Maleficent is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Walt Disney's 1959 adaptation of Sleeping Beauty. Maleficent is the self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil" who curses the infant Princess Aurora to "prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die" before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday after not being invited to the baby's christening. She is viewed as the most powerful and sinister of the Disney Villains, frequently acting as their leader in many crossovers, and her scenes in the climax of the film are among the darkest and most intense produced by Disney.[1] Maleficent is Disney's adaptation of the wicked fairy godmother from the original fairy tale.
The character was animated by Marc Davis. The wicked fairy godmother was aptly named "Maleficent" (which means "Evil-doer"). In determining Maleficent's design, standard depictions of witches and hags were dismissed as Davis opted for a more elegant look centered around the appearance of flames, ultimately crowning the villain with "the horns of the devil." In the event the individual character of the three good fairies and the elegant villain proved to be among the film's strongest points.
She was voiced by Eleanor Audley, who had previously performed Lady Tremaine, the wicked stepmother in Cinderella. Audley also provided some live-action recording for both of these characters, to inspire the animators. Dancer Jane Fowler also performed some live-action reference for Maleficent.[2] Animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas, in their book The Disney Villain, describe animating Audley's voice as "a difficult assignment but a thrilling one, working to that voice track with so much innuendo mixed in with the fierce power".[3]
Maleficent appears in the form of a tall, slender, pale green skinned woman. She also has yellow eyes and a horned headdress, which is symbolic of her dark magic. She is clad in a black and purple robe with bat wing-like edges, and wears a gold ring with a large mysterious circular black stone in it. Maleficent is an evil fairy, unlike the other three fairy godmothers in the movie, and her evil enables her to perform many magical and powerful spells. She carries a staff with a glowing green orb at the tip through which she casts her spells, which include an ability to teleport herself, or send bolts of lightning at enemies. She is also capable of shape shifting at will into numerous forms, including a floating hypnotic light resembling a will-o'-the-wisp and a massive, monstrous black and purple dragon. She is not at all comical or goofy like with some of the other Disney villains, although she does at times display something of a dark sense of humour. Her minions are a legion of goblins and troll-like creatures.[2] She is also frequently accompanied by her pet raven, called Diablo.
Sound effects man Jim Macdonald searched for the sound of a dragon's fiery breath by asking the U.S. Army to send him some training films on flame throwing. These films provided just the right sound for him.[2]
