Wednesday, May 28, 2014

"Listen well, All of You...!"


Remember that commanding voice, that sent chills down your spine?
Eleanor Audley’s vocal recordings gave Maleficent a scary, bigger than life and unworldly quality. Combined with Marc Davis’ masterfully restraint animation the character became a villain for the ages. 
With Disney’s life action film “Maleficent” coming to a theatre near you, this is as good a time as any to talk about this powerful mistress of all evil.
Many years ago, when I had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know Eleanor Audley, I asked her to sign this German lobby card from the film Sleeping Beauty. Marc had just put his name on it a few days earlier. 
I need to get this image framed, so much history behind it.
Miss Audley remembered that soon after Sleeping Beauty finished production the studio arranged a screening of the film…just for her. She said, she was the only one in the theatre watching this big screen spectacle. “I felt privileged and I adored the film.”

I found this clip on youtube from the TV sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies. More of Eleanor Audley’s performances. 
Incidentally, the young lady in the clip is my friend Lisa Davis, who would soon after voice the character of Anita in 101 Dalmatians.


So here are the two artists who were mainly responsible for developing Maleficent.



A few rough key drawings of Maleficent as she creates a vision in front of Prince Phillip in the dungeon. “Behold….!” Amazing drawings.
Here's the link to a previous post on the remarkable Eleanor Audley:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2011/08/miss-audley.html










Oh, by the way, I just attended a screening of “Maleficent”. Wow, what a magnificent film!!! Really!

10 comments:

  1. She is quite the foreseer of evil and I wish you show us the old drawings of Eleanor's other voiced character the original Mommie Dearest, Lady Tremaine.

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  2. That new movie's going to have a hard time living up to this!

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  3. Hi Andreas,

    I'd love to talk to you for a story I'm working on about Eleanor Audley for TheWire.com. Will you email me at esther@thewire.com if you have the chance?

    Esther

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    1. I saw E.Audley playing a little part in "All that heaven allows"(1953)
      I 've never seen her face before but I recognised her by her special distinguished voice and "phrasé".

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  4. Thank you so much for sharing!

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  5. What an amazing voice! Very rare... Eleanor Audley - great actress!
    Thank Andreas for sharing (:

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  6. Maleficent may not be my favorite villain, but she is undoubtedly the best of them all.

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  7. Beatufill drawings again, thanks for sharing :)

    Some inspiration for Maleficent came from Maila Nurmi aka Vampira?
    There´s some diary entries that she visited at Disney´s and modeled some costumes for Maleficent. Maybe Alice Davis could tell something? :)

    http://www.salon.com/2014/02/15/the_real_maleficent_the_surprising_human_face_behind_the_sleeping_beauty_villain/

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  8. No doubt Marc Davis was awesome, but don't forget his amazing clean-up team led by Dale Barnhart. They were Fernando Arce, Ruben Apodaca and Robert Longo.

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  9. Her autograph! Gahh! An awesome villainess and awesome actress. In her live action work (and radio with Lucille Ball!) she's more of a funny somewhat antagonistic character than threatening but that makes it all the more enjoyable!

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