So Alice wasn’t just drawn from thin air after all! Disney had a real girl act it out first, then brought the moves into the animation
10-year-old Kathryn Beaumont didn’t just voice Alice — she also put on the blue dress and performed every move on set
Summary
- When Disney was making the 1951 version of Alice in Wonderland, the studio first had actors perform the scenes on a soundstage, then passed the footage to animators so they could study the movements, expressions, and rhythm.
- Kathryn Beaumont, who was only 10 years old at the time, not only voiced Alice, she also put on the character’s costume and served as the live-action reference, so the voice and physical performance came from the same performer.
- To mark the 75th anniversary of the film’s release, Disney has restored and organized this precious behind-the-scenes footage, bringing the live-action performances behind the classic animation back into view.
It turns out that before the Alice we know became an animated character, she was first fully performed by a live actor.
Disney recently shared a rare set of behind-the-scenes comparison images from “Alice in Wonderland.” In the top image, actress Kathryn Beaumont lies on the studio floor and peers through a tiny door; below, the animated version mirrors nearly the same pose, composition, and gaze. They clearly show how a classic animated gesture gradually made its way from live performance into Wonderland.
These black-and-white images aren’t deleted scenes or a live-action version filmed for promotion. They’re live-action reference footage for animators to study. From Alice bending down, kneeling, and reaching out to her hesitant yet curious expression when she encounters strange characters, everything first took place in a real studio before being translated into hand-drawn animation.
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Animation isn’t imagined out of thin air. It begins by observing how real people move.
images from/disney
Before computer animation existed, making hand-drawn characters look natural meant animators had to build every turn, pause, and glance frame by frame. Disney therefore had actors reenact scenes from the film in the studio to pre-recorded dialogue, providing visual references for character placement, movement timing, and changing expressions.
There was no need to build a real Wonderland in the studio. Doors, tables, chairs, and other props were usually simplified; the focus was on recording how actors interacted with nonexistent characters and exaggerated proportions. As Kathryn Beaumont lay down, curled up, or reached forward, animators could observe how her skirt fell, how her shoulders turned, and how long each movement needed to pause.
Still, the live-action footage wasn’t something animators copied directly. It provided a foundation for the performance and movement, while the animation team adjusted the character’s proportions, heightened the emotions, and added Wonderland’s distinctive exaggeration. This allowed Alice to retain a real girl’s natural reactions while carrying the imagination of a fairy-tale character.
She didn’t just give Alice her voice. Her movements became part of the character, too.
images from/disney
When Walt Disney was looking for Alice’s voice in 1949, he chose Kathryn Beaumont, who was 10 years old and born in England. The team wanted an accent that would sound natural to British audiences without being difficult for American audiences to understand, so she ultimately provided both Alice’s voice and the live-action reference performance.
This arrangement gave the character’s voice and movements the same rhythm. Kathryn’s pauses as she delivered lines, her reactions to strange sights, and her slightly reserved yet curious manner all carried from the recording into the live-action performance and then into the animators’ drawings. She later said that when rewatching the film, she could still recognize some of her own movements and little habits in Alice.
After completing “Alice in Wonderland,” Kathryn Beaumont again voiced Wendy in “Peter Pan” and served as the live-action reference, even being suspended on wires so animators could observe how the character’s body responded while flying through the air. Though her performance never appeared directly on screen, it became an important foundation for two classic Disney characters.
To mark the 75th anniversary of “Alice in Wonderland,” Disney has revisited these rare behind-the-scenes materials and digitally restored the film using the original Technicolor negatives. When the black-and-white live-action footage appears alongside the color animation, what may be most surprising isn’t how similar the two images are, but that Wonderland, the most unreal place in our childhood memories, was built on very real observation.
Before Alice peered through the tiny door, Kathryn Beaumont had already lain on the studio floor to perform that moment for the animators. The magic may seem to happen on paper, but its true starting point was an actor’s smallest movements.
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