Sleeping Beauty – Full Cast and Characters

Based on Charles Perrault’s 1697 tale “Sleeping Beauty”, Walt Disney’s American animated musical fantasy picture Sleeping Beauty was released in 1959 on January 29. The 16th Disney animated feature film, by Buena Vista Distribution, was a fantastic movie and was loved by people worldwide. Mary Costa, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Barbara Luddy, Barbara Jo Allen, Bill Shirley, Taylor Holmes, and Bill Thompson all lend their voices to the film. In this article, let’s get to know more about the full cast of the Sleeping Beauty movie in detail.

The film revolves around the characters based on Sleeping Beauty or a cursed princess. The movie starts when the wicked witch Maleficent (Eleanor Audley), driven by jealousy, curses Princess Aurora (Mary Costa) to die on her sixteenth birthday. Verna Felton, Barbara Jo Allen, and Barbara Luddy, Aurora’s guardian fairies, ensure that she only ever enters a profound sleep that can be broken by a kiss from her fiancé, Prince Phillip (Bill Shirley). Phillip is taken hostage and imprisoned by Maleficent in order to stop him from saving Aurora. The only remaining chance for Phillip to be set free and awaken Aurora is through the good fairies. 

Star Cast of Sleeping Beauty Movie:

Leading Cast:

• Mary Costa as Aurora
• Bill Shirley as Prince Phillip
• Eleanor Audley as Maleficent
• Verna Felton as Flora
• Barbara Jo Allen as Fauna
• Barbara Luddy as Merryweather

Supporting Cast:

• Taylor Holmes as King Stefan
• Bill Thompson as King Hubert
• Dallas McKennon as The Owl of the woods
• Verna Felton as Queen Leah

Cast Details of Sleeping Beauty:

1. Mary Costa as Aurora: 

The only daughter of King Stefan and Queen Leah.

Mary Costa is a retired American actress and singer who was born on April 5, 1930. As the last surviving original voice actor of the first three Disney Princesses established during Walt Disney’s lifetime, she is best known for lending her voice to Princess Aurora in the 1959 Disney animated picture Sleeping Beauty, for which she was honored as a Disney Legend in 1999. The 2020 National Medal of Arts was awarded to her.

2. Bill Shirley as Prince Phillip: 

The only son of King Hubert and the love interest of Princess Aurora.

William Jesse Shirley (July 6, 1921 – August 27, 1989) was an American actor and tenor/lyric baritone vocalist who eventually transitioned into producing Broadway plays. He is most known for providing Jeremy Brett’s singing voice in the 1964 movie adaptation of My Fair Lady and for providing the spoken and singing voices of Prince Phillip in Walt Disney’s 1959 animated masterpiece Sleeping Beauty.

3. Eleanor Audley as Maleficent: 

The evil witch who tries to get revenge on King Stefan and his people by cursing Aurora to die on her 16th birthday.

Eleanor Audley was an American actress who lived from November 19, 1905, to November 25, 1991. She had a distinctive voice and a wide range of roles and voiced the two antagonistic characters Maleficent, the evil fairy in Sleeping Beauty, and Lady Tremaine, the wicked stepmother in Cinderella (1950), as well as Oliver Douglas’s mother Eunice Douglas in the CBS sitcom Green Acres (1965–1969). (1959).

4. Verna Felton as Flora: 

The red fairy and the de-facto leader of the Three Good Fairies. She is one of the three main protagonists, along with Merryweather and Fauna.

Verna also provided the voice of Princess Aurora’s mother, Queen Leah. Verna Felton, an American actress who lived from July 20, 1890, to December 14, 1966, is most known for lending her voice to various Disney animated movies. She also had roles in live-action movies and performed the voice of Pearl Slaghoople, Fred Flintstone’s mother-in-law, in Hanna-The Barbera’s Flintstones (1962–1963). She was most active, though, on radio shows. 

5. Barbara Jo Allen as Fauna: 

The green fairy and the middle fairy of the trio.

Barbara Jo Allen was an American actress who was born Marian Barbara Henshall on September 2, 1906. She passed away on September 14, 1974. She also went by Vera Vague, the fictional spinster she created and played in radio plays and movies in the 1940s and 1950s. The woman she observed giving a confused PTA literature lecture served as the model for the character. As Vague, she made the expression “You dear boy!” widespread.

6. Barbara Luddy as Merryweather: 

The blue fairy, serves as the main protagonist, along with Flora and Fauna.

American actress Barbara Luddy, who lived from May 25, 1908, to April 1, 1979, was best known for providing voiceovers for Walt Disney Studios between the 1950s and 1970s. Luddy was the daughter of Helena, Montana natives Will and Molly Luddy, and was born in Great Falls, Montana. Growing up, she performed in vaudeville. In Great Falls, Montana, she went to the Ursuline Convent. In the late 1920s, Luddy’s cinematic career began with silent films.

Sleeping Beauty (1959 Film) TRIVIA:

On June 12, 1986, the copyright for the movie was renewed. Sleeping Beauty is referred to as Princess Talia in the original Italian version of this fairy tale. She plays Aurora in the ballet. She goes by the name Briar Rose in the original German. Princess Aurora is shown in the movie under the alias Briar Rose while she is a covert agent, combining both names. The curse of Maleficent can be fulfilled at any time before dusk on Aurora’s sixteenth birthday. In the well-known Disney/Squaresoft video game Kingdom Hearts, Maleficent appears as a villain in each of the three core games, and Aurora is one of the seven Princesses of Heart. In Kingdom Hearts II, the good fairies show up and dress Sora in new garments. With training films provided by the US Army, a flamethrower was utilized to generate the dragon breath sound effect for the movie’s climax.