- Marcellite Garner
-
Marcellite Garner 
Born July 3, 1910
Redlands, California, USADied July 26, 1993 (aged 83)
Grass Valley, California, USANationality American Occupation Artist
Voice actressYears active 1930 – 1941 Known for Voice of Minnie Mouse Marcellite Wall /mɑr.sɛ.ˈlit/ (neé Garner; July 3, 1910 – July 26, 1993) was an American artist and voice actress. She is most remembered as the first regular voice of Minnie Mouse during her time working at Walt Disney Productions and has been partially credited with defining Minnie's personality.[1]
Contents
Early life
Garner was born in Redlands, California in 1910. She studied art by attending night classes at John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in Los Angeles.[1]
Work at Disney
Garner got a job at Walt Disney Productions on February 17, 1930 after interviewing the previous year. She worked in the Ink and Paint department, first working as a cel painter and later as an inker. The studio at the time was a small organization of about 35 employees.
After Garner had been working about six months, she auditioned for the voice of Minnie Mouse at the studio's sound stage, then located on Melrose Avenue. Burt Gillett had asked the Ink and Paint department, which was entirely women, if anyone could speak Spanish; Garner and another woman were the only ones who responded, and when the other woman was unwilling to sing, Garner was cast. She first voiced Minnie in the cartoon short film The Cactus Kid and went on to perform the role in over 40 different films over a decade. Garner occasionally provided additional voices, including cat meows (Three Orphan Kittens, Lend a Paw), dog barking, and crowd noises.
During the Disney animators' strike of 1941, Garner shot home video of the picket lines in color. Some of this footage appears in the 2001 documentary Walt – The Man Behind the Myth. Garner was sympathetic to the studio during the strike, commenting "I couldn't see that we were not being treated fairly. People weren't so union oriented then I guess." She described the atmosphere at the studio as "one big family," but that it fundamentally changed after unionization.
Garner worked at the Disney studio off and on for 12 years, during which she also did work for some other studios, including Walter Lantz Productions.[1]
After Disney
Garner eventually married Richard B. Wall and started a family. In 1941 she permanently quit her job at Disney to devote more time to her children. The family later moved north to Los Gatos where she again worked in the cartoon business, producing a newspaper comic strip called El Gato for the Los Gatos Times–Observer.
During this time she also worked on different kinds of painting mediums and ceramics. Some of her artwork she gave to friends, and others she donated to charities and church bazaars.[2]
She died in 1993 in Grass Valley, California.
Filmography[3]
- The Cactus Kid (1930)
- The Fire Fighters (1930)
- The Shindig (1930)
- The Gorilla Mystery (1930)
- The Picnic (1930)
- Pioneer Days (1930)
- The Birthday Party (1931)
- Traffic Troubles (1931)
- The Delivery Boy (1931)
- Mickey Steps Out (1931)
- Blue Rhythm (1931)
- The Barnyard Broadcast (1931)
- The Beach Party (1931)
- Mickey Cuts Up (1931)
- Mickey's Orphans (1931)
- The Grocer Boy (1932)
- Barnyard Olympics (1932)
- Mickey's Revue (1932)
- Musical Farmer (1932)
- Mickey in Arabia (1932)
- Mickey's Nightmare (1932)
- King Neptune (1932)
- The Whoopee Party (1932)
- The Wayward Canary (1932)
- The Klondike Kid (1932)
- Building a Building (1933)
- Mickey's Pal Pluto (1933)
- Mickey's Mellerdrammer (1933)
- Ye Olden Days (1933)
- The Mail Pilot (1933)
- Mickey's Mechanical Man (1933)
- Mickey's Gala Premier (1933)
- Puppy Love (1933)
- The Steeplechase (1933)
- The Pet Store (1933)
- Giantland (1933)
- Shanghied (1934)
- Camping Out (1934)
- Mickey's Steamroller (1934)
- Two-Gun Mickey (1934)
- On Ice (1935)
- Three Orphan Kittens (1935)
- Mickey's Rival (1936)
- Hawaiian Holiday (1937)
- Boat Builders (1938)
- Brave Little Tailor (1938)
- Mickey's Surprise Party (1939)
- The Little Whirlwind (1941)
- The Nifty Nineties (1941)
- Lend a Paw (1941)
References
- ^ a b c Peri, Don (2008). Working with Walt: Interviews with Disney Artists. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 1-934110-67-1.
- ^ Inking at Disney, circa 1931 at MichaelBarrier.com
- ^ Marcellite Garner at the Internet Movie Database
Categories:- 1910 births
- 1993 deaths
- American voice actors
- Disney people
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