A princess of noble birth, Snow White is forced into rags as a scullery maid by her jealous stepmother, the Queen. When her dream is answered by a serenading young prince, the evil Queen orders Snow White killed. Faced with the girl's innocence, the huntsman assassin can't kill her, and begs her to flee deep into the forest. The forest animals lead her to the Seven Dwarfs' cottage, where she takes the role of their adopted mother. The Queen, however, will use the girl's naiveté to lure Snow White into taking a bite from a poisoned apple. Falling into a sleeping death, Snow White can only be awakened by love's first kiss.
 

Finding a voice suitable for Snow White was one of the animators' hardest pre-production tasks. One day, Disney's casting director telephoned Guido Caselotti to get some voice talent references. Overhearing the conversation, Caselotti's daughter, Adriana, got on the phone to sing and banter in a young girl's voice. The embarrassed father ordered her off the line, but not before the casting director had invited her to audition. After Walt heard her, the rest was history.

 

    Doc is more of the leader of the Seven Dwarves. When there's an important decision to be made, Doc is usually the one to make it. Doc's mind often works faster than his mouth when he's excited, but his judgment's always sound. He takes it upon himself to convince his fellows that the hardships they must endure in allowing Snow White to stay are worth it.

      Doc himself doesn't know how wise he is. As the dwarfs leave for the mine after Snow White arrives, he warns Snow White, "Now don't forget, my dear, the old Queen's a sly one, full of witchcraft. So beware of strangers." Before voicing Doc, actor Roy Atwell had already developed his word jumbling skills (or "Spoonerisms") in his popular radio comedy act. Perce Pearce, one of the film's sequence directors, did a good rendition of Doc, and so doubled as the live-action model.

     Doc is voiced by Roy Atwell. Joe Twerp, who was famous for confusing words, was considered for the role, but only played Doc in the radio version of the movie.

 

The first feature-length animated film in history, "Snow White" is a testimony to

Walt's deep commitment to taking whatever existed and making it better. When he first proposed creating a cartoon that would run for more than just a few minutes, critics and nay-sayers abounded. "It'll blind the audience," said some. "Nobody will watch a cartoon that's so long," said others. They dubbed it Disney's Folly. But Walt persisted, risking the financial future of his studio on the project. And of course the success was complete. "Snow White" premiered on December 21, 1937, and provided a financial bonanza for the Disney organization. It was originally budgeted for $250,000, wound up costing $1.75 million, and brought in about $4.2 million in its first release. Perhaps more important, it proved that animation could be used not just to amuse but to provoke a far wider range of emotions. Viewers witnessing the "death" scene of Snow White -- shown above -- were moved to tears.

    Sleepy sneaks in his Z's anytime and anywhere he can, but none of the other dwarfs ever complains. Maybe that's because he works just as hard in their diamond mine as the others, albeit in a more relaxed fashion. In fact, he's so relaxed, and yawns so widely, that the resident housefly keeps buzzing into his mouth in hopes of finding a nice warm home. But even on the perpetual verge of a nap, Sleepy turns out to be twice as observant as his fellows when it most matters. Strangely goaded and prodded by the forest animals outside their mine, none of the dwarfs can figure out what's going on until Sleepy yawns, "Maybe the old Queen's got Snow White." Thanks to Sleepy, the dwarfs are soon off to the rescue.

       In addition to voicing Sleepy, actor Pinto Colvig was also well known as the voice of Goofy.

No matter what anyone says, Grumpy is against it. This know-it-all naysayer has the disposition of an old boot: tough, craggy, and resistant to anything. When the dwarfs first find Snow White lying asleep across their beds, Grumpy gripes, "Angel, huh? She's female, an' all females is poison! They're full o' wicked wiles." When Bashful asks, "What're wicked wiles?" Grumpy admits, "I don't know, but I'm against them."

         Like many an old boot, however, this one's really a softy inside. When Snow White kisses him on the forehead despite his complaints, he even smiles for a moment before regaining his mal-composure. Could it be that Grumpy may be grumpy partially to see who cares enough to put up with him? Whatever its source, his stubborn determination eventually proves invaluable. When the forest animals warn of trouble so dire that even his bossy rival, Doc, stammers, "What do we do?" it's Grumpy who leads the charge to save Snow White from the Wicked Queen.

 

More than shy, Bashful's a hopeless sentimentalist. When the dwarfs return to find their cottage mysteriously tidied up, he's even sentimental about his newly cleaned cup, lamenting that "the sugar's gone" as if he'd lost a dear friend. While everyone's suspicious upon finding Snow White asleep across their beds, Bashful's the first one to see her for who she really is, observing, "She's beautiful, like an angel." Indeed, Bashful can't help but blush, twist his beard into knots, and bat his eyelashes whenever Snow White's around. And when the dwarfs ask her to tell them a story, Bashful, of course, requests "a love story." To his delight, that's exactly what they get.

       In the initial development stages of the production, Bashful's character was to have a high-peaked skull which made him ashamed to take off his hat, and the rest of him resembled Dopey's eventual character design. It was later decided that Bashful didn't need such an elaborate reason to be bashful - he simply was

    Dubbed "Dopey" by his brothers, this loose-limbed dwarf has never spoken a word; as Happy explains to Snow White, "He never tried." But Dopey isn't really dopey, he's just childlike. Is it dopey to try and steal a second and third kiss from Snow White on your way to work, or to make yourself tall enough to dance with her by climbing on Sneezy's shoulders? Not at all. Dopey's a genius at fun and games. He just doesn't mind looking silly along the way. He's simply being himself, and that's pretty smart.

       In the early development process on the film, Dopey was the "leftover" dwarf with no particular personality. Then one day animator Ward Kimball discovered vaudevillian actor Eddie Collins at a Los Angeles burlesque house. Kimball invited Mr. Collins to the studio to perform and improvise pantomimes of Dopey's reactions on film. Thanks much to Collins' innovative acting, Dopey assumed a very definite personality and soon became one of the animators' favorite dwarfs.

    No, Sneezy doesn't sneeze all the time ... just at the worst of times, like when the dwarfs have returned from the diamond mine to search for the mysterious "cleaning monster" in their midst. After a particularly violent sneeze, which sends them tumbling in its wake, he protests,"I couldn't help it! ". So his pals quickly jump him and tie his nose in a knot. Instead of getting angry, poor Sneezy's grateful. He's just as annoyed by his condition as the other dwarfs. But when all is said and done, his fellows are quick and happy to lend him a sneeze-stifling hand. It's all part of being a dwarf.

     After reading an article in "Variety" that said there was to be a character named "Sneezy" in Disney's upcoming production of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," a comedian named Billy Gilbert contacted Walt by phone to say that his specialty happened to be comic sneezes. Walt agreed to audition him and Walt hired him on the spot. He reprised this act as the comic giant, Willie.

    Without Happy around, Grumpy might not be quite as grumpy. For Happy's just too infernally cheerful about everything. When the dwarfs think there's a monster hidden under the blankets, Happy cheerily asks, "Which end do we kill?" And when the "monster" turns out to be a slumbering Snow White, Happy's even happier. But not even he can find any joy in his life after Snow White's bitten into the Witch's apple and fallen into a sleeping death. But her romantic return makes him even happier, keeping up with his name.

          Although originally brought to the studio to perform live-action reference for Dopey, rotund vaudevillian actor Eddie Collins performed a jaunty routine that became the inspiration for Happy's dance in the party sequence.