Monday, April 20, 2020

Roland Dupree

I have mentioned Roland Dupree before in connection with his Peter Pan live action reference work.  But only recently did I find out more about his career as a dancer and choreographer.
This lovely article appeared in Disney's Newsreel magazine in May of 2007. At that time Dupree returned to Disney Studios for the first time since he was filmed as Peter Pan to be reunited with Kathryn Beaumont and Margaret Kerry (whose comment about seeing Dupree again CRACKS ME UP!!).



Dupree was in his mid 20s when he was filmed as Peter Pan, mostly during flying and fighting sequences (Peter Pan's voice actor Bobby Driscoll was responsible for acting out more subtle moments.)
I know for a fact that various animators had a hard time translating Dupree's muscular physique into proper Peter Pan drawings because the character was so much younger.

I wrote earlier about this situation here:



Roland Dupree in action on set at Disney.









A few links that provide you with more information about Dupree's long career: