50 Fun Facts About Pocahontas

Who provides the speaking voice of Pocahontas in the 1995 Disney film?

Bedard later played Pocahontas's mother in Terrence Malick's The New World.

Which Broadway performer provides Pocahontas's singing voice?

She was hired before Irene Bedard was even cast for the speaking role.

Which movie star voices John Smith?

He also sang his own parts, including 'Mine, Mine, Mine'.

What is the name of Pocahontas's pet raccoon?

Story artist Joe Grant created him along with the hummingbird Flit and a scrapped turkey named Redfeather.

What kind of animal is Flit?

He prefers Kocoum to John Smith at first; Frank Welker voices him.

What breed of dog is Governor Ratcliffe's pet Percy?

He eventually abandons his owner to befriend Meeko.

Who voices Grandmother Willow, the talking tree?

Hunt had won an Oscar for playing a man in The Year of Living Dangerously.

Which future Batman voices the young settler who was washed overboard in the opening storm?

He returned to the story a decade later as John Rolfe in The New World.

Which activist and actor voices Chief Powhatan?

Means was a leader of the American Indian Movement.

David Ogden Stiers voices Governor Ratcliffe and which other character?

Wiggins is Ratcliffe's fussy manservant.

What is Governor Ratcliffe secretly planning to do with the gold he expects to find?

There is no gold, and he ends up shipped home in chains.

What is the name of the ship that carries the settlers from London in the film?

All three ships of the real 1607 voyage existed; the film keeps just the flagship.

What is the name of the warrior Pocahontas fears she will be made to marry?

He is shot dead by Thomas, which triggers John Smith's death sentence.

What image from Pocahontas's dream turns out to match John Smith's compass?

Grandmother Willow helps her read the sign as her destiny.

How does Pocahontas save John Smith at the film's climax?

Ratcliffe then fires at Powhatan and John takes the bullet, sending him back to England for treatment.

Which two Academy Awards did Pocahontas win?

Both went to Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz; the song was 'Colors of the Wind'.

Which song from Pocahontas won the Oscar for Best Original Song?

Vanessa Williams sang the pop version and performed at the premiere.

Which love song was cut from the film after test audiences of children lost interest?

Menken himself suggested pulling it; it was restored in a later extended cut.

Where did Pocahontas hold what was then the largest film premiere in history?

It set an opening-weekend record for films on fewer than 50 screens that still stands.

Which Disney film was in production alongside Pocahontas and got fewer of the studio's top animators?

Pocahontas was seen as the prestige project; the other film ended up the far bigger hit.

Roughly how much did Pocahontas gross worldwide?

That made it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 1995.

What was the name of the 1998 direct-to-video sequel?

It follows her to England and introduces John Rolfe.

Which two directors made Pocahontas?

Goldberg grew so frustrated with executive interference that he worked at Chuck Jones Productions under a pseudonym during production.

Which studio chairman wanted the film to be a romantic epic like Beauty and the Beast?

It got mixed reviews and no Best Picture nod; Rotten Tomatoes sits at 59%.

Which supermodel was among the real-life inspirations for Pocahontas's design?

Kate Moss and Christy Turlington were also cited; Dyna Taylor sat for videotaped modelling sessions for nearly three years.

Why did the filmmakers focus on John Smith rather than the man Pocahontas actually married?

Glen Keane said they chose 'socially responsible' over 'historically accurate' and aged her up.

What was the real Pocahontas's birth name?

Matoaka was a secret name revealed only after her baptism; 'Pocahontas' itself was a childhood nickname.

According to colonist William Strachey, what did the nickname 'Pocahontas' mean?

Powhatan children got familiar nicknames as their personalities emerged.

What was the name of Pocahontas's father, leader of the Powhatan Confederacy?

He was the Mamanatowick of some thirty Algonquian-speaking groups in Tidewater Virginia.

In which year was the real Pocahontas captured and held for ransom by the English?

Captain Samuel Argall lured her aboard his ship Treasurer with the help of a local weroance.

What Christian name did Pocahontas take at her baptism?

A 1616 engraving is captioned 'Matoaka, alias Rebecca, daughter of the most powerful prince of the Powhatan Empire of Virginia'.

Whom did the real Pocahontas marry in 1614?

He was a tobacco planter; the marriage brought eight years of calm known as the Peace of Pocahontas.

What was the name of Pocahontas's son, born in 1615?

Many prominent Virginia families later claimed descent from him.

Why was Pocahontas taken to London in 1616?

John Smith wrote to Queen Anne ahead of the visit.

Where did the real Pocahontas die in 1617?

She was about 20 or 21; her exact grave is unknown because St George's Church later burned and was rebuilt.

Where was John Smith taken after his capture in December 1607?

Powhatan's capital; Smith's famous rescue story only appeared in a later account.

Roughly how long did the calm between Jamestown and the Powhatan last after the 1614 marriage?

The period is remembered as the Peace of Pocahontas.

According to Mattaponi oral tradition, who was Pocahontas's first husband?

He is said to have been killed by colonists after her 1613 capture — a very different fate from the Disney version.

What did Pocahontas's husband cultivate at his Varina Farms plantation?

Tobacco became the cash crop that made Virginia viable.

In the film, which settler friend of John Smith is voiced by comedian Billy Connolly?

Joe Baker voices his sidekick Lon.

Which lyricist, then studying psychology at NYU, was hired to write the film's songs?

Schwartz got the call partly because he lived near New York like Alan Menken, while Tim Rice was forever travelling; he went on to write Wicked.

Which Hollywood star was cast as spiritual guide Old Man River before the role became a tree?

Peck himself concluded the character ought to be maternal and reluctantly withdrew, clearing the way for the grandmotherly willow.

What kind of animal was Redfeather, a talking sidekick dropped during production?

Redfeather thought himself a ladies' man, but once Katzenberg ordered the animals mute he could neither talk nor mime, and a raccoon took his place.

Which real Jamestown captain actually despised John Smith, before the villain was renamed?

The filmmakers simply preferred the sinister ring of the other surname; the real man of that name was killed by the Powhatan in 1609.

Schwartz drew on whose letter to Congress for the lyrics of the film's Oscar-winning song?

It was the first song written for the film, and the directors said it defined the movie's heart and soul.

Which supervising animator, famed for drawing Ariel, was tapped to animate the title character?

Keane looked to several real women for inspiration, including supermodels Kate Moss and Christy Turlington.

What unwanted distinction does the film hold among Disney Renaissance movies on review sites?

The site's consensus calls it well-meaning and often beautiful but bland; Roger Ebert still gave it three stars and ranked it fifth of the era's films.

Disney estimated the crowd at the film's record-setting 1995 premiere at how many people?

Vanessa Williams performed live afterwards, and the guest list included Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Caroline Kennedy and Mariah Carey.

Which Titanic villain voices Pocahontas's new love interest in the 1998 sequel?

Mel Gibson did not return as John Smith; his brother Donal took over the part instead.

Roughly how old was the real Pocahontas when John Smith arrived in 1607?

The film ages her into a young adult, and historians have found no evidence of any romance between the two.