My inspiration for this post came from my dear, longtime blogging friend, Debbie @ Musings by an ND Domer's Mom, who is not only a gifted...
Call me strange, but I much prefer the villain characters in Disney animated films over the sugary-sweet ones. And that's because I find the villains much more entertaining and multidimensional. Villains expose and reflect both the "dark and light" within us all.
When I was still acting, the roles I relished doing the most were the villains. However, playing a villain is not as easy as one thinks because you can't simply portray a villain as a single note: menacing, or cruel, or evil. The challenge is in uncovering the characters "humor and humanness" so that the audience finds themselves being charmed by the villain, instead of disliking them.
I just recently rewatched the Disney animated film, The Little Mermaid, and forgot how much I LOVED the character of Ursula. OMG...she's freaking HILARIOUS!
She reminds me of a faaaaabulous drag queen you'd see performing in a gay nightclub on a Saturday night - the hair, the makeup, the costume, and the whole bigger-than-life personality.
Now tell me, does Ursula resemble a first-rate octopus drag queen or what?....
Ironically enough, it wasn't until I started putting this post together and doing some research, I discovered that the real-life inspiration for the character of Ursula was the infamous New York City drag queen, Divine, (who, by the way, I actually saw in person performing in an Off-Broadway show in the late 70's, down in the Village).
Notice how closely they resemble one another...
I also discovered that Divine was originally supposed to be the "voice" for Ursula in the movie, but unfortunately died suddenly a year before the movie went into production.
The comedic actress, Pat Carroll, was eventually cast as the voice of Ursula, who I think did a stellar job because her voice had such a wonderful gravelly quality that suited the character of Ursula so well!
Here are a few more images of Ursula...
That is so totally a drag queen pose!
One of my favorite parts of the movie is when Ursula uses a sea flower to apply red lipstick.
Remember this?...
Bwhahahahahahahahaha!
Back in the 90's, I had the opportunity to be part of a musical stage production of Peter Pan. My favorite character is Captain Hook because he's both comical and devilish. I was cast as his sidekick, Mr. Smee, and had FUN, FUN, FUN with the character...
Captain Hook and Mr. Smee from the animated film
Below is a backstage photograph of me as Mr. Smee, and one of my good friends at the time (Jim) who was a very talented actor, as Captain Hook. He and I had a blast playing these two characters every evening and matinee performance...
Yet, out of all the villains I played throughout my career, portraying the Wicked Stepmother from the musical version, Cinderella, was my absolute favorite...
These two photographs (above and below) are from the Disney animated film.
These next photographs are of the staged musical production. Some of you who have been reading my blog for awhile may remember these photographs, which I posted many, many years ago..
*and yes, I did the makeup myself (which took a little over an hour to apply before each performance).
This extremely talented gentleman, Rick, was responsible for my costume design. He did such an AMAZING job because he made my costume (and my two daughter's) from scratch. His attention to detail was INCREDIBLE! He also designed my wig, which he made two, so that I could alternate them throughout the five-week run of the show.
Yup, I find the Disney villains delightfully entertaining...
Have a super-duper weekend, everyone!
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