Ultimately, the inspiration for the cauldron-stirring tentacled witch — voiced by Pat Carroll — came from an unlikely place: Drag. Specifically, Divine, the drag alter ego of Harris Glenn Milstead.
The original character in the 1989 movie was inspired by the triple threat drag queen, actor, and singer Divine, a fact that was mere speculation at first, but has since been confirmed by those involved with the film.
Who was the original Ursula in The Little Mermaid?
Patricia Ann Carroll (May 5, 1927 – July 30, 2022) was an American actress and comedian. She voiced Ursula in The Little Mermaid and appeared in CBS's The Danny Thomas Show, ABC's Laverne & Shirley, and NBC's ER. Carroll was an Emmy, Drama Desk, and Grammy Award winner, as well as a Tony Award nominee.
While the lead cast has been lauded for their performances, it's Jessica Alexander who has gone viral for her brief but impressionable femme fatale performance in the movie. In The Little Mermaid, Alexander takes on the role of antagonist Ursula's human incarnate, Vanessa.
While it is known that her mother perished, there is no story attached to the event. However, much later, in 2008, an animated The Little Mermaid prequel revealed that Ariel's mother was crushed by a pirate ship during an altercation between humans and merpeople.
In the past, Ursula was a resident of King Triton's palace, before being banished and exiled by order of the king. Scorned, she has since vowed to exact vengeance by harnessing the power of the king's trident and installing herself as ruler of all the ocean.
[The Little Mermaid] (1989): Ursula's pseudonym, Vanessa, was an intentional reference. "Vanessa" was a name made up by Jonathan Swift (that's not an important part) for a character based on a woman named Esther Vanhomrigh, "Van" from her surname and "Essa" being a then-common pet name form of Esther.
Smith King said he intentionally did not want the actress to look like a drag queen, preferring to see more of McCarthy than of the makeup. Defending the uneven brows, he said he wanted it to look like Ursula did the makeup herself and did not have it done by a masterful professional.
Rather, Ursula's appearance is radically different from her family, and she sports tentacles that look like a permanent black dress. It's possible Ursula is not a mermaid in appearance because she and Triton did not have the same mother or father. If they're half siblings, Ursula's tentacles make more sense.
Lettie is finally able to do away with Ursula when she learns the monster's real name—Skarthatch of the Keep—and what Ursula is afraid of: the hunger birds. Ursula reappears briefly after the hunger birds eat her to torment the narrator, making him feel friendless and alone.
Queen Athena was the wife of King Triton, and the mother of Ariel and her six older sisters. She was the Queen of Atlantica, and beloved by her family and subjects.
While Ariel is 16 years old in Disney animated The Little Mermaid film, her love interest is not the same age. The character's voice actor, Christopher Daniel Barnes, was just 16 years old at the time of recording the film, leading to the assumption that the character was intended to be the same age.
In addition to being the god of the sea, Once's Poseidon is also the father of Merrin Dungey's Ursula, a concept omitted from Disney's The Little Mermaid in 1989, though later included in the Broadway musical.
Sculpted in sterling silver and clad with 14K yellow gold, Ursula's iconic nautilus shell necklace contains a secret; three dimensional and double sided, a hinged door releases Ariel's voice trapped within! A chain of nine linked sterling silver music notes pour out to reveal Ariel's accurate vocal progression.
As well as attempting to murder Eric, Ursula accidentally murders her minions Flotsam and Jetsam. Her attempt to overthrow Triton would likely see her become the first person convicted of treason in the US since the Second World War too.
One theory is that each of Ariel's sisters represents different oceans that are home to various cultures and ethnicities. It's pretty problematic to have mermaids who all look the same representing such an expansive underwater world.
But in a desire to re-market these ladies to a chic clientele, it appears that they decided to shave more than a few pounds off of Ursula the Sea Witch and Alice in Wonderland's Queen of Hearts. Because in order to be fashionable, you must be thin. The fact is, Ursula was fashionable.
Ursula is a feminine given name in several languages. The name is derived from a diminutive of the Latin ursa, which means "bear". The name has been rather uncommon in the English-speaking world, although its use has been influenced since the twentieth century by the Swiss-born actress Ursula Andress (born 1936).
