Verna Felton is one of my favorite voice actresses in animation. Her rich vocal performances for Disney span decades. Unfortunately I never had the chance of meeting her, she died one day before Walt Disney passed away on Dec. 14, 1966.
Felton was responsible for characters like The Elephant Matriarch in Dumbo, she also did those few dialogue lines for his mother. In Cinderella she became the warm hearted Fairy Godmother, by contrast for the film Alice in Wonderland she voiced the ueber eccentric Queen of Hearts.
Verna Felton was Aunt Sarah in Lady and the Tramp, the bossy Fairy Flora in Sleeping Beauty and Winifred, another elephant in Jungle Book.
I remember years ago listening to part of a recording session for Sleeping Beauty. She had a hard time with a particular line of dialogue for Flora. After a couple of failed attempts, she burst at the director: "I can't pronounce that sentence, who on earth wrote this?!"
Here are a few images from various stages of production, featuring Disney characters Verna Felton helped shape and define for generations to come. Love this woman.
Images: Disney, Heritage Auctions, Howard Lowery
For previous posts on Verna Felton's characters, go here:
