49 Fun Facts About The Fox and the Hound

Which Disney film came out before The Fox and the Hound?

The Aristocats came out in 1970. The Fox and the Hound was due at Christmas 1980, but an animators' walkout pushed it back to July 1981.

Who voiced the adult Tod?

Mickey Rooney's grown-up Tod risks his life to save Copper in the climax, and Copper repays him by standing between the fox and the hunter's gun.

Which actor, cast while filming a TV movie about Elvis, voiced the adult Copper?

Kurt Russell arrived with the army haircut from his Elvis shoot, got through more than half the film in one afternoon and needed only one more session.

The Fox and the Hound's author, Daniel P. Mannix, also wrote a 1958 book on Roman games that inspired which film?

Gladiator's screenwriter David Franzoni was introduced to Mannix's Those About to Die on a round-the-world motorcycle trip, and its picture of the arenas as a sports franchise gave him his angle.

What kind of bird is Big Mama, the character who arranges Tod's adoption?

An owl, Big Mama finds the orphaned cub a home and later warns him, in the song 'Lack of Education', that his best friend is being raised to hunt foxes.

Who adopts the orphaned fox kit and names him Tod?

Widow Tweed raises Tod on her farm until her hunter neighbor vows revenge on him; realizing she can't protect the fox forever, she drives him away and sets him free.

What is the name of the hunter who raises Copper?

Amos Slade ends the film caught in one of his own traps and saved by the fox he came to kill; back home, his neighbor has to bandage his leg.

What do Dinky the sparrow and his woodpecker friend keep trying to catch in The Fox and the Hound?

A caterpillar called Squeaks gives the two birds the slip all film long, then ends the chase for good by turning into a butterfly and flying off.

Who shows Tod how to survive in the wild and becomes his mate?

Vixey is introduced to Tod by Big Mama after his disastrous first night alone, and by the final scene the two foxes are watching over the farms from a hilltop.

Dinky the sparrow is always accompanied by a woodpecker with what name?

Boomer and Dinky give up their running hunt when winter comes: their quarry slips into a warm farmhouse, and the two shivering birds fly south until spring.

Which animal do Copper and his master provoke in the climax of The Fox and the Hound?

A grizzly bear turns on the hunter and Copper until Tod leaps onto its back, and the fight ends with fox and bear plunging over a waterfall together.

What strikes Chief as he chases Tod, leaving the old dog with a broken leg?

A train knocks Chief off a railroad bridge into the river below. In the novel the same accident kills him, and the film's younger staff argued in vain that it still should.

Which future Little Mermaid co-director argued that 'Chief has to die'?

Ron Clements argued that Copper had no reason to hate the fox if the old dog only broke a leg. The directors and studio bosses refused to kill off a lovable character.

The Fox and the Hound was the last film to involve which famed group of Disney animators?

The Nine Old Men bowed out here: Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston finished their scenes, then moved upstairs to write their classic book on animation, The Illusion of Life.

Which animator led a mass resignation from Disney during production of The Fox and the Hound?

Don Bluth quit with Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy to set up a rival studio, and a large part of the animation staff followed within days. The release slipped by more than six months.

The 1979 Disney walkout's leader later directed which film?

The Secret of NIMH was the first feature from the studio he founded after resigning from Disney on his 42nd birthday; An American Tail and The Land Before Time followed.

Which future live-action director worked on The Fox and the Hound as a young Disney artist?

Tim Burton was a Disney apprentice whose concept art never reached the screen; colleagues remember him at his light board turning out very un-Disney character sketches.

Which future star of The Goonies voiced the young Copper?

Corey Feldman had the puppy's lines on tape early in production, but the grown-up Copper proved so hard to cast that it was the last voice role filled.

Which singer and Broadway star voiced Big Mama?

Pearl Bailey sings three of the film's songs in the role, and a writer on the film recalled her keeping the crew laughing with showbiz stories between takes.

What do young Tod and Copper promise each other in The Fox and the Hound?

To be friends forever, they vow as cubs. When Copper comes home a trained hunting dog, he tells Tod those days are over and their friendship has to end.

Which song does Big Mama sing as young Tod and Copper play together?

Best of Friends plays while the cubs romp, but Big Mama is already worried: by the next season she is warning Tod that Copper will come back his enemy.

Which company released The Fox and the Hound to cinemas in 1981?

Buena Vista Distribution was Disney's own arm, founded in 1953 so the studio could release its films itself, starting with the nature documentary The Living Desert.

Which animal offers Tod shelter on his first night alone in the forest?

A porcupine offers the homeless fox a bed, the one kindness in a disastrous first night that also brings him a scolding from a grumpy badger.

Which star of 1971's Willy Wonka voiced The Fox and the Hound's hunter?

Jack Albertson, Wonka's Grandpa Joe, even sings in the part, a number called 'A Huntin' Man'. It was his last cinema role: he died that November, four months after it opened.

After the hunter shoots at Tod, what does the fox's owner blast with the man's own gun?

His car radiator takes the blast after she snatches the gun out of his hands, a rare show of fury from the gentle farmer who dotes on Tod.

Which song plays as Tod's owner tearfully drives him away from the farm?

Goodbye May Seem Forever is performed by Jeanette Nolan, the voice of Tod's owner. The parting leaves the hand-reared fox to a disastrous first night alone in the wild.

The Fox and the Hound's growler, Jimmy MacDonald, also voiced which character?

Mickey Mouse got MacDonald's voice in the late 1940s, when Walt Disney no longer had time to record the dialogue himself. The studio's sound-effects chief kept the part for about three decades.

Tod's adult voice actor had just played a lighthouse keeper in which 1977 Disney film?

Pete's Dragon cast him as Lampie; at the Tod sessions, a writer on the film recalled, he was all business at the microphone, then talked non-stop about old Hollywood over lunch.

Which Jungle Book director began as The Fox and the Hound's director before ceding control to younger staff?

Wolfgang Reitherman lost a power struggle with his junior co-director, saw his idea for a comic musical number thrown out, and sighed, 'maybe this is a young man's medium.'

Phil Harris and which entertainer voiced two cranes in a musical number cut from The Fox and the Hound?

Charo recorded the song and was filmed dancing in a pink leotard as reference for the animators, before the co-director had the number shelved as totally out of place.

In the far darker novel behind The Fox and the Hound, what becomes of Tod?

Dies after a final chase: Copper trails him through a day and a night until the fox drops dead of exhaustion, and the book ends with the old hunter taking his shotgun to Copper too.

Richard Rich, one of The Fox and the Hound's three directors, later left Disney to make which animated film?

The Swan Princess came from the studio Rich founded after leaving Disney in 1986; Thumbelina and Anastasia were made by the animator who had led this film's walkout.

Roughly how many drawings went into The Fox and the Hound?

360,000 drawings took four years, a job stretched when a mid-production walkout forced the studio to hire and promote newcomers to finish it.

Henry Selick, a young animator on The Fox and the Hound, went on to direct which stop-motion film?

Coraline followed his The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach; Selick was one of the art-school recruits Disney hired as its veteran animators retired.

In The Fox and the Hound 2, a band of performing dogs hopes to impress a talent scout from which venue?

The Grand Ole Opry's scout is at the fair where the dogs perform, and once Copper helps patch up the band's quarrel he books them for Nashville's famous stage.

How does Copper's master stop the pup wandering off to play with Tod?

Puts him on a leash, tied beside the barrel he sleeps in. Tod simply comes over to play there instead, wakes the older dog and is chased off the farm.

Chris Buck, a young animator on The Fox and the Hound, later co-directed which Disney blockbuster?

Frozen won Buck an Oscar in 2014, three decades after he started out here among the newcomers hired to take over as Disney's old guard of animators retired.

The Fox and the Hound's 1994 VHS joined which home-video line, later nicknamed 'Black Diamond'?

Walt Disney Classics tapes carry a black diamond on the spine. Sellers list them online for thousands of dollars, but they are neither rare nor selling for anything like that.

Which Robin Hood voice actor returned to Disney to play Chief, the hunter's old dog?

Pat Buttram had been Robin Hood's Sheriff of Nottingham. The veteran directors liked to cast voices they had used before, and he was one of several Disney regulars brought back.

Which singer voices Dixie, the dog band's jealous diva, in The Fox and the Hound 2?

Reba McEntire's Dixie, a Saluki, storms out before a show and later plots to get Copper thrown out of the band. McEntire also sings on the soundtrack.

In The Fox and the Hound 2, which band of performing dogs tempts Copper away from Tod?

The Singin' Strays tour county fairs in an old school bus, and their leader invites Copper on stage after the pup howls along from the crowd.

Which late actor's only voice role was Cash in The Fox and the Hound 2?

Patrick Swayze's Cash fronts the dogs' band: he invites Copper to join after hearing him howl, then fires the pup when their big show is wrecked.

Which future Pixar chief was among the new generation of animators on The Fox and the Hound?

John Lasseter arrived with a wave of CalArts graduates who chafed at the old guard's tight grip; he was soon gone, to the computer-graphics team that became Pixar.

Which future Ariel animator made his name with The Fox and the Hound's climactic fight?

Glen Keane re-storyboarded the fight from start to finish to make it more savage. The sequence's director toned it down a little, but it still drew great praise in the animation world.

Where is Tod left once his owner realizes he is no longer safe on the farm?

A game reserve is meant to keep him safe, but the vengeful hunter and Copper trespass into it anyway and set traps along his path.

In the novel The Fox and the Hound, Copper is half which breed of dog?

Bloodhound blood makes the book's Copper a fine tracker, but there he is the ageing favourite, jealous of a younger, faster Chief. The film swaps the two dogs' ages.

Which actress, a Broadway Peter Pan, voiced Tod's mate in The Fox and the Hound?

Sandy Duncan was flying across Broadway as Peter Pan while the film was in production; at the microphone, a writer recalled, she wanted her character's motivation straight before nailing each line.

Two of the film's directors, Richard Rich and Ted Berman, next directed which Disney film?

Critic Craig Butler called that follow-up a less successful but more ambitious project.

How does Tod first try to impress his future mate in The Fox and the Hound?

By catching a fish, he hopes, but the hand-reared fox has never had to hunt, and it is she who ends up teaching him how to live in the wild.