Walt Disney’s name will forever be associated with cartoons. But his work can’t be reduced to that field. In the 1940s, he began to produce films combining live-action and animation, a technique which would be later used at its best in Mary Poppins (1964).
In 1950, Treasure’s Island was Disney’s first completely live-action film. And many others would follow, mostly adventure films, Westerns, and comedies. Of course, these were family-oriented movies and “clean entertainment” was the watchword. When selecting actors and actresses to work with him, Disney was smart enough to use young talents and veteran stars alike. Sometimes, animals (such as dogs, cats, horses, etc.) co-starred with humans.
Here’s a list of 27 actresses who have been featured in Disney’s movies. The deadline is Walt Disney’s death, on the 15th of December 1966. The Disney films in which these 27 stars appeared were released before that date. However, some of these actresses have worked for the Disney studios both before and after Walt’s death.
1. Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews (1935) won a best actress Academy Award for her film debut in Walt Disney’s
Mary Poppins (1964). Her third film,
The Sound of Music (1965), was also a huge box office hit for 20th Century Fox. Some fifteen years later, she won praise for her portrayal in
Victor/Victoria (1982). Later in her career, she came back to the Disney studios for
The Princess Diaries (2001) and
The Princess Diaries II (2004). In 2003, she also appeared in two episodes of the TV series
The World of Disney.
2. Joanne Dru
Joanne Dru (1922-1996) was a John Ford heroine in
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and
Wagon Master (1950). Among her other westerns are
Red River (1948), directed by Howard Hawks,
Vengeance Valley (1951),
The Siege at Red River (1954) or
Drango (1957). She was also Fess Parker’s love interest in Disney’s
Light in the Forest (1958). During her career, she played other kinds of roles, most notably in
All the King’s Men (1949), which won a Best Picture Oscar. On the campy side, she was a secretary secretly in love with her boss, Liberace, in
Sincerely Yours (1955), the movie which failed to make a movie star of this flamboyant and hugely popular pianist.
3. Annette Funicello
Under contract with Disney, Annette Funicello (1942-2013) became one of the most renowned performers of the TV program
The Mickey Mouse Club from 1955 to 1958. The Disney studios cashed on her popularity by featuring her on the big screen in four films:
The Shaggy Dog (1959),
Babes in Toyland (1961),
The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964), and
The Monkey’s Uncle (1965). At the same time, she continued her TV career, for example in
The Horsemasters (1961) and several episodes of
Zorro. Annette Funicello was also famous for the teen-oriented beach movies she made for the A.I.P. Company such as
Beach Party (1963),
Muscle Beach Party (1964), or
Beach Blanket Bingo (1965).
4. Jean Hagen
Jean Hagen (1923-1977) was a versatile star, equally good in the classic Film Noir
The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and the famous musical
Singin’ in the Rain (1952). The Disney studios featured her in
The Shaggy Dog (1959), in which she played Fred MacMurray’s wife.
5. Susan Hampshire
For TV audiences, the name of Susan Hampshire (1937) will forever be associated with the hugely popular BBC series
The Forsyte Saga (1967), as the spoiled and wayward Fleur. On the big screen, she played alongside Orson Welles in Belgian director Harry Kümel’s
Malpertuis (1971), based on a Jean Ray fantasy novel, and she notably portrayed the famous wildlife activist Joy Adamson in
Living Free (1972). She also starred in
The Three Lives of Tomasina (1963) and
The Fighting Prince of Donegal (1966), two Disney features filmed in the U.K.
6. Glynis Johns
Charming star Glynis Johns (1923) was featured in two 1953 Walt Disney British adventure films,
The Sword and the Rose (1953) and
Rob Roy (1953). Later, she worked again for Disney with the role of
Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins (1964). Other highlights in her career include
Miranda (1948),
The Card (1952),
The Sundowners (1960) or
The Chapman Report (1962).
7. Nancy Kwan
Nancy Kwan (1939) became famous thanks to her title role in
The World of Suzie Wong (1960). She later played a South Sea beauty in
Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. (1966), produced by the Walt Disney studios and loosely based on the famous Daniel Defoe novel, ‘Robinson Crusoe’.
8. Carol Lynley
Carol Lynley (1942-2019) made her film debut by playing the love interest of James McArthur in Walt Disney’s
The Light in the Forest (1958). Later films include Otto Preminger’s
Bunny Lake is Missing (1965) and the disaster movie
The Poseidon Adventure (1972).
9. Hattie McDaniel
Hattie McDaniel (1893-1952) won an Academy Award in the Best Supporting Actress category for
Gone With the Wind (1939). She was the first black performer to ever receive an Oscar. She played a maid called Aunt Tempy in Disney’s
Song of the South (1946). The movie caused much controversy in its day and was accused of perpetuating racial stereotypes. Hattie McDaniel herself was criticized for having accepted such a role and, deeply hurt, she publicly made it clear that she found those attacks, especially from the NAACP, most unfair.
10. Dorothy McGuire
Dorothy McGuire (1916-2001) won praise for her sensitive portrayals in films such as
Claudia (1943),
The Enchanted Cottage (1945),
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945),
The Spiral Staircase (1946),
Till the End of Time (1946),
Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) or
Friendly Persuasion (1956). With her quiet beauty and soothing cinematographic personality, she perfectly played mother roles in Disney’s
Old Yeller (1957),
Swiss Family Robinson (1960), and
Summer Magic (1963).
11. Vera Miles
Vera Miles (1929) was one of those Hitchcock’s blonde heroines in
The Wrong Man (1956) and
Psycho (1960). John Ford also gave her interesting roles in
The Searchers (1956) and
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). For Disney, she played mothers in
A Tiger Walks (1964) and
Those Calloways (1965) and was the object of Fred MacMurray’s affection in
Follow Me Boys! (1966). The Disney studios seemed to like her very much as, after Walt’s death, they used her again in
The Wild Country (1970),
One Little Indian (1973), and
The Castaway Cowboy (1974).
12. Hayley Mills
Hayley Mills (1946) was a major box office draw for the Disney studios in the first half of the 1960s. She starred in
Pollyanna (1960),
The Parent Trap (1961),
In Search of the Castaways (1962),
Summer Magic (1963),
The Moon-Spinners (1964), and
That Darn Cat (1965). She later broke away from her clean Disney image by appearing for example in
The Family Way (1966), in which she had a brief nude scene, and the controversial thriller
Twisted Nerve (1968). In the 1980s, she worked again for the Disney studios by reprising her role in three TV movies which were sequels to one of her greatest successes:
The Parent Trap II (1986),
Parent Trap III (1989), and
Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon (1989).
13. Aurora Miranda
Aurora Miranda (1915-2005) was Carmen Miranda’s sister and was a star in her own right in her native country, Brazil. When Walt Disney produced
The Three Caballeros (1944), as part of the Good Neighbor policy towards Latin America initiated by Roosevelt, it was only natural that she would be featured in it. And the Brazilian segment perfectly showcased her dancing and singing talents.
14. Carmen Molina
Carmen Molina (1920-1998) was a popular actress during the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema and played opposite such great names as Emilio Fernandez, Pedro Infante, German Valdes, or Arturo de Cordova. She was one of her native country‘s representatives in Disney’s
The Three Caballeros (1944), in which she makes a great impression on Donald Duck, who shares two musical numbers with her.
15. Agnes Moorehead
Everybody remembers Agnes Moorehead (1900-1974) as Endora in the TV series Bewitched (1964-1972). At the beginning of her brilliant career, she appeared in two classics directed by Orson Welles: Citizen Kane (1941), as Kane’s mother, and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), as spinster aunt Fanny. Among scores of other interesting performances, is that of the grouchy and hypochondriac Mrs. Snow in Walt Disney’s Pollyanna (1960).
16. Janet Munro
Cute English actress Janet Munro (1934-1972) was signed by Walt Disney at the end of the 1950s and became famous thanks to
Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959),
Third Man on the Mountain (1959), and
Swiss Family Robinson (1960). For Disney, she was also featured in
The Horsemasters (1961), which was shown on TV in the U.S.A. and released in the cinemas in the U.K. Wanting to escape from her wholesome Disney image, she later handled more dramatic roles, such as in
Life for Ruth (1962) or
Bitter Harvest (1963). Sadly, she died from heart disease in 1972.
17. Maureen O’Hara
Irish-born Maureen O’Hara (1920-2015) was said to have been John Ford’s favorite actress, although their relationship seems to have been quite stormy at times. He directed her in
How Green Was My Valley (1941),
Rio Bravo (1950),
The Quiet Man (1952),
The Long Gray Line (1955), and
The Wings of Eagles (1957). She also made a perfect film couple with John Wayne, who appreciated her very much. From the end of the 1930s to the mid-1960s, this fiery redhead starred in 50 films. For Disney, she played the mother of Hayley Mills in the smash hit
The Parent Trap (1961).
18. Nancy Olson
Nancy Olson (1928) made a splash in Hollywood in 1950 thanks to the classic
Sunset Boulevard (1950), the crime drama
Union Station (1950), and the musical
Mr. Music (1950). For Disney, she played an empathetic maid in
Pollyanna (1960), Fred MacMurray’s love interest in
The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), and his wife in the sequel,
Son of Flubber (1963). After Walt’s death, she came back to the Disney studios for
Smith (1969) and
Snowball Express (1972). She also had an uncredited cameo in the Robin Williams vehicle
Flubber (1997), a remake of
The Absent-Minded Professor.
19. Joy Page
Joy Page (1924-2008) played Sal Mineo’s wise Native-American mother in
Tonka (1958). She is probably better remembered by filmgoers as Annina Brandel, the young refugee contemplating giving herself to Claude Rains to obtain a visa in the classic
Casablanca (1942). Her exotic looks, which she inherited from her father, actor Don Alvarado, also enabled her to play an Indian jungle girl in
Man-Eater of Kumaon (1948), a Mexican senorita in
The Bullfighter and the Lady (1951) or an Italian resistance fighter in
Fighter Attack (1953).
20. Lilli Palmer
During her long and brilliant career, international star Lilli Palmer (1914-1986) worked mostly in British, American, German, and French films. She won the Best Actress Volpi Cup for
The Four-Poster (1952) and was awarded two Deutscher Filmpreis awards in the same category for
Teufel in Seide (1955) and
Anastasia - Die letzte zarentochter (1956). She was also Robert Taylor’s wife in Disney’s
The Miracle of White Stallions (1963), filmed in Austria. In 2018, Netflix released
The Other Side of the Wind, the last movie directed by Orson Welles, which was left unfinished by his death in 1985. In it, Lilli Palmer played an actress named Zarah Valeska, a role allegedly intended for Marlene Dietrich.
21. Luana Patten
Child star Luana Patten (1938-1996) appeared in the Disney productions
Song of the South (1946),
Fun and Fancy Free (1947),
Melody Time (1948) and
So Dear to My Heart (1948). She later became a ravishing young lady and worked again for Disney in
Johnny Tremain (1957) and
Follow Me Boys! (1966).
22. Suzanne Pleshette
A lovely brunette 1960s star, Suzanne Pleshette (1937-2008) will forever be remembered as the ill-fated Annie Hayworth in Hitchcock’s horror classic
The Birds (1963). She played the wife of Dean Jones in Disney’s
The Ugly Dachshund (1966). After Walt’s death, she worked again for the Disney studios in
The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1967),
Blackbeard’s Ghost (1968), and
The Shaggy D.A. (1976).
23. Dorothy Provine
Nine years before Faye Dunaway, Dorothy Provine (1935-2010) played the most famous female bank robber of all time in
The Bonnie Parker Story (1958). She was also part of the all-star cast of Stanley Kramer’s comedy
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963). For the Disney studios, she was the older sister of Hayley Mills in
That Darn Cat (1965), in which she is courted by a pompous and insufferable neighbor played by Roddy McDowall.
24. Joan Rice
Joan Rice (1930-1997) played Maid Marian in
Story of Robin Hood (1952), a Walt Disney British production. But her best-known film is probably
His Majesty O’Keefe (1954), co-starring Burt Lancaster.
25. Dany Saval
French star Dany Saval (1942) played a cute extra-terrestrial in
Moon Pilot (1962). Three years later, American audiences had a second opportunity to enjoy her piquant charm in Paramount’s comedy
Boeing Boeing (1965), in which she co-starred with Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis.
26. Ruth Warrick
Ruth Warrick (1916-2005) will forever be best remembered as the first wife of Orson Welles in the classic
Citizen Kane (1941). Later, she played Bobby Driscoll’s mother in Disney’s
Song of the South (1946).
27. Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman (1917-2007) won an Academy Award in the Best Actress category for her performance as a deaf-mute in Johnny Belinda (1948). During her career, this great star, who was given a “World Film Favorite” Henrietta Award in 1951, worked twice for the Disney studios. She played the stern and dictatorial Aunt Polly, whose goodness is brought out in full by the cheerful heroine, in Pollyanna (1960). Two years later, she was Fred MacMurray’s wife and a mother of two in the comedy Bon Voyage! (1962).
(This original article was written by Marlene Pilaete and published on European Film Star Postcards)