- Born
- Died
- Birth nameEleanor Zellman
- Height5′ 6″ (1.68 m)
- Eleanor Audley was an American actress, with a distinctive voice that helped her find work as a voice actress in radio and animation. She is primarily remembered as the first actress to voice Lady Tremaine and Maleficent, two of the most memorable Disney villains.
Audley's real name was Eleanor Zellman, and she was from New York City. She was Jewish, but little is known about her family background and she apparently never married.
She made her acting debut in 1926, aged 20, at the Broadway production of "Howdy, King". She remained primarily a theatrical actress through the 1920s and the 1930s. During the 1940s, Audley started playing a number of prominent roles in radio serials. Among them was mother-in-law Leticia Cooper in "My Favorite Husband" (1948-51), receptionist Molly Byrd in "The Story of Dr. Kildare" (1949-51), and neighbor, Elizabeth Smith in "Father Knows Best" (1949-54).
Audley was hired by Disney to play the role of wealthy widow Lady Tremaine in the animated feature film "Cinderella" (1950). Audley was also used as the live-action model of the character, and her facial features were used by the animators who designed the character. In the film, Lady Tremaine is depicted as the abusive stepmother of Cinderella (voiced by Ilene Woods) and the domineering mother of Anastasia Tremaine (voiced by Lucille Bliss) and Drizella Tremaine (voiced by Rhoda Williams). The film was a box office hit, and its profits helped rescue the Disney studio from a financial decline that had lasted for almost a decade.
For the rest of the decade, Audley appeared regularly in supporting roles in film, and guest roles in television. She returned to animation when hired to voice the evil fairy Maleficent in "Sleeping Beauty" (1959). As before, Audley was also used as a live-action model for the character. During the film's production, Audley was struggling with tuberculosis. While nominally the villain, Maleficent received more screen-time in the finished film than titular protagonist Princess Aurora (voiced by singer Mary Costa).
"Sleeping Beauty" had box office receipts of more than $51 million in the U.S. and Canada, against a budget of $6 million. It finished the year second in ticket sales, behind the number one film, "Ben-Hur." Audley was not invited to voice other villains. The film earned critical and popular acclaim through later re-releases, and Maleficent has been revived many times by Disney. But never with her original voice actress.
In the 1960s, Audley played supporting roles in then-popular television series. Among her most prominent roles were Irma Lumpkin in "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis", Peggy Billings in "The Dick Van Dyke Show", Millicent Schuyler-Potts in "The Beverly Hillbillies" , Aunt Martha in "Mister Ed", Jenny Teasley in "Pistols 'n' Petticoats", Eunice Douglas in "Green Acres", and Beatrice Vincent in "My Three Sons".
Audley worked with Disney again to voice psychic medium Madame Leota in the Haunted Mansion attractions in Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Leota is depicted as a ghost who communicates with the living, and other actresses have since voiced the character.
Her long career ended prematurely in the 1970s, due to increasingly poor health. She lived in retirement until her death in 1991, at the age of 86. The cause of death was respiratory failure. Audley was interred at the Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. Her character of Madame Leota received its own tombstone in 2001. The epitaph reads: "Dear sweet Leota, beloved by all. In regions beyond now, but having a ball."- IMDb Mini Biography By: Dimos I
- ParentsWilliam David ZellmanRuth Simmons
- RelativesMuriel Zellman Entin(Sibling)
- Chilling voice
- Audley was a New York-area born, stage-trained actress who specialized in snobbish society matron types, most notably in the recurring role of the mother of Oliver Wendell Douglas (played by Eddie Albert) on Green Acres (1965), despite her being only six months older than Albert. However, she is likely best-remembered (if not by name) as the voice of two of Disney's most memorable animated villainesses: Lady Tremaine, the wicked stepmother, in Cinderella (1950), and, almost a decade later. as the evil fairy Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty (1959). She also served as the physical model for both Disney characters.
- She was the original voice of Madame Leota in Disney's The Haunted Mansion attractions.
- In "Green Acres", Audley played disapproving mother Eunice Douglas. Her television son Oliver Douglas was played by actor Eddie Albert. Albert was actually only five months younger than Audley.
- In the radio show "My Favorite Husband", Audley played the snobbish mother-in-law of Liz Cooper (played by Lucille Ball). The radio show was later reworked to the television series "I Love Lucy" (1951-1957), but Audley was not invited to join the new cast.
- She was a lifelong liberal Democrat.
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