Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: Who voiced Ursula?
Carroll first learned of "The Little Mermaid" from her agent, and immediately agreed to audition for Ursula because she had always wanted to voice a Disney character. However, the actress felt that her chances were slim to none upon realizing that her competition largely consisted of famous film and television actresses. Musker described Carroll's audition approach as a hybrid of actors Maurice Evans and Tallulah Bankhead. Although confident in both her acting and singing auditions, Carroll did not hear back from her agent about the role until a year afterward, by which time she had already forgotten she had ever auditioned. Upon being cast, Carroll was entirely committed to the role, giving it complete precedence over all other jobs and projects at the time. Carroll's first task was to record "Poor Unfortunate Souls", her approach to which was remarkably different than Stritch's, first asking Howard to demonstrate exactly how he would like her to perform the song before attempting it. Carroll completely credits Ashman with her delivery, explaining, "I got the whole attitude from him ... and his shoulders would twitch a certain way, and his eyes would go a certain way ... I got more about that character from Howard singing that song than from anything else." Carroll also borrowed Ursula's habit of saying "innit" instead of "isn't it" from Ashman. Despite their strong working relationship, Carroll described working with Ashman and composer Alan Menken as a "brutal" experience because of the songwriters' "military" approach; she would often return home from recording sessions with blown vocal chords. Carroll recalled her daughter, filmmaker Tara Karsian, reassuring her that "you're in something that fifty years from now may be shown ... What you're working on now will be seen by our children, and our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren" after complaining to her about one of her recording sessions. Describing her own performance as Shakespearean, Carroll perceived Ursula as an "ex-Shakespearean actress who now sold cars", which inspired her dry, theatrical interpretation. Carroll also deepened her own voice for the role. When Carroll watched the completed film for the first time, she was frightened by her own performance, comparing it to actress Margaret Hamilton's performance as the Wicked Witch of the West in the film "The Wizard of Oz" (1939). Actress Jodi Benson, who voices Ariel, briefly provides the voice of "Vanessa", Ursula's beautiful human alter-ego, in lieu of Carroll. With the writing and recording of "Poor Unfortunate Souls", Ursula became the first Disney villainness to receive her own song.
As in the film, the Queen character is featured in 1979 "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" musical version, played by Anne Francine. In the Disney on Ice reenactment of the movie in 1986-1987, and then in 1994–1997 and again in 2000–2001, she was voiced by Louise Chamis and played by various skaters beginning with Melanie Scott in 1986-1987, and including Elena Koteneva, who was substituted by Davina Lee-Gooding in 1995. Francine also played her in the 1980 stage play and television program "Snow White Live" and Chamis voiced her in Disneyland's "Snow White – An Enchanting Musical" in 2004 and 2006. The Evil Queen was further featured in Disney Live's "Three Classic Fairy Tales" in the section based on the film.
There was a minor controversy when Snow White (Disney character) was presenting an award for Best Animated Short Subject. She was voiced by Mary Kay Bergman, Adriana Caselotti, the original voice of Snow White was not aware of this. She was reportedly offended that Disney didn't ask her to voice Snow White during the ceremony.
Oscar the Grouch is a character on the television program "Sesame Street". He has a green body, no visible nose, and lives in a trash can. His favorite thing is trash, as evidenced by the song "I Love Trash", with a running theme being his collection of seemingly useless items. Although the term "Grouch" aptly describes Oscar's misanthropic interaction with the other characters, it also refers to his species. His birthday, as noted by Sesame Workshop, is on June 1. The character is performed by Caroll Spinney, and has been performed by him since the show's first episode. Since 2015, Eric Jacobson has been the understudy for the character.
The Little Mermaid is a 1989 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and Walt Disney Pictures. Based on the Danish fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen, "The Little Mermaid" tells the story of Ariel, a mermaid princess who dreams of becoming human. Written, produced, and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, with music by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman (who also served as a co-producer), the film features the voices of Jodi Benson, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Pat Carroll, Samuel E. Wright, Jason Marin, Kenneth Mars, Buddy Hackett, and René Auberjonois.
Adriana Caselotti (May 6, 1916 – January 18, 1997) was an American actress, voice actress and singer. Caselotti was the voice of the title character of the first Walt Disney animated feature "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", for which she was named as a Disney Legend in 1994, making her the first female voice actor so named.
In the original version, Yumemi is only voiced during the beginning and ending scenes, while other characters are not voiced. When "Planetarian" was released for Windows PCs on CD-ROM, Yumemi had full voice acting. The PlayStation 2 (PS2) port offers full voice acting for the entire cast. Other changes to the PS2 version include a higher resolution for the computer graphics and an extended soundtrack. All other later versions contained full voice acting.
This was the first original Mickey Mouse theatrical cartoon produced in over 30 years. With the exception of re-releases, Mickey had not appeared in movie theaters since the short film "The Simple Things" (1953). Many additional characters seen in the film had also not appeared in a theatrical cartoon for several decades. The film was also the last time in which Clarence Nash voiced Donald Duck. Nash was the only original voice actor in the film as Walt Disney (Mickey Mouse) and Pinto Colvig (Goofy) had died in the 1960s, Cliff Edwards (Jiminy Cricket) and Billy Gilbert (Willie the Giant) in 1971, and Billy Bletcher (Pete and the Big Bad Wolf) in 1979. It was also the first time in animation that Scrooge McDuck (as Ebenezer Scrooge) was voiced by actor Alan Young (who had first voiced the character on the musical album); Young would continue to be the primary voice actor for McDuck until the actor's death in 2016.
Snow White is the first and original Disney Princess. A main character in Walt Disney Animation Studios' 1st animated feature film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937), Snow White is a beautiful young princess, described by her evil stepmother's Magic Mirror as having 'hair as black as ebony, lips as red as the rose, skin as white as snow' and also dubbed by the Mirror as the 'Fairest Of Them All'. She is forced to seek refuge in the home of the seven dwarfs where she hides from her evil stepmother, Queen Grimhilde, who got angered by the fact that Snow White's beauty was greater than hers. She asked the Huntsman to kill the princess; however, as an act of pity, he ends up setting her free and telling her the Evil Queen's plan. Snow White is often described as a kind, optimistic, tidy and happy person who sees the good in everyone. Originally voiced by Adriana Caselotti and animated by Marc Davis and Les Clark, she and her movie are based on the heroine and story of the German fairy tale "Snow White" (1812) by the Brothers Grimm. She has also been voiced by Mary Kay Bergman, Carolyn Gardener, Katherine Von Till, and most recently Pamela Ribon. A crisp, blood red apple has become her trademark with years of exposure.
In Japan throughout the anime media, Rica Matsumoto has always provided the original Japanese voice of Ash. For the English dubbing, Veronica Taylor provided the voice of Ash in the first eight seasons of the English adaption of the "Pokémon" anime, which was dubbed by 4Kids Entertainment. At the time of her audition, Taylor stated that the character was temporarily named Casey, which was the name later given to a recurring character in Johto. After the script was translated from Japanese, the lines were adapted to fit the movements of the character's mouth (called "lip flap"). All the voices were recorded separately, so Taylor was the only one in the booth when she recorded her lines, which took approximately six to eight hours per episode. Taylor was often the first person to record, so she had to "imagine how the previous line will be said". "Luckily, I work with a great director who helps with the interpretation of the line, matching of the lip flap, and consistency of the voice". Taylor enjoyed playing Ash because of his "low, husky voice" and "energy and excitement".
In 2004, Vowell provided the voice of Violet Parr, a shy teenager, in the Pixar animated film "The Incredibles", and returned to her role for the film's sequel, "Incredibles 2", in 2018. Additionally, Vowell has also lent her voice to the character for various related video games and "Disney on Ice" presentations in the years following the film's release. The makers of "The Incredibles" discovered Vowell from episode 81 – "Guns" "This American Life", where she and her father fire a homemade cannon. Pixar made a test animation for Violet using audio from that sequence, which was included on the DVD of "The Incredibles". She also wrote and was featured in a documentary included on the same DVD entitled "Vowellett - An Essay by Sarah Vowell", where she reflects on the differences between being superhero Violet and being an author of history books on the subject of assassinated presidents, and what it means to her nephew Owen. Vowell also played Fernanda, Theacher "Aunt" Deborah and Mary Kelly in "The School Future".
Margaret Brainard Hamilton (December 9, 1902 – May 16, 1985) was an American film character actress best known for her portrayal of Miss Gulch and the Wicked Witch of the West in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's classic film "The Wizard of Oz" (1939).
Chi's character is voiced by Rie Tanaka, and Georgette Rose in its English counterpart. The anime and manga storylines are essentially the same, but they differ slightly. These differences include the events in the ending, other things such as describing Elda's memory loss, and her special program. In the anime for example, it is explained that Hibiya reset Elda's memories after her husband's death rather than Elda losing them when she took Freya's program in. Another difference is the special program that was placed into Elda in the anime, this program appears to have an alternative effect. If Chi finds the Person just for her, all persocoms would be granted the ability to feel emotion. The reason for this is since Ichiro Mihara was the creator of persocoms, he viewed them all as his children. His wish was that if Chi were able to find someone who loved her in return, all his children would be able to share in this happiness by being able to feel emotions the way humans do.
In "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), the actors who played the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow also played farmhands in scenes set in Kansas. Margaret Hamilton played both the roles of Miss Gulch and the Wicked Witch of the West, and Frank Morgan played multiple characters in addition to the title role of the Wizard.
One of his largest roles was in the Kurosawa epic, Hidden Fortress. It was in this role that he played a comic grotesque, opposite Mifune. His annoying peasant character Matashichi gave inspiration to George Lucas for R2D2. The taller fellow lead character, Tahei, played by Minoru Chiaki served as the inspiration for C-3PO. Additionally, the characters and general plotline involving a princess fleeing an evil empire formed the basis for Lucas's movie, Star Wars.
The first series consist of stories featuring the First Doctor. William Russell reprises the role of Ian Chesterton in the first two stories, while Peter Purves reprises the role of Steven Taylor in the second two. Carole Ann Ford plays Susan Foreman in the first story, Maureen O'Brien plays Vicki in the second and third stories, and Jean Marsh plays Sara Kingdom in the fourth. Additionally, Russell and Purves perform the Doctor's dialogue in their respective stories, while Ford and O'Brien perform the dialogue of Barbara Wright in the first two stories.The second series consists of stories featuring the Second Doctor, played in all four stories by Frazer Hines, who also reprises his original role from the series as the Doctor's companion Jamie McCrimmon. Anneke Wills reprises her role as Polly Wright in the first two stories, Deborah Watling reprises the role of Victoria Waterfield in the third story, and Wendy Padbury reprises the role of Zoe Heriot in the fourth. In addition, the first two stories feature Elliot Chapman as Ben Jackson, originally played by Michael Craze.The third series of the Early Adventures saw Carole Ann Ford, William Russell, Maureen O'Brien, Peter Purves and Jean Marsh reprising their roles as the companions of the First Doctor, joined by Jemma Powell as Barbara Wright, who had previously portrayed the role of original Barbara actress Jacqueline Hill in the 2013 drama "An Adventure in Space and Time", and Dan Starkey as the Sontarans. The second story also features actor James Joyce in the role of a new companion, Jospa. Frazer Hines, Anneke Wills, Elliot Chapman and Wendy Padbury reprise their roles as the Doctor's companions, with Frazer Hines also playing the Second Doctor. Other characters are also played by Anjella Mackintosh, Wanda Opalinska, Kristina Buikaite, Alistair Petrie, Debbie Chazen, Matilda Ziegler, David Sibley, Kerry Gooderson, Ewan Bailey, Alan Blyton, Judith Roddy, Adam Newington, Don McCorkindale, Richenda Carey.
Screenwriter and director Brad Bird conceived Violet as "a teenage girl who just wants to be invisible". In early drafts of the screenplay, Violet is depicted as an infant as opposed to a teenager, since parents Bob and Helen Parr were originally intended to be introduced as retired superheroes who have just begun to attempt to live normal lives much earlier during the film. Violet is voiced by American author and actress Sarah Vowell, who related that she was offered the role unexpectedly. While beginning to cast the film's main characters, Bird had been listening to the National Public Radio program "This American Life", to which Vowell is a frequent contributor. During one of Vowell's regular appearances on the show, Bird heard her contribute an anecdote about a cannon she had helped her father, a gunsmith, build. Bird wanted to cast Vowell based on her description of the event, deciding that she was "perfect" for the part and immediately calling her to offer her the role. Vowell had already earned a reputation for declining several voice acting jobs prior to "The Incredibles", to the point at which her agent warned Bird, "She's a serious writer and she wouldn't do this, so don't waste your time!" However, Vowell states that she simply avoided pursuing animated roles in general because she was content being a writer and found few animated projects particularly interesting prior to "The Incredibles".
The animators animated a rough test sequence to some of Vowell's dialogue from the radio segment about her father's cannon, in which Violet is depicted being startled by a gun that repeatedly fires in her hands. Despite experiencing some hesitation due having never voiced an animated character before, Vowell accepted the role after receiving an e-mail from the film's producer, agreeing to participate in "The Incredibles" because she believes that Pixar is consistently "the best at what they do", comparing the offer to "if Nelson Mandela showed up asking for your help to fight racism". Additionally, she had also been a long-time fan of Bird's work as a filmmaker. Vowell ultimately decided to accept the role based on a sole image she had been sent of the character: a drawing of Violet surrounded by her schoolmates, all of whom appear to be happy and outgoing apart from Violet herself, who is instead hunched over and hiding behind her long hair. Vowell concluded, "I can be that kid. I was that kid. I love that archetype of the morose, shy, smart-alecky teenage girl."
"One Tree Hill" is known for its numerous voice-overs featuring either literary quotes or characters reflecting on events of the episode. Most of them have been made by Chad Michael Murray's character Lucas. However, other characters have done so several times. Guest stars Bryan Greenberg, Sheryl Lee, Torrey DeVitto, and Ashley Rickards have also done voice-overs for single episodes. Characters who interact with the main cast, such as Bevin, Chase, Shelly and Glenda, helped to narrate the joint episodes, being portrayed by Bevin Prince, Stephen Colletti, Elisabeth Harnois and Amber Wallace. As the show progresses, songs continue to replace voiceovers occasionally. At the beginning of season 7, Paul Johansson's character, Dan Scott, has taken over the narrator's role.
Cho was played by Scottish actress Katie Leung in the film series starting from the character's debut in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". In "Order of the Phoenix", she exposes Dumbledore's Army to Umbridge while under the influence of the Veritaserum potion, as opposed to her friend Marietta in the novel.
Another genre of Santa films seeks to dispel doubts about his existence. One of the first films of this nature was titled "A Little Girl Who Did Not Believe in Santa Claus" (1907) and involves a well-to-do boy trying to convince his poorer friend that Santa Claus is real. She doubts because Santa has never visited her family because of their poverty. "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947), starring Natalie Wood as Susan Walker, revolves around the disbelief of young Susan, whose mother (Maureen O'Hara) employs a kind old man (Edmund Gwenn, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor) to play Santa Claus at Macy's; he later convinces Susan that he really is Santa. This film was remade in 1994 and stars Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle and Mara Wilson as Susan Walker. The television special, "Yes Virginia There Is A Santa Claus" (1991), follows the true story of a young girl, Virginia O'Hanlon, who writes a letter to the editor of the "New York Sun" in 1897 after her friends tell her there is no Santa. The newspaper editor tells her that indeed there is a Santa: "He lives, and he lives forever." Francis Pharcellus Church was the real-life editor and is played by Charles Bronson in the film. "The Polar Express" (2004), based on the children's book of the same name, also deals with issues and questions of belief as a magical train conducted by Tom Hanks transports a doubting boy to the North Pole to visit Santa Claus.
The main characters of the show, despite being Soviet KGB officers, have to behave as American-born citizens, and therefore do not generally speak Russian on-screen. But other Soviet agents, immigrants and—later in the show—ordinary Soviet people, converse in Russian. Joe Weisberg explained that achieving believable Russian pronunciation was very important because the show was "so much centered on the world of the Russian Russians and the Russian illegals". In most cases, Russian was the native language for the actors playing Soviet characters. Other actors mastered their lines to sound almost native. In particular, Peter von Berg, who played Vasili Nikolayevich, has experience with Russian plays and was an accent coach. General Zhukov was played by a Polish actor. Annet Mahendru, who played Nina, has a Russian mother and speaks six languages. Mahendru praised Matthew Rhys for his efforts in delivering a few phrases in Russian, adding: "It's really important to everyone, so they're all trying, but it's a difficult language for all of us — even those of us who are fluent in it!"
On June 10, 2016, China Anne McClain, who was already voicing Freddie on the "Descendants" spinoff series "", was announced to be playing Ursula's daughter, Uma, in "Descendants 2". In July 2016 it was revealed that Thomas Doherty would play the role of Harry, the son of Captain Hook. In August 2016, Sarah Jeffery who portrays Audrey revealed that she would not be returning, while Brenna D'Amico revealed that she would be returning in "Descendants 2", as were as Dianne Doan, Jedidiah Goodacre, and Zachary Gibson. On July 19, 2017, it was announced on "The View" that Whoopi Goldberg would be providing the voice for Ursula, the Sea Witch and Uma's mother.
Created by directors and screenwriters Ron Clements and John Musker, Ursula is based on the sea witch character who appears in the fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen. However, her minor role was greatly expanded into that of a much more prominent villain for the film. Disney had struggled to cast Ursula for a year, during which the role was well sought after by several coveted television actresses at the time. Clements and Musker disagreed with lyricist Howard Ashman about who should voice the character. While the directors had written the role with Bea Arthur in mind, Ashman intended to offer it to soap opera star Joan Collins; both actresses rejected the part. When Ashman cast his second choice, Broadway actress Elaine Stritch, as Ursula, both stage veterans disagreed about the manner in which Ursula's song "Poor Unfortunate Souls" would be performed, and Pat Carroll was finally hired to replace Stritch after Ashman fired her. Deepening her own voice for the role, Carroll based her performance on a combination of Shakespearean actresses and car salespeople.
The episode "Poor Unfortunate Soul" contains further flashbacks to Ursula's youth, when she was a teenage mermaid living under the sea with her father King Poseidon (Ernie Hudson). Ursula was gifted with a beautiful voice, which Poseidon wanted her to use to lure pirates to their death, in order to avenge the murder of Ursula's mother at the hands of an unnamed pirate. Ursula refused and instead befriended a pirate, Captain Hook (Colin O'Donoghue), who supported her desire for freedom. Ursula and Hook's friendship fell apart when Hook sealed Ursula's singing voice inside an enchanted shell, in order to punish Poseidon for destroying a weapon Hook wanted for himself. Ursula, angered and disappointed with both merfolk and humans, used Poseidon's trident to transform her tail into tentacles, emulating the ancient sea goddess that she was named after.
About.com's David Nusair observed that "There’s no limit to how low Ursula will stoop to achieve her goal"; the character often relies on a combination of sorcery and deception to achieve them. "A bargainer of the worst kind", Ursula only agrees to help the less fortunate when she's confident that she can gain something from them in return. Identifying Ursula as Ariel's binary due to the character's experience and authority, "Collision of Realities: Establishing Research on the Fantastic in Europe" author Lars Schmeink described Ursula as a "more complex and mature character" than Ariel, embodying everything that the mermaid can potentially become. To Ariel, Ursula represents "the matronly image" who "instigate[s] the young princess' epic journey" as she longs to achieve the witch's "sage-like knowledge and power". Ursula teaches Ariel about womanhood, a theme "From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture" author Elizabeth Belle noticed is absent in Anderson's story. According to Bell, "Ursula can retrieve Ariel from her destined alliance with patriarchy", observing that the witch actually "teaches Ariel that performance and voice and manifestations" are "liberations of gender". "Teen Ink"'s Emma James believes that Ursula's death ultimately prevents Ariel from experiencing and learning from the consequences of her actions, concluding, "Ariel never really owns up to all the mishap she caused." Observing that Ursula actually warns Ariel about the consequences should she fail to earn a kiss from Eric, Laura Stampler of "Time" described the character as a "Savvy contract negotiator". Writing for Collider, Dave Trumbore identified Ursula as the film's "Crossroads Demon". According to Gary Thompson of the "Philadelphia Daily News", Ursula is similar to businesswoman Leona Helmsley.