creator Carl Barks had lived in, and he named it only in a 1952 story.

Which character did Carl Barks introduce in 1947?

Scrooge McDuck debuted in Christmas on Bear Mountain, took his name and miserly streak from Dickens's Ebenezer Scrooge, and went on to star in his own comic book series.

Which of Donald Duck's nephews usually wears green?

Louie's green was settled only in the 1980s; before that the triplets' colours were swapped freely. Disney's archivist offered a memory aid: that leaves Louie, and leaves are green.

What scouting organization do Donald Duck's nephews belong to?

Junior Woodchucks always carry their Guidebook, a small manual that somehow holds the answer to any question, and the nephews lean on it whenever they are stuck.

Which Disney villain first appeared in 1925, three years before Mickey Mouse?

Pete, who had a peg leg in his earliest cartoons, harassed the live-action heroine of the silent Alice Comedies before becoming Mickey Mouse's and later Donald Duck's chief nemesis.

Chip 'n' Dale first appeared, still unnamed, storing nuts on an Army base in which 1943 short?

Private Pluto puts Pluto on Army guard duty at a pillbox that two pesky chipmunks, not yet called Chip and Dale, are using to store their nuts.

Horace Horsecollar first appeared as a farm horse in which 1929 Mickey Mouse cartoon?

The Plowboy ends with Horace stung by a bee and bolting until the plow breaks, so Mickey Mouse presses a pig into service as the new plow.

Who voiced Snow White in Disney's 1937 animated film?

Adriana Caselotti was 18 when a Disney casting director phoned her father, a singing teacher, in search of voices; listening in on the call, she put herself forward and won the part.

The Evil Queen in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is sometimes given what name outside the film?

Grimhilde is never heard in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which calls the stepmother only the Queen; the name was attached to her outside the film.

Who voiced Cinderella in Disney's 1950 animated film?

Ilene Woods only recorded demos of the film's songs as a favour to two songwriter friends; Walt Disney heard them and offered her the title role.

What nearly cost singer Mary Costa the voice role of Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty?

Her southern accent worried the filmmakers until the Tennessee-born singer held a British one: if Vivien Leigh could play a southern belle, they reasoned, a southern girl could play an English princess.

Maleficent's voice actress Eleanor Audley had earlier voiced which Disney villain?

Lady Tremaine has Eleanor Audley's face as well as her voice: Audley acted out scenes as the animators' live-action model, and Maleficent's features were later drawn from hers too.

Who steals the puppies for Cruella de Vil?

Jasper and Horace take the 15 puppies to Hell Hall, where Cruella has gathered 84 more for her fur coats, which is how Pongo and Perdita end up with a family of 101.

What is the name of Ariel's underwater kingdom?

Atlantica falls silent in the 2008 prequel Ariel's Beginning, when a heartbroken King Triton bans music from the kingdom after losing his wife, Queen Athena.

The Little Mermaid's directors wrote Ursula with which Golden Girls star in mind?

Bea Arthur probably never saw the script: her agent read its call for a Bea Arthur-type basso voice as calling her client a witch and turned the directors down.

Which singer provided the singing voices of both Jasmine and Mulan?

Lea Salonga was starring in Miss Saigon, the role that won her a Tony, when Disney invited her to sing A Whole New World for Jasmine; she came back to sing Reflection for Mulan.

Princess Jasmine slipping out of her palace in disguise was inspired by which Audrey Hepburn film?

Roman Holiday has Hepburn's bored Princess Ann slip away from her royal duties for a day in Rome; Jasmine's other model is the princess of the original Aladdin tale.

Who voiced the Genie in The Return of Jafar, the 1994 sequel Robin Williams sat out?

Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson, took over for the 1994 video sequel; Robin Williams came back as the Genie for Aladdin and the King of Thieves in 1996.

What is the name of Aladdin's long-lost father, who leads the Forty Thieves in Aladdin and the King of Thieves?

Cassim left his family years earlier to hunt for the Hand of Midas, a treasure that turns whatever it touches to gold, and became the King of Thieves along the way.

Which Disney villain was invented for the film and has no counterpart in the fairy tale it adapts?

Gaston did not exist in the French tale; Disney added him to give the 1991 film a real villain, after an early draft had cast Belle's overbearing aunt Marguerite as the menace.

Scar in The Lion King is loosely based on which Shakespeare character?

King Claudius murders his brother to take the throne in Hamlet, just as Scar kills Mufasa, which leaves Simba standing in for the prince who must avenge his father.

Animator Andreas Deja modeled Scar's look on which actor's face?

Jeremy Irons also lent Scar a line: the lion's purred 'You have no idea' repeats the actor's best-known quip from Reversal of Fortune, the film that won him his Oscar.

In The Lion King, Mufasa is killed during a stampede of which animals?

Wildebeest were computer-generated for the stampede, and co-director Rob Minkoff pushed to show Mufasa's death in full, saying the film needed to do the opposite of Bambi.

The Lion King's warthog is named Pumbaa, a Swahili word meaning what?

To be foolish or careless is how Swahili dictionaries define pumbaa, a fair label for the dim but big-hearted warthog; Simba's name is plainer still, the everyday Swahili word for lion.

Before being cast as Timon and Pumbaa, Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella first read for which Lion King roles?

The hyenas were the parts Lane and Sabella read for together while co-starring in Guys and Dolls on Broadway, and their chemistry was so funny that the filmmakers recast them as Timon and Pumbaa.

Which Disney princess was inspired by chef Leah Chase, who began as a waitress and became the Queen of Creole Cuisine?

Tiana's climb from waitress to restaurant owner echoes Chase, who started out waiting tables and made Dooky Chase's a New Orleans landmark; the directors met her there on a research trip.

What kind of animal is Pascal, Rapunzel's sidekick in Tangled?

A chameleon was chosen because the directors were tired of the usual squirrel, chipmunk or bird and wanted a quirky pet for a quirky young woman, one who also has 70 feet of magical hair.

In Tangled, what is Flynn Rider's real name?

Eugene Fitzherbert is the name the thief hides behind his dashing alias, Flynn Rider, which the filmmakers chose in homage to the swashbuckling screen star Errol Flynn.

Maximus, the relentless super-cop horse on a fugitive's trail in Tangled, was first conceived as which actor "of horses"?

Tommy Lee Jones was director Byron Howard's joke model for Maximus, the ultimate super-cop who never lets go; the horse began as a serious character and grew funnier as the animators developed him.

Frozen's directors described which character as Elsa's "first pancake", a botched early try at using her powers?

Olaf began as the first of the guards Elsa builds for her ice palace, the burnt pancake you throw out, as director Chris Buck put it; he was later rewritten as the sisters' childhood snowman.

Kristoff's clothing in Frozen draws on which reindeer-herding people?

Sámi influence runs through Frozen, which opens with a song inspired by traditional joik singing; for Frozen II, Disney signed an agreement with Sámi leaders to get the culture right.

In Frozen, the reindeer Sven's mannerisms were ultimately based on which animal?

A dog became the model after the animators studied a live reindeer in the studio; head of animation Lino DiSalvo said they approached Sven as an excited, inquisitive pooch that is always in your face.

Best known as tough detective Rosa Diaz, Stephanie Beatriz first auditioned for which Encanto role before landing Mirabel?

Luisa, the super-strong sister, seemed the natural fit for the actress behind a famously tough TV cop, but once the filmmakers heard her read as Mirabel it was obvious the lead was hers.

Which Disney character was rumoured to be modelled on Marilyn Monroe but really on dancer Margaret Kerry?

Tinker Bell's movements came from Margaret Kerry, once named the "Most Beautiful Legs in Hollywood", who served as live-action reference for animator Marc Davis.

Animator Glen Keane built which Disney character from a lion's mane, a buffalo's head and a gorilla's brow?

The Beast started with a buffalo head Glen Keane bought from a taxidermist; he then added a wild boar's tusks, a wolf's legs and tail and a bear's body.

Which Toy Story character was named in honour of Edwin Aldrin, the second person to walk on the Moon?

Buzz Lightyear got the name because the filmmakers thought Aldrin had "the coolest astronaut name"; Aldrin later pulled out a Buzz toy during a speech at NASA.

Johnny Depp modelled which Disney pirate partly on Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards?

Jack Sparrow grew from Depp's idea that 18th-century pirates were the rock stars of their day; Richards later turned up in two films as Jack's father, Captain Teague.

Which Disney bear takes his first name from a real Canadian black bear that lived at London Zoo?

Winnie the Pooh combines Winnie, a black bear named after the city of Winnipeg that Christopher Robin Milne often saw at London Zoo, with Pooh, the name of a swan he met on holiday.

In which part-animated film do Disney's Mickey Mouse and Warner Bros.' Bugs Bunny share a scene as skydivers?

Who Framed Roger Rabbit borrowed stars from rival studios on strict terms, which is why Donald Duck and Daffy Duck duel as equally talented pianists.

Which Disney villain plays croquet with flamingos for mallets and hedgehogs for balls?

The Queen of Hearts executes anyone who enrages her, and Disney's film ends with Alice on trial for teasing her during that croquet game, not a knave for stealing tarts.

Which character in Disney's The Lion King has a name that is simply the Swahili word for "lion"?

Simba is plain Swahili for "lion", and the film borrows more of the language: the motto "hakuna matata" really does mean "no worries".

Disney's Aladdin was first drawn to resemble Michael J. Fox, then redesigned around which other actor?

Tom Cruise and Calvin Klein models shaped the final Aladdin after the studio judged the first design too boyish; the hero also aged from about thirteen to nearly eighteen.

Which Disney character is appointed by the Blue Fairy to serve as Pinocchio's official conscience?

Jiminy Cricket got off lightly: in Carlo Collodi's novel the cricket has no name, is killed by Pinocchio and comes back as a ghost.

Which Disney rabbit is made to recite "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all"?

Thumper has to say it after calling the newborn Bambi "kinda wobbly". He was voiced by four-year-old Peter Behn, whose performance got a minor part expanded.

Which Disney alien did Jumba Jookiba create, under the name Experiment 626, to cause chaos across the galaxy?

Stitch was first written as a gang leader with Jumba as a former crony; test audiences led Disney to recast the pair as creation and creator.

Which Moana character has tattoos featuring a miniature version of himself that pokes fun at his ego?

Maui was short and bald in early artwork until the Oceanic Trust, the film's panel of Pacific cultural advisers, objected; he gained a broader frame and thick, flowing hair.

Eddie Murphy voiced which dragon in Disney's Mulan, a family guardian demoted for failing to protect an ancestor?

Mushu was at one point going to be two creatures, a gryphon and a phoenix; Joe Pesci was hired first, and Murphy ended up recording from his home studio.

Which Little Mermaid character was first written as an English butler until Howard Ashman proposed a Jamaican instead?

Sebastian began as a lobster, too; Ashman's idea of a Rastafari crab reshaped the film's musical style, and the actor's Trinidadian audition accent was kept.

Law & Order's Jerry Orbach voiced which Disney character "halfway between Maurice Chevalier and Pepé Le Pew"?

Lumière took Orbach to the Oscars: he performed "Be Our Guest" live on stage at the 64th Academy Awards, where the candelabrum's song was a nominee.

Which comedian became Jafar's parrot in Disney's Aladdin after the filmmakers saw him in Beverly Hills Cop II?

Gilbert Gottfried's casting came with a personality swap: Iago had been planned as a calm British straight man to a comic, irritable Jafar, and the filmmakers reversed them.

James Woods ad-libbed most of his lines as which Disney villain, a part once pitched to Jack Nicholson?

Hades talked so much and so fast that animator Nik Ranieri said a one-second scene took him two weeks; John Lithgow had spent nine months in the role before Woods.

Which Disney character loves bouncing and proudly maintains that he is "the only one" of his kind?

Tigger was meant for Wally Boag, but after Walt Disney died the part went to Paul Winchell because Boag's take was judged "too zany for a children's film".

In Disney's The Emperor's New Groove, a botched poisoning turns Emperor Kuzco into which animal?

A llama is the result because the henchman Kronk grabs the wrong vial from a secret laboratory; the film was first conceived as a musical epic called Kingdom of the Sun.

Eartha Kitt won an Annie Award voicing which Disney villain, an emperor's treacherous former adviser?

Yzma survived a total rewrite: in the film's abandoned first version she was a witch plotting to destroy the sun, convinced its light gave her wrinkles.

Which Disney villain kidnaps a baby princess and raises her in a tower to stay eternally young?

Mother Gothel had already lived for centuries on a magical golden flower; once its power passed into the child's hair, she posed as a parent to keep it.

Keith David voices which Disney villain, a voodoo witch doctor who plans to rule New Orleans?

Dr. Facilier pays for his magic with other people's souls: he promises the city's whole population to his "friends on the other side", a legion of voodoo spirits.

In Disney's Zootopia, what is the ironic name of the "fastest" three-toed sloth working at the DMV?

Flash works at the Department of Mammal Vehicles, an office staffed entirely by sloths; a sequence from the scene was released as the film's second teaser trailer.

Which inflatable Disney robot, built by Tadashi Hamada as a healthcare companion, began as a Marvel Comics superhero?

Baymax in the comics is no soft nurse: he was designed as a bodyguard, butler and chauffeur who can morph into a "Battle-Dragon".

Which glitching racer from the candy-themed game Sugar Rush befriends Disney's Wreck-It Ralph?

Vanellope is a glitch only because King Candy, really the rogue racer Turbo in disguise, rewrote part of her code to displace her as the game's main character.

Which Madrigal in Disney's Encanto, vilified for his visions of the future, has been missing for ten years?

Bruno ended up with a number-one hit about him: "We Don't Talk About Bruno" topped both the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart for several weeks running.

Director Brad Bird voices which Incredibles character himself, after actresses failed to replicate her unique accent?

Edna Mode exists to answer a question Bird felt superhero films dodge: where the costumes come from. He denies the popular belief that she is based on costume designer Edith Head.

Peter Ustinov voices which Disney villain, drawn as a scrawny lion without a mane, who overtaxes Nottingham?

Prince John holds the throne only because his snake aide hypnotised the rightful king into leaving for the Crusades; Ustinov also voiced him in the German version.

Sterling Holloway, the voice of Disney's Cheshire Cat, also voiced which hypnotic Jungle Book character?

Kaa is a villain in Disney's films, where he tries to eat Mowgli; in Rudyard Kipling's books the python is the boy's ally, a friend and trusted mentor.

In Disney's Peter Pan, stage tradition has the actor voicing Mr. Darling double as which other character?

Captain Hook and the father have shared an actor since the first stage production, when Gerald du Maurier, already cast as Mr. Darling, talked J. M. Barrie into giving him both parts.

Tony Jay voices which Disney villain, a Paris judge on screen but an archdeacon in the original novel?

Frollo was split in two for the film: Disney made him the Minister of Justice and turned the Archdeacon of Notre Dame into a separate character with a different voice.

Horror star Vincent Price voices which Disney criminal mastermind, the sworn enemy of Basil of Baker Street?

Professor Ratigan arrived just in time: The Great Mouse Detective's success is credited with keeping Disney animation going after the failure of the studio's previous film.

Berlioz, Marie and Toulouse are the three kittens of Duchess in which Disney film set in Paris?

The Aristocats gives two kittens artists' names: Toulouse, who paints, echoes the French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and the pianist Berlioz is named after the composer Hector Berlioz.

Flora, Fauna and which third good fairy raise Princess Aurora in hiding in Disney's Sleeping Beauty?

Merryweather is the one who saves the princess: her gift softens the death curse into a deep sleep that true love's kiss can break.

Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame names two of its three gargoyles after which French novelist?

Victor Hugo was the fallback: the first idea, Chaney, Laughton and Quinn, after actors who had played Quasimodo, was dropped when Disney's lawyers feared the estates would sue.

In Disney's The Little Mermaid, which two green morays serve as the minions of the sea witch Ursula?

Flotsam and Jetsam are identical and can be told apart only by their eyes: each has one white and one yellow, on opposite sides.

Animator Glen Keane drew which Disney hero sliding along branches with moves inspired by skateboarder Tony Hawk?

Tarzan "surfs" the trees because Keane's son loved extreme sports; the directors worried about ending up with a "surfer dude" until a test scene won them over.

Which actress voiced the teapot Mrs. Potts and recorded Disney's Oscar-winning ballroom ballad in a single take?

Angela Lansbury was hesitant to record the song at all, feeling it did not suit her ageing singing voice, then finished it in one take.

In Disney's The Sword in the Stone, the orphan destined to pull the blade free goes by which nickname?

Wart is what the future monarch answers to while serving as squire to his foster brother Kay; the wizard Merlin educates him by turning them both into fish.

The underwater movement of Ariel's hair in Disney's The Little Mermaid was based on footage of which astronaut?

Sally Ride was filmed in space, where her floating hair showed animators how a mermaid's might drift; Ariel's look drew on Christie Brinkley and a 16-year-old Alyssa Milano.

In Disney's Pinocchio, what is the name of the vicious sperm whale that swallows Geppetto at sea?

Monstro is beaten by a sneeze: Pinocchio's scheme to make the whale sneeze gets everyone out of his belly, though the furious chase that follows destroys their raft.

Donald Duck teams up with a Brazilian parrot and a pistol-toting Mexican rooster in which 1940s Disney film?

The Three Caballeros celebrates Donald's tenth anniversary with a birthday tour of Latin America, and it premiered in Mexico City before reaching the United States.

Which actress, the original voice of Disney's Ariel, also played Barbie in the second and third Toy Story films?

Jodi Benson has stayed with her mermaid through the sequel, the prequel and a television series, and her credits beyond Disney include Don Bluth's Thumbelina.

Which voice actor gave Donald Duck his garbled voice for 51 years, in more than 120 shorts and films?

Clarence Nash had honed the sound in vaudeville as a "nervous baby goat" voice, long before the studio heard a duck in it.

Which Carl Barks creation, blessed with impossibly good luck, rivals his cousin Donald Duck for Daisy's affection?

Gladstone Gander was just an obstinate braggart in his first three stories of 1948; the lucky streak that defines him only broke through the following year.

In Fantasia, Mickey Mouse is the young apprentice of which sorcerer, played for the animators by Nigel De Brulier?

Yen Sid hides a tribute in plain sight: the sorcerer's name is "Disney" spelled backwards.

John Hurt voices which skeletal Disney villain, who seeks a magic relic to raise an army of undead warriors?

The Horned King alarmed his own studio: new chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg ordered scenes cut, delaying the release to 1985, and it was still the first Disney animated film rated PG.

Which actress voiced both Disney's Alice and, two years later, Wendy in the studio's Peter Pan?

Kathryn Beaumont was a British girl newly moved to Los Angeles when the studio went looking for young British actresses; the two roles made her a Disney Legend in 1998.

Which of Disney's seven dwarfs communicates only through sounds and pantomime, never speaking a word?

Dopey was very talkative in the original storyboard; he fell silent only because no suitable voice actor could be found.