Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: Who voiced Lumiere in Walt Disney Pictures' animated feature film Beauty and the Beast?
Robby Benson as Beast[11] – A young prince who is transformed into a beast by an enchantress as punishment for his arrogance. The animators drew him with the head structure and horns of an American bison, the arms and body of a bear, the ears of a deer, the eyebrows of a gorilla, the jaws, teeth, and mane of a lion, the tusks of a wild boar, and the legs and tail of a wolf. Chris Sanders, one of the film's storyboard artists, drafted the designs for the Beast and came up with designs based on birds, insects, and fish before coming up with something close to the final design. Glen Keane, supervising animator for the Beast, refined the design by going to the zoo and studying the animals on which the Beast was based.[10] Benson commented, "There's a rage and torment in this character I've never been asked to use before."[14] The filmmakers commented that "everybody was big fee-fi-fo-fum and gravelly" while Benson had the "big voice and the warm, accessible side" so that "you could hear the prince beneath the fur".[10] Richard White as Gaston[11] – A vain hunter who vies for Belle's hand in marriage and is determined not to let anyone else win her heart. He serves as a foil personality to the Beast, who was once as egotistical as Gaston prior to his transformation. Gaston's supervising animator, Andreas Deja, was pressed by Jeffrey Katzenberg to make Gaston handsome in contrast to the traditional appearance of a Disney villain, an assignment he found difficult at first. In the beginning, Gaston is depicted as more of a narcissist than a villain, but later he leads all the villagers to kill the beast, enraged that Belle would love a Beast more than him.[15] Jerry Orbach as Lumière[16] – The kind-hearted but rebellious valet of the Beast's, who has been transformed into a candlestick. He has a habit of disobeying his master's strict rules, sometimes causing tension between them, but the Beast often turns to him for advice. He is depicted as flirtatious, as he is frequently seen with the Featherduster and immediately takes a liking to Belle. A running gag throughout the movie is Lumière burning Cogsworth. Nik Ranieri served as the supervising animator for Lumière. David Ogden Stiers as Cogsworth[17] – Majordomo, the head of the household staff and Lumière's best friend, who has been transformed into a clock. He is extremely loyal to the Beast so as to save himself and anyone else any trouble, often leading to friction between himself and Lumière. Will Finn served as the supervising animator for Cogsworth. Stiers also narrates the prologue. Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Potts[18] – The castle cook, turned into a teapot, who takes a motherly attitude toward Belle. The filmmakers went through several names for Mrs. Potts, such as "Mrs. Chamomile", before Ashman suggested the use of simple and concise names for the household objects.[10] David Pruiksma served as the supervising animator for Mrs. Potts. Bradley Pierce as Chip[19] – Mrs. Potts' son, who has been turned into a teacup. Originally intended to only have one line, the filmmakers were impressed with Pierce's performance and expanded the character's role significantly, eschewing a mute Music Box character.[10] Pruiksma also served as the supervising animator for Chip. Rex Everhart as Maurice[11] – Belle's inventor father. The villagers see him as insane for crafting devices believed impossible to construct in reality, but his loyal daughter believes he will be famous one day. Ruben A. Aquino served as the supervising animator for Maurice. Jesse Corti as Lefou[11] – Gaston's often abused yet loyal sidekick. Chris Wahl served as the supervising animator for Lefou. Hal Smith as Philippe[20] – Belle's Belgian horse. Russ Edmonds served as the supervising animator for Philippe. Jo Anne Worley as the Wardrobe[21] – The castle's authority over fashion, and a former opera singer, who has been turned into a wardrobe. The character of Wardrobe was introduced by visual development person Sue C. Nichols to the then entirely male cast of servants, and was originally a more integral character named "Madame Armoire". Wardrobe is known as "Madame de la Grande Bouche" (Madame Big Mouth) in the stage adaptation of the film and is the only major enchanted object character whose human form does not appear in the film. Tony Anselmo served as the supervising animator for the Wardrobe. Mary Kay Bergman and Kath Soucie as the Bimbettes[22] – A trio of village maidens who constantly fawn over Gaston, known as the "Silly Girls" in the stage adaptation. Brian Cummings as the Stove[23] – The castle's chef who has been transformed into a stove. He is named Chef Bouche in 1998's Belle's Magical World. Alvin Epstein as the Bookseller[24] – The owner of a book shop in Belle's hometown. Tony Jay as Monsieur D'Arque[25] – The sadistic warden of the Asylum de Loons. Gaston bribes him to help in his plan to blackmail Belle. Alec Murphy as the Baker[26] – The owner of a bakery in Belle's hometown. Kimmy Robertson as the Featherduster[27] – A maid and Lumière's sweetheart, who has been turned into a feather duster. She is unnamed in the 1991 film (listed as Featherduster in the credits); Babette is the name given to this character later in the 1994 stage adaptation of the film; Fifi in the 1998 animated musical film Belle's Magical World and Plumette in the 2017 live-action remake. Frank Welker as Sultan[28] – The castle's pet dog turned into a footstool.
The studio's first live-action film was "Treasure Island" (1950). Animated films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar are also released by Walt Disney Pictures. The studio has released four films that have received an Academy Award for Best Picture nomination: "Mary Poppins" (1964), "Beauty and the Beast" (1991), "Up" (2009), and "Toy Story 3" (2010).
During the 1970s and 1980s, Walt Disney Feature Animation struggled to release animated feature films that achieved the levels of success of some of the studio's earlier productions did. In 1989, Walt Disney Pictures released "The Little Mermaid. "An animated musical that features songs written by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken, "The Little Mermaid" was both a tremendous critical and commercial success. Hoping to release a film that achieved similar success, the studio decided to adapt the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont into an animated film.
Peter Schneider is an American film and theatrical producer, notable as the first president of Walt Disney Feature Animation for The Walt Disney Company from 1985 to 1999, and was responsible for helping to turn the feature animation department around and creating some of the most critically acclaimed and highest grossing animated features that Disney released. These films included "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (1988), "The Little Mermaid" (1989), "Beauty and the Beast" (1991, the first animated feature to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture), "Aladdin" (1992), and "The Lion King" (1994, the highest domestic grossing animated film of all time until 2003).
It became the second-highest-grossing film of 2016 (behind "Rogue One"), the highest-grossing Pixar film, the second-highest-grossing Walt Disney Pictures release (behind "Beauty and the Beast"), the highest-grossing Disney animated film, the highest-grossing animated film overall, and the ninth-highest-grossing film of all time.
Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the official soundtrack album to the 1991 Disney animated feature film, "Beauty and the Beast". Originally released on October 24, 1991, by Walt Disney Records, the album's first half – tracks 2 to 9 – generally contains the film's musical numbers, all of which were written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman, while its latter half – tracks 10 to 14 – features its musical score, composed solely by Menken. While the majority of the album's content remains within the musical theatre genre, its songs have also been influenced by French, classical, pop and Broadway music. Credited to Various Artists, "Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" features performances by the film's main cast – Paige O'Hara, Richard White, Jesse Corti, Jerry Orbach, Angela Lansbury and Robby Benson – in order of appearance. Additionally, the album features recording artists Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson, who perform a pop rendition of the film's title and theme song, "Beauty and the Beast", which simultaneously serves as the soundtrack's only single.
Jay's voice-over work included Monsieur D'Arque, the amoral asylum superintendent, in Disney's 1991 hit animated film version of "Beauty and the Beast". From 1994–2001 he supplied the voice for the virus Megabyte in the computer animated television show "ReBoot". According to one source, Jay was preferred to Patrick Stewart, Derek Jacobi, Ian McKellen for the voice of Judge Claude Frollo in Disney's 1996 animated film adaptation of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, who had also steered his performance in the film version of "Beauty and the Beast". Jay reprised Frollo's voice for Walt Disney World's nighttime light and fireworks show "Fantasmic!" From 1995 to 1996 Jay was the voice of the alien warlord Lord Dregg, the villain during the last two seasons of the original 1987 "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" animated TV series.
It was founded as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in 1923 and incorporated as Walt Disney Productions in 1929. The studio was exclusively dedicated to producing short films until it expanded into feature production in 1934. In 1983, Walt Disney Productions named its live action film studio Walt Disney Pictures. During a corporate restructuring in 1986, Walt Disney Productions was renamed The Walt Disney Company and the animation division, renamed Walt Disney Feature Animation, became a subsidiary of its film division, The Walt Disney Studios. In 2007, Walt Disney Feature Animation took on its current name, Walt Disney Animation Studios after Pixar was acquired by Disney in the same year.
"Beauty and the Beast" is the original film of the franchise. It was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, and released in 1991. "Beauty and the Beast" is the 30th Disney animated feature film and belongs to an era known as the Disney Renaissance. The plot of the film is based on the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont.
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, owned by The Walt Disney Company. The subsidiary is the main producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit, and is based at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. It took on its current name in 1983. Today, in conjunction with the other units of Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Pictures is regarded as one of Hollywood's "Big Six" film studios. Films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios are also released under this brand.
Walt Disney first attempted unsuccessfully to adapt Beauty and the Beast into an animated film during the 1930s and 1950s. Following the success of The Little Mermaid (1989), Walt Disney Pictures decided to adapt the fairy tale, which Richard Purdum originally conceived as a non-musical. Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg eventually dismissed Purdum's idea and ordered that the film be a musical similar to The Little Mermaid instead. The film was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, with a screenplay by Linda Woolverton story first credited to Roger Allers.[8] Lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken wrote the film's songs. Ashman, who additionally served as the film's executive producer, died of AIDS-related complications six months before the film's release, and the film is thus dedicated to his memory.
"Beauty and the Beast", often considered to be one of the greatest of all Disney animated features, followed in 1991. It was the first animated film nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, losing to "The Silence of the Lambs", and remains the only animated film nominated for Best Picture when that category had only five entries (1944-2008). "Beauty and the Beast" did win the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) and two Academy Awards, for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. "Beauty and the Beast" also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound, as well as two additional nominations for Best Original Song.
"Something There" is a song written by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken for Walt Disney Pictures 30th animated feature film "Beauty and the Beast" (1991). Sung by the majority of the film's main cast, the song was recorded by American actors Paige O'Hara as Belle and Robby Benson as the Beast via voice over, featuring actors Jerry Orbach, Angela Lansbury and David Ogden Stiers as Lumiere, Mrs. Potts and Cogsworth, respectively. The only song performed by the Beast, "Something There" is heard midway through "Beauty and the Beast "during a scene in which Belle and the Beast finally begin to acknowledge their feelings for each other.
Lilo & Stitch is a 2002 American animated adventure science fiction comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Disney's 42nd animated feature film, it was written and directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders (who is the voice of Stitch), and features the voices of Daveigh Chase, Tia Carrere, David Ogden Stiers, Kevin McDonald, Ving Rhames, Jason Scott Lee, and Kevin Michael Richardson. It was the second of three Disney animated features (the others being "Mulan" and "Brother Bear") produced primarily at the Florida animation studio located at Disney's Hollywood Studios (known as "Disney-MGM Studios" during production) in Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida. It was released on June 21, 2002, to positive reviews and was nominated for the 2002 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. That Academy Award was won by Studio Ghibli's 2001 film "Spirited Away", which was also distributed in the United States by Walt Disney Pictures, and also starred Chase and Stiers in the English version.
"The Little Mermaid", Disney's first animated fairy tale since "Sleeping Beauty" (1959), is an important film in animation history for many reasons. Chief among these are its re-establishment of animation as a profitable venture for The Walt Disney Company, as the company's theme parks, television productions, and live-action features had overshadowed the animated output since the 1950s. "Mermaid" was the second film, following "Oliver & Company", produced after Disney began expanding its animated output following its successful live action/animated film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", and became Disney's first animated major box office and critical hit since "The Rescuers" in 1977. Walt Disney Feature Animation was further expanded as a result of "Mermaid" and increasingly successful follow-ups — "Beauty and the Beast" (1991), "Aladdin" (1992), and "The Lion King" (1994). The staff increased from 300 members in 1988 to 2,200 in 1999 spread across three studios in Burbank, California, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, and Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.
Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 2017 film "Beauty and the Beast". The album, largely based on material from Disney's 1991 animated version, features songs and instrumental score composed by Alan Menken with lyrics by Howard Ashman and three new songs composed by Alan Menken with lyrics by Tim Rice. The soundtrack album was released by Walt Disney Records on March 10, 2017.
"Rock-a-Doodle" was originally going to be released by MGM–Pathe Communications Co., but studio partnership was facing financial difficulties, so Bluth rescheduled "Rock-a-Doodle" for release around Thanksgiving 1991 and selected The Samuel Goldwyn Company as the film's distributor. However, that date was further moved to April 1992 to avoid competition with Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Feature Animation's "Beauty and the Beast", as well as Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment's "", a sequel to "An American Tail", in which Bluth himself was not involved.
In 1987, Fullmer was hired by Walt Disney Feature Animation (now known as Walt Disney Animation Studios) for a three-month contract to animate on the “Toon Town” section of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", a job that turned into an 18-year career at The Walt Disney Studios. Fullmer's animation film credits include: effects animator on "Oliver & Company"; effects animator on "The Little Mermaid"; effects supervisor on "The Rescuers Down Under"; visual effects supervisor on "Beauty and the Beast"; artistic coordinator on "The Lion King"; artistic coordinator on "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"; producer on "The Emperor's New Groove"; and producer on "Chicken Little".
Belle is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Pictures' animated feature film "Beauty and the Beast" (1991). Originally voiced by American actress and singer Paige O'Hara, Belle is the non-conforming daughter of an inventor who yearns to abandon her predictable village life in return for adventure. When her father Maurice is imprisoned by a cold-hearted beast, Belle offers him her own freedom in exchange for her father's, and eventually learns to love the Beast despite his unsightly outward appearance.
Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated musical romantic fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 30th Disney animated feature film and the third released during the Disney Renaissance period, it is based on the French fairy tale of the same name by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont who was uncredited in the English version but credited in the French version,[6] and ideas from the 1946 French film of the same name directed by Jean Cocteau.[7] Beauty and the Beast focuses on the relationship between the Beast (voice of Robby Benson),[8] a prince who is magically transformed into a monster and his servants into household objects as punishment for his arrogance, and Belle (voice of Paige O'Hara),[8] a young woman whom he imprisons in his castle to become a prince again. To break the curse, Beast must learn to love Belle and earn her love in return before the last petal falls from an enchanted rose or else the Beast will remain a monster forever. The film also features the voices of Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, and Angela Lansbury.[8]
For much of the Academy Awards' history, AMPAS was resistant to the idea of a regular Oscar for animated features, considering there were simply too few produced to justify such consideration. Instead, the Academy occasionally bestowed special Oscars for exceptional productions, usually for Walt Disney Pictures, such as for "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" in 1938, and the Special Achievement Academy Award for the live action/animated hybrid "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" in 1989 and "Toy Story" in 1996. In fact, prior to the creation of the award, only one animated film was nominated for Best Picture: 1991's "Beauty and the Beast", also by Walt Disney Pictures.
After the story, the others celebrate as the Prince gives Belle a gift, a single rose.In the wake of the success of "The Return of Jafar" (1994), the Walt Disney Company opened the Walt Disney Animation Canada studios in January 1996 to produce direct-to-video and potential theatrical films, as well as utilize the talent pool of Canadian animators. With 200 animators hired, Disney Animation Canada had two separate animation facilities in Toronto and Vancouver which were supervised by Joan Fischer, a former Canadian public television executive. Their first project was "Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas", which went into pre-production later that spring. Additional animation work was done by Walt Disney Television Animation and Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd. located in Xindian District, Taipei, Taiwan, and Characters Builders.
Following a difficult period during where Walt Disney Feature Animation struggled to release successful animated feature films, the studio, inspired by their most recent animated success "The Little Mermaid "(1989), decided to adapt the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" into an animated musical film after a non-musical adaptation had been attempted that failed to impress Disney CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. Katzenberg ordered that production on the film be started over from scratch, hiring songwriting team Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, who had just recently completed scoring "The Little Mermaid", to write the film's songs. Dion and Bryson were hired to record a pop version of – and draw media attention to – the film's title song. Ashman, who was initially hesitant to join the project, died of AIDS before the film's completion and the album's release.
This list is organized by release date and includes live-action feature films (including theatrical and streaming releases), animated feature films (including films developed and produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios), and documentary films (including titles from the "True-Life Adventures" series and films produced by the Disneynature label). For an exclusive list of animated films released by Walt Disney Pictures and its previous entities see "List of Disney theatrical animated features".
Gaston is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Pictures' 30th animated feature film "Beauty and the Beast" (1991). Voiced by American actor and singer Richard White, Gaston is an arrogant hunter whose unrequited feelings for the intellectual Belle drive him to murder his adversary, the Beast, once he realizes she cares for him instead. Gaston serves as a foil personality to the Beast, who was once as vain as Gaston prior to his transformation.