At Disney each time animators started exploring a new character assignment, it became very useful to do some research on the character's voice actor. Before animating Scar I looked at photos and watched film sequences with Jeremy Irons. You never know if you might find interesting expressions or gestures that could influence and benefit your animated performance.
I am certain that Milt Kahl did the same when he started animating Madame Medusa in The Rescuers. Milt mentioned that he had observed Geraldine Page for a little while during her voice recordings at the studio. I imagine that photos of the actress were available to him for further study. Of course I have no idea if Milt was inspired by these press photos shown here from previous films....but I wonder.
Here is a link to a previous post on Geraldine Page:
https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2013/09/geraldine-page-is-madame-medusa.html
