“As a small child, it broke my brain.”
Entertainment journalist Marisa Roffman was barely in elementary school when she saw the Snow White. This was not a mere friend dressed up for Halloween or a cast member at Disneyland but the actual actress who voiced the character in Disney’s 1937 animated classic “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”
It’s hard to forget the moment you meet your idol — and learn that she is both everything, and nothing, like you expect.
A young Roffman, who was always more Team Snow White than Sleeping Beauty when it came to battles for classic Disney princess dominance, was confused and starstruck. This lady didn’t look like the character she knew, but she definitely sounded like her.
“When you’re a kid, even though you know animation isn’t real, it’s still hard to imagine that there was a human actor doing that voice,” said Roffman. “To have that personification . . . and her house was such a tribute to that too . . .”
The daughter of a vocal coach/music teacher father and a mother who had been a singer for the Royal Opera Theatre of Rome, Adriana Caselotti was just 18 when she was cast as the voice of the titular zoophile soprano in what would be Disney’s first-ever full-length animated feature. The film was a critical and commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing film the following year. The part had such an impact on Caselotti that it became ingrained into her identity, so much so that she didn’t just sound like Snow . . . she lived like her also.
Adriana Caselotti’s former Snow White-style home (Courtesy of Ryan Ole Hass)By the time the young Roffman and her mother went to visit Caselotti’s house in the 1990s, she was living in a custom-designed wood cabin that was made to look like the one her character stumbles upon in the movie. With its red-accented A-frame roof, footbridge and wishing well, the home echoed the dwarfs’ forest abode from the movie, but sat in the distinctly more metropolitan locale of the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. But its pièce de résistance for Roffman was Caselotti herself, who was home that afternoon and happy to entertain strangers with her cherubic singsong cadence.
When a personality becomes your brand
Actors are often advised to let their character go after a production wraps – that after months or years of obsessing over this fictional being’s wants and desires it’s time to end that story.
But actors who are savvy marketers also know to give the public what it wants . . . and to use it to their advantage.
Alicia Silverstone and Christian Siriano continue to make “Clueless” references and parodies on Instagram, taking advantage of the fact that Amy Heckerling’s “Emma” reimagining is a timeless favorite. Not only does Silverstone’s Cher remain iconic for both her colorful ensembles and quotable lines, but the fashion-conscious character played by Justin Walker also happens to share a name with the real-life designer. Whether they’re doing it intentionally or not, these simple nods are great ways to drum up brand awareness and name recognition for everyone involved.
Even relatively minor characters can continue to thrive with savvy reminders. “The Office” actor Brian Baumgartner recently appeared on “Suits L.A.” as a version of himself who wants to “kill Kevin Malone” because he feels that his character from the long-running comedy has typecast him. In real life, Baumgartner has parlayed playing Kevin into a podcast and a few book deals.
Sometimes, this fictional cachet can act as a segue into other careers. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered “The Terminator” lines like “I’ll be back” as part of his California gubernatorial campaign, and when he eventually won was known as The Governator. Ronald Reagan’s political slogan when he was running for president was “Win one for the Gipper,” a quote associated with his 1940 football film “Knute Rockne, All American.” And of course, during his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump invoked his “Apprentice” catchphrase, “You’re fired,” to call out opponent Kamala Harris.
But Caselotti didn’t just reference her character in her everyday life . . . she embodied her entire ethos.
The cautionary tale of being Snow
Autographed photos of Adriana Caselotti (Courtesy of Darrell Rooney)According to Richard Hollis and Brian Sibley’s “The Disney Studio Story,” Caselotti was paid $970 for 48 days of work on “Snow White.” And that could have been the end to her Disney fairy tale. But, like a prince tromping through the forest looking for a lost love, the part would always find its way back to her. Caselotti would be called upon to reprise the role in the flesh – yellow and blue gown and all – to promote a few of the subsequent releases of the film as well as other Disney films.
“I will never not love Adriana Caselotti and the memory of her voice.”
In another Hollis and Sibley book, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the Making of the Classic Film,” she recounts that she once lost her luggage on one of those trips. As a result, she was stuck with nothing to wear but that dress for two weeks. This led to a humbling moment, when at 35 she was dressed in full Snow cosplay and heard an astounded little girl declare that she couldn’t possibly be the heroine because she was “so old.”
“It’s somewhat bittersweet to me to meet people like that, because they say, in a sense, they’re frozen in time,” said Mike Bonifer, a poet and a storyteller who, in his role as a publicist for Disney in the 1980s and ‘90s, produced several specials that incorporated Caselotti. His own love for “Snow White” dates back to his mother taking him to a small-town movie theater to see it when he was five.
Bonifer visited Caselotti at her cottage-like home, walking through a yard decorated with animal statues. At the entryway stood a woman who still sounded like Snow White and offered him a Manhattan cocktail from a pitcher in her fridge.
“I don’t think I ever saw her wear the blue and yellow dress, but her voice was the blue and yellow dress,” Bonifer recalled, adding, “I suspect that when she talked to the phone company, that was the voice [she used]. And she probably got good outcomes from the phone company . . . I think we all know people in our lives like Adriana that you just go, ‘Oh, just stay the way you are. I need you to be who you are for the rest of your life.’”
This is why he uses the word “bittersweet” in reference to the actress.
“I will never not love Adriana Caselotti and the memory of her voice and the memory of her she was for being Snow White,” he said. “But it’s a cautionary tale to stay Snow White.”
No business like Snow business
Snow White movie poster, 1937 (LMPC via Getty Images)Dealings weren’t always harmonious between Caselotti and the Mouse House either. In 1938, she and Harry Stockwell, the voice of Prince Charming, attempted to sue Disney using the argument that selling phonographic recordings of the “Snow White” soundtrack violated their contracts that restricted the use of their voices to the movie. Beyond missing out on that possible additional pay, it appears that initially, they didn’t even receive any official acknowledgment of their work. Not only did the actors have to sneak into “Snow White’s” splashy Hollywood premiere – as neither made the guest list – but according to Sibley’s interviews with Caselotti, the actors weren’t even originally credited for their performances. (It would “spoil the illusion,” Walt Disney allegedly told Jack Benny when the comedian wanted Caselotti for his radio show.) This made it harder for Caselotti to get other voice work, although she does have a memorable moment during the Tin Man’s song in 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz.”
Later, Caselotti was deeply hurt that no one asked her to voice Snow White when the animated character appeared onstage in a filmed sequence to present an Oscar in 1993. Instead, Mary Kay Bergman voiced the part, which led Caselotti to call industry columnists after the ceremony to prove that she still sounded like her character even though she was then 77, according to Entertainment Weekly.
“Adriana did a fantastic job setting the archetype.”
Despite being replaced in public, no one was able to vocally match her interpretation of the part. At the Oscars, Bergman delivered her own take on the character, making her sound less childlike and more like a proper preschool teacher. “Ralph Breaks the Internet” co-writer Pamela Ribon, who also voiced Snow for that film’s epic Disney princess sleepover scene, doesn’t hit the high notes like Caselotti did. Katie Von Till, Disney’s current regular go-to voice for animated Snow, isn’t as melodic in “Lego Disney Princess: The Castle Quest.” And 2025’s live-action “Snow White” doesn’t even attempt to have star Rachel Zegler take on Caselotti’s particular voice print — seemingly staying on message that it’s a new story for a new generation.
“It’s such a hyper-feminine style of voice-over [that] you don’t hear that much these days. It’s kind of an infantilized sound, like Betty Boop,” Lisa Hanawalt, an illustrator and writer known for animated series like “Tuca & Bertie” and “BoJack Horseman,” said of Caselotti’s take on Snow.
Craig Gerber, the creator of the princess-focused Disney Jr. programs “Sofia the First” and “Elena of Avalor,” at first noted that “the definition of how a young princess might act and talk has changed with the times, which gives actresses greater latitude to craft a performance.” Nevertheless, he acknowledged, “Adriana did a fantastic job setting the archetype. Adriana established what a leading performance in an animated feature film would sound like and specifically defined what a Disney princess would sound like.”
“With voice acting, the actor cannot rely on their face or body language to convey the performance,” he continued. “It all has to be in the voice. So, in my experience, it’s a very specific type of acting that falls somewhere between live action and theater. It’s more exaggerated than a live action performance but not playing to the back of the house either.”
In fact, Caselotti’s voice was distinct enough that (eventually) neither Disney nor the public at large could ignore it. Caselotti was inducted as a D23 Legend, the organization’s Hall of Fame, in 1994. She also recorded a rendition of Snow’s song “I’m Wishing” that played from the wishing well at Disneyland’s Snow White Grotto.
From Mouse House to Hollywood home
Snow White clock and autographed Adriana Caselotti photo (Courtesy of Dave Woodman)Even though Disney didn’t always acknowledge Caselotti, she honored her Disney role throughout her life. Her answering machine message was recorded in the style of Snow. And she told Sibley that if she saw someone whom she felt needed a pick-me-up or a special treat, she’d serenade them with the “I’m Wishing” song from the film and — long before the advent of selfies and Instagram — would give them a card that had her picture and a drawing of the character to use as proof that they’d met a real-live Disney princess.
And much like how Snow White would bring music to the woodland creatures, Caselotti made sure her house was designed for entertaining. The communal space had an open floor plan, making it easy for guests in the kitchen to spot friends in the dining room. It was partitioned by a huge black grand piano on which was mounted a large, silver-framed autographed picture of Walt Disney himself.
“She would have these opera parties every August to celebrate her older sister [and fellow singer, Louise Caselotti’s] birthday,” now retired Disney animator Darrell Rooney recalled of her fetes where friends were invited to come over and sing. ”It was a room full of just absolute characters . . . ballet dancers and behind-the-scenes people and just a Disney Animation caricaturist’s dream.”
Adriana Caselotti’s former Snow White-style home, sketch and modern interior (Courtesy of Ryan Ole Hass)Her entertaining reputation doesn’t end there. She also had a wicked sense of humor. Rooney and his friend Dave Woodman, a fellow animator, met Caselotti after finding her information in the phone book. Woodman was happy to make the call because Rooney, a die-hard “Snow White” fan, was too bashful. But they never expected a side to Caselotti that emerged when they visited shortly after “Lady and the Tramp” star Peggy Lee successfully sued Walt Disney Co. over royalties for the video release of that film.
“Adriana was afraid that, since there was nothing in the contract about videotape back when she did the voice and ‘Snow White’ was about to come out on videotape,” recalled Woodman. “She said, ‘I’m going to tell them [that] if they don’t pay me, I’m going to tell everybody I slept with Grumpy.”
Perhaps she made good on the threat; Caselotti later told Woodman that the matter had been handled.
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Caselotti died in 1997 at age 80. She was married four times and had no children. Her former home – the location where so many fans were able to walk into a Disney fairy tale – has been sold and modernized to the point that it doesn’t have as much of the whimsical set dressing from Caselotti’s day but still carries small reminders of the Disney princess’ presence. Even now, inscribed in the corner of the driveway is a note declaring Caselotti as “Snow White” and her real-life best friend Gary Stark as “Prince Charming.”
Cement outside of Adriana Caselotti’s former Snow White-style home (Courtesy of Whitney Friedlander)And her legacy lives on to this day. The latest “Snow White” star Zegler recently posted a tribute to her on Instagram, recreating one of Caselotti’s marketing images.
The caption reads, “Just had to pay homage to the original Snow White, Miss Adriana Caselotti, to whom I owe everything.”
