MovieChat Forums > Don't Bother to Knock Discussion > Verna Felton

Verna Felton

posted 13 years ago by dmnemaine
5 replies | jump to latest

If any of you thought the voice of the elderly busybody was familiar, it's because you've probably heard it in a few Disney animated films. Verna Felton provided the voice for one of the elephants in Dumbo, the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, Fauna in Sleeping Beauty, The Queen Of Hearts in Alice In Wonderland, Aunt Sarah in Lady And The Tramp, and Winnifred the Elephant in The Jungle Book. On a side note, she also provided the voice for Fred Flintstone's mother-in-law on The Flintstones.

[–] heyteegs 10 years ago

She was also the maid on an episode of I Love Lucy.

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[–] hackraytex 9 years ago

She was also the best buddy of Spring Byington in December Bride with Harry Morgan. I saw the reruns of the show when I was at my grandparents in the late 50's. They were kind of like the Lavern and Shirley of their day.

[–] JackBluegrass 9 years ago

Verna Felton mastered her vocal chops even earlier in radio situation comedies (going back to the 1930s).
She was an acting pro by the time of this movie.

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[–] dmnemaine 9 years ago

What's amazing is that she was able to do either a deep, harsh-sounding voice or a lighter, softer, grandmotherly-type voice in her vocal work. Those two voices almost sounded like they could have been done by two different voice actors.

[–] JackBluegrass 9 years ago

Really talented voice actors and actresses - when unseen - could switch voices in mid-sentence and the listening audience didn't have a clue that they had been snookered.

Two talented cast members on the Fibber McGee and Molly radio show who could switch a voice to a very-different one on a dime were Bill Thompson (who also did cartoons) and of course Marian Jordan who did Molly and the tiny tot, Teeny.

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