Cruella de Vil
Encyclopedia
Cruella de Vil is a fictional character and the iconic villain
in Dodie Smith
's 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians
, Disney's 1961 animated film adaptation One Hundred and One Dalmatians
, and Disney's live-action film adaptations 101 Dalmatians and 102 Dalmatians
. In all her incarnations, Cruella kidnaps dalmatian
puppies for their fur. In the live-action version, it is revealed that the reason Cruella chooses to skin puppies is that when short-haired dogs grow older, their fur becomes very coarse, which does not sell as well in the fur fashion industry as the fine, soft fur of puppies.
Cruella de Vil ranked 39th on AFI's list "100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains"
.
heiress who knows the owner of the Dalmatian puppies through school
. She was a notorious
student with black and white plaits
. She was later expelled for drinking ink
. Now she is the last of her prosperous and notorious family and married to a furrier who supplies her obsession, such as the one piece she is never seen without; a white mink
cloak. With this, she wears skin-tight satin gowns and ropes of jewels in contrasting colors, such as an emerald
color dress with ropes of rubies. Her chauffeur-driven car is black-and-white striped (Mr. Dearly comments that it looks like "a moving zebra crossing
") and has the loudest horn in London, which she insists on displaying to the Dearly family. Such dramatic luxuries were said to be based on Tallulah Bankhead
's lavish spending habits, which the producers of the film first read about in a newspaper.
When she has guests for dinner
, all of Cruella's food is strange colours and tastes of pepper
(alluding to her quick temper). She constantly stokes a roaring fire
and complains of being cold despite the elevated temperature
. The flat is portrayed as a sort of luxurious version of Hell and sets up Cruella's "devilish" persona for her later crimes. Her guests also meet her abused white Persian cat, which plays a key role in a later part of the story.
When invited to a dinner party held by the Dearly couple, Cruella expresses her sinister interest in the Dalmatians, remarking how she and her henpecked husband have never thought of making clothing from dog pelt before. Yet seeing the spotless skins of the newborn puppies she is revolted and offers to have them drowned at once; her way of getting rid of animals which she views as worthless, including her own cat's kittens. Upon a second visit to the house she picks up the mature puppies and treats them like clothing to be worn.
Cruella also makes a brief appearance, albeit asleep, in Dodie Smith's sequel, The Starlight Barking
.
, in which she was voiced by Betty Lou Gerson
and animated by Marc Davis who together crafted her into an iconic and memorable character. The cool detachment of the original character was replaced by a crazed mania, in which Cruella only barely clung to a sheen of glamour. Anita comments Cruella's above mentioned fur coat is new when Cruella first appears. For unexplained reasons, Cruella's cat and husband were omitted from the Disney version. Cruella drives a very distinctive Zimmer
-like automobile, colored red and black.
The film featured a song
, written by the late Mel Leven
, using her name as the title, sung by the dalmatians' owner Roger (Bill Lee
), who holds the woman in contempt. The lyric begins with: "Cruella De Vil, Cruella De Vil. If she doesn't scare you, no evil
thing will..."
Disney considered reusing Cruella as the villain for The Rescuers
, but decided against it because they did not want to make it a sequel to an otherwise unrelated film. Cruella eventually returned in the 2003 direct-to-video sequel 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure
, where she was voiced by Susanne Blakeslee. Blakeslee also voiced Cruella in the 2001 TV series Disney's House of Mouse
, which featured a running gag in which she inspects dogs from other Disney films with a measuring ruler. Cruella appears in animation one more time in the 2008 film Disney's Christmas Favorites during the segment "Santa Cruella". Cruella is also one of the Disney Villains Mickey fights in Disney's Hollywood Studios
version of Fantasmic!
Nighttime Show Spectacular in Walt Disney World. In Disney On Ice play 'Celebrations', Cruella De Vil was one of the Villains who appears during the Halloween Party.
From the unsubtle symbolic name to her hideous physical appearance, the evil of Cruella De Vil is overt. In 2002, Forbes
ranked Cruella as the thirteenth wealthiest fiction character
, citing the single 65-year-old has a net worth of $875 million, obtained through inheritance Cruella was listed as the 39th greatest villain in American cinema in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains
. Also, in Ultimate Disney's
Top 30 Disney Villains Countdown, Cruella ranked #6.
In Disney's 1996 live-action remake of the animated film, 101 Dalmatians, and its 2000 sequel, 102 Dalmatians
, Cruella was played by Glenn Close
. The film reinvented Cruella yet again, this time as the magnate of a couture
fashion house, "House of De Vil", which specialised in fur couture. The character of Anita (played by Joely Richardson
) was a couturière and employee of De Vil. This film increased the physical comedy
of the animated film, even veering into toilet humor, such as Cruella falling into a vat of old molasses. Close's performance was universally well-received, and her sex appeal as the character was also credited.
The live-action film was not as critically successful as the animated movie, but Close's performance, as well as her costumes, by Anthony Powell
and Rosemary Burrows, received appreciative attention, including a spread in Vanity Fair magazine. Claws were applied to gloves, and necklaces were made from teeth, to add to the idea that Cruella enjoyed wearing parts of dead animals. Nails were also projected from the heels to make them especially vicious in appearance. Close has commented on how demanding the slapstick physicality of the role was while wearing nail-heeled boots and corsets. She was always smoking to give the appearance of a mysterious "villain".
In 102 Dalmatians
, while under effect of Dr. Ivan Pavlov's hypnotherapy treatment
, Cruella was cured of her evil habits and released from prison on parole
, three years after the events of the first film. She insisted on being called "Ella" because "Cruella sounds so ... cruel". Completely devoted to saving animals and while experiencing "doraphobia", she was scared by even the smallest sight of fur fashion, especially since she had all of her old fur clothes and Anita's drawing of Cruella in a Dalmatian puppy coat boarded up. Unfortunately, this new persona was not to last for long, since the effects of Big Ben's bells managed to undo the hypnotherapy
, reverting Cruella to her former self. During the "Ella" stage, Cruella quit her characteristic habits, such as wearing fur
clothing, long nails
, extravagant hair styles, and of course, smoking
. Once Big Ben jolted her brain waves back into Cruella, her old habits returned. At the end of the movie, she was baked into a massive cake
and arrested once again; this time sentenced to life in prison, and her entire fortune went to 2nd Chance Dog Shelter.
and was based on Glenn Close's portrayal from the live-action film, but with Betty Lou Gerson's design from the animated film. She appears to be a vegetarian in the show, therefore did not wear clothes made out of animals, nor smoked (although in the episode "Smoke Detectors" she did) and is totally sane. Her villainous plot in the show was to steal the Dearlys' farm from them, and using the puppies as a ransom
, mainly because the old widow
Smedly would not sell it to her and that her mother Malevola demands it. She is an archetypal corporate villain who will seize on any scheme to make money, including drilling oil from the swamp near Dearly farm (thereby polluting it), buying Kanine Krunchies and replacing the nutritious ingredients with sawdust and chalk or sending Jasper and Horace to drive out the owners of Mom and Pop's Grocery Store so she can buy it herself.
In the Christmas
episode, "A Christmas Cruella", since she was a child, Cruella wanted a dalmatian puppy, but her parents always go on vacations
, leaving her with a foreign nanny and clothes for gifts. During her teens, was the final straw which gave her her half white hairline in her fury (earlier, she is seen with all black hair and a slight gray-ish streak). Her miserable childhood is what drove her to evil.
The series is also the first time Cruella uses seduction as one of her evil schemes. In the series finale, she uses an inflatable body suit to disguise herself as a sexy blonde bikini surfer to seduce Roger to make Anita think he is cheating her so they will split up and she can get the farm. When Anita goes swimming, she makes her move on him. She asks him to go swimming with her and then tries to kiss him, but her suit is deflated by the puppies' chicken friend, and she turns into a surfboard.
; however, the actress announced on her blog that she had stepped down from the role of Cruella de Vil to pursue other projects. The role has been taken over by Sara Gettelfinger
.
song "Let Me Entertain You" features the lyrics "I'll Cruella de Vil You!"
The Children 18:3
song "The Cruel One" is about 101 Dalmatians and mentions Cruella de Vil by name in the chorus.
The Deadsy
song "Cruella" is written about Cruella de Vil to honor her memory because of the fact that she was shot by a mysterious assassin in "Who Shot Cruella De Vil?" [Part 1].
The Spanish singer Alaska
made a song called "Cruella de Vil" for the 101 Dalmatians Live-action film.
Teen singer and actress Selena Gomez
redid the song, based on the song from Disney's 101 Dalmatians.
American singer and performer Lady Gaga
dressed up as Cruella de Vil for Halloween in 2010. The performer has had many outfits inspired by the villain.
episode, "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds
", Mr. Burns plays the role of Cruella De Vil, who was authentically assassinated, but unlike her in the movies, where she steals the dalmatian
puppies to make them into fur coats, he steals Santa's Little Helper
and his girlfriend's greyhound puppies to make them into a tuxedo
. And unlike Cruella, who has no hesitation in killing the puppies, Burns cannot bear to kill the puppies himself because they are too cute. Instead, he decides to train them to be world-class racing dogs.
Coco LaBouche from 2000's Rugrats in Paris is a parody of Cruella.
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
in Dodie Smith
Dodie Smith
Dorothy Gladys "Dodie" Smith was an English novelist and playwright. Smith is best known for her novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians. Her other works include I Capture the Castle and The Starlight Barking....
's 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians
The Hundred and One Dalmatians
The Hundred and One Dalmatians, or the Great Dog Robbery is a 1956 children's novel by Dodie Smith. A sequel entitled The Starlight Barking continues from the end of the first novel....
, Disney's 1961 animated film adaptation One Hundred and One Dalmatians
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
One Hundred and One Dalmatians, often abbreviated as 101 Dalmatians, is a 1961 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith...
, and Disney's live-action film adaptations 101 Dalmatians and 102 Dalmatians
102 Dalmatians
102 Dalmatians is a 2000 live-action film, produced by Walt Disney Pictures and starring Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil. It is the sequel to 101 Dalmatians, a live-action remake of the 1961 Disney animated feature of the same name. In the film, Cruella de Vil attempts to steal puppies for her...
. In all her incarnations, Cruella kidnaps dalmatian
Dalmatian (dog)
The Dalmatian is a breed of dog whose roots are often said to trace back to Dalmatia, a region of Croatia where the first illustrations of the dog have been found. The Dalmatian is noted for its unique black- or brown-spotted coat and was mainly used as a carriage dog in its early days...
puppies for their fur. In the live-action version, it is revealed that the reason Cruella chooses to skin puppies is that when short-haired dogs grow older, their fur becomes very coarse, which does not sell as well in the fur fashion industry as the fine, soft fur of puppies.
Cruella de Vil ranked 39th on AFI's list "100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains"
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains is a list of the 100 greatest screen characters chosen by American Film Institute in June 2003. It is part of the AFI 100 Years… series. The series was first presented in a CBS special hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger...
.
Name
Cruella's name is a play on the words cruel and devil, an allusion which is emphasized by having her country house be nicknamed "Hell Hall". In some translations, Cruella De Vil is known as "Cruella De Mon" to change the play on the word "devil" to one on "demon" because the word "devil" in some languages does not have a clear meaning. An example is Italy, where she is called "Crudelia De Mon" (a pun on "crudele", cruel, and "demone", demon). In the French translation of the Disney's animated movie, she is referred as "Cruella D'Enfer" (Literally, Cruella of Hell or from Hell). In some languages (such as Spanish) where her last name has been left as De Vil, but is not similar to their equivalent of devil, it is taken to be a play on their equivalent of "vile" or "villain".The Hundred and One Dalmatians novel
In the original story, Cruella is a pampered LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
heiress who knows the owner of the Dalmatian puppies through school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
. She was a notorious
Notorious
Notorious is a 1946 American thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains as three people whose lives become intimately entangled during an espionage operation...
student with black and white plaits
Braid
A braid is a complex structure or pattern formed by intertwining three or more strands of flexible material such as textile fibres, wire, or human hair...
. She was later expelled for drinking ink
Ink
Ink is a liquid or paste that contains pigments and/or dyes and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing and/or writing with a pen, brush, or quill...
. Now she is the last of her prosperous and notorious family and married to a furrier who supplies her obsession, such as the one piece she is never seen without; a white mink
Mink
There are two living species referred to as "mink": the European Mink and the American Mink. The extinct Sea Mink is related to the American Mink, but was much larger. All three species are dark-colored, semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, which also includes the weasels and...
cloak. With this, she wears skin-tight satin gowns and ropes of jewels in contrasting colors, such as an emerald
Emerald
Emerald is a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the 10 point Mohs scale of mineral hardness...
color dress with ropes of rubies. Her chauffeur-driven car is black-and-white striped (Mr. Dearly comments that it looks like "a moving zebra crossing
Zebra crossing
A zebra crossing is a type of pedestrian crossing used in many places around the world. Its distinguishing feature is alternating dark and light stripes on the road surface, from which it derives its name. A zebra crossing typically gives extra rights of way to pedestrians.The use of zebra...
") and has the loudest horn in London, which she insists on displaying to the Dearly family. Such dramatic luxuries were said to be based on Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante...
's lavish spending habits, which the producers of the film first read about in a newspaper.
When she has guests for dinner
Dinner
Dinner is usually the name of the main meal of the day. Depending upon culture, dinner may be the second, third or fourth meal of the day. Originally, though, it referred to the first meal of the day, eaten around noon, and is still occasionally used for a noontime meal, if it is a large or main...
, all of Cruella's food is strange colours and tastes of pepper
Black pepper
Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...
(alluding to her quick temper). She constantly stokes a roaring fire
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....
and complains of being cold despite the elevated temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
. The flat is portrayed as a sort of luxurious version of Hell and sets up Cruella's "devilish" persona for her later crimes. Her guests also meet her abused white Persian cat, which plays a key role in a later part of the story.
When invited to a dinner party held by the Dearly couple, Cruella expresses her sinister interest in the Dalmatians, remarking how she and her henpecked husband have never thought of making clothing from dog pelt before. Yet seeing the spotless skins of the newborn puppies she is revolted and offers to have them drowned at once; her way of getting rid of animals which she views as worthless, including her own cat's kittens. Upon a second visit to the house she picks up the mature puppies and treats them like clothing to be worn.
Cruella also makes a brief appearance, albeit asleep, in Dodie Smith's sequel, The Starlight Barking
The Starlight Barking
The Starlight Barking is a 1967 children's novel by Dodie Smith. It is a sequel to The Hundred and One Dalmatians.Although The Hundred and One Dalmatians has been adapted into two films , and each version has a sequel film , neither sequel film has...
.
Animated films
Disney's animated version of Cruella first appeared in 1961's One Hundred and One DalmatiansOne Hundred and One Dalmatians
One Hundred and One Dalmatians, often abbreviated as 101 Dalmatians, is a 1961 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith...
, in which she was voiced by Betty Lou Gerson
Betty Lou Gerson
Betty Lou Gerson was an American actress, predominantly in radio, but also in film and television, and as a voice actress.-Early life:...
and animated by Marc Davis who together crafted her into an iconic and memorable character. The cool detachment of the original character was replaced by a crazed mania, in which Cruella only barely clung to a sheen of glamour. Anita comments Cruella's above mentioned fur coat is new when Cruella first appears. For unexplained reasons, Cruella's cat and husband were omitted from the Disney version. Cruella drives a very distinctive Zimmer
Zimmer (automobile)
Zimmer is the name of a U.S. neo-classic automaker, based in Syracuse, New York. The company was founded in 1978 as Zimmer Motorcars Corporation by Paul Zimmer and failed shortly after his death in 1988....
-like automobile, colored red and black.
The film featured a song
Cruella de Vil (song)
"Cruella de Vil," written by Mel Leven, is a song featured in the 1961 Disney-produced animated film 101 Dalmatians and performed by Bill Lee as the singing voice of Roger Radcliffe, a character from the movie...
, written by the late Mel Leven
Mel Leven
Melville A. Leven known professionally as Mel Leven was an American composer and lyricist who had a long association with the Walt Disney Company, although he wrote songs for Peggy Lee , The Andrews Sisters , Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, and Les Brown, among...
, using her name as the title, sung by the dalmatians' owner Roger (Bill Lee
Bill Lee (singer)
Bill Lee was an American playback singer who provided a voice or singing voice in many films, for actors in musicals and for many Disney characters. He was born in Johnson, Nebraska and died in 1980 in Los Angeles, California, of a brain tumor.Lee was part of a popular singing quartet known as The...
), who holds the woman in contempt. The lyric begins with: "Cruella De Vil, Cruella De Vil. If she doesn't scare you, no evil
Evil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...
thing will..."
Disney considered reusing Cruella as the villain for The Rescuers
The Rescuers
The Rescuers is a 1977 American animated feature produced by Walt Disney Productions and first released on June 22, 1977. The 23rd film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film is about the Rescue Aid Society, an international mouse organization headquartered in New York and shadowing...
, but decided against it because they did not want to make it a sequel to an otherwise unrelated film. Cruella eventually returned in the 2003 direct-to-video sequel 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure
101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure
101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure is a 2003 American direct-to-video animated film released by Walt Disney Home Entertainment on January 21, 2003. The film is the sequel to the 1961 Disney animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians...
, where she was voiced by Susanne Blakeslee. Blakeslee also voiced Cruella in the 2001 TV series Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse is an American animated television series, produced by Walt Disney Television, that originally aired from 2001 to 2003-Premise:...
, which featured a running gag in which she inspects dogs from other Disney films with a measuring ruler. Cruella appears in animation one more time in the 2008 film Disney's Christmas Favorites during the segment "Santa Cruella". Cruella is also one of the Disney Villains Mickey fights in Disney's Hollywood Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. Spanning 135 acres in size, its theme is show business, drawing inspiration from the heyday of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s...
version of Fantasmic!
Fantasmic!
Fantasmic! is a Disney nighttime show at Disneyland in the Disneyland Resort, Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World and Tokyo DisneySea in Tokyo Disney Resort. The show features fireworks, live actors, water effects, fire, music, several boats, decorated rafts and projections onto large...
Nighttime Show Spectacular in Walt Disney World. In Disney On Ice play 'Celebrations', Cruella De Vil was one of the Villains who appears during the Halloween Party.
From the unsubtle symbolic name to her hideous physical appearance, the evil of Cruella De Vil is overt. In 2002, Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
ranked Cruella as the thirteenth wealthiest fiction character
Forbes Fictional 15
The Forbes Fictional 15 is a list generated by Forbes magazine that lists the 15 richest people in the realm of fiction. The members are characters from movies, books, cartoons, television, video games, and comics....
, citing the single 65-year-old has a net worth of $875 million, obtained through inheritance Cruella was listed as the 39th greatest villain in American cinema in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains is a list of the 100 greatest screen characters chosen by American Film Institute in June 2003. It is part of the AFI 100 Years… series. The series was first presented in a CBS special hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger...
. Also, in Ultimate Disney's
Ultimate Disney
The Ultimate Guide to Disney DVD is a website dedicated to covering Walt Disney home video releases with a focus on Disney DVD and Blu-ray. The site has been online since 2001 and acquired its own domain and online forum in 2003...
Top 30 Disney Villains Countdown, Cruella ranked #6.
Live-action films
102 Dalmatians
102 Dalmatians is a 2000 live-action film, produced by Walt Disney Pictures and starring Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil. It is the sequel to 101 Dalmatians, a live-action remake of the 1961 Disney animated feature of the same name. In the film, Cruella de Vil attempts to steal puppies for her...
, Cruella was played by Glenn Close
Glenn Close
Glenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...
. The film reinvented Cruella yet again, this time as the magnate of a couture
Haute couture
Haute couture refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable seamstresses,...
fashion house, "House of De Vil", which specialised in fur couture. The character of Anita (played by Joely Richardson
Joely Richardson
Joely Kim Richardson is an English actress, most known recently for her role as Queen Catherine Parr in the Showtime television show The Tudors and Julia McNamara in the television drama Nip/Tuck...
) was a couturière and employee of De Vil. This film increased the physical comedy
Physical comedy
Physical comedy, also known as slapstick, is a comedic performance relying mostly on the use of the body to convey humour.Physical comedy, whether conveyed by a pratfall , a silly face, or the action of walking into walls, is a common and rarely subtle form of comedy...
of the animated film, even veering into toilet humor, such as Cruella falling into a vat of old molasses. Close's performance was universally well-received, and her sex appeal as the character was also credited.
The live-action film was not as critically successful as the animated movie, but Close's performance, as well as her costumes, by Anthony Powell
Anthony Powell
Anthony Dymoke Powell CH, CBE was an English novelist best known for his twelve-volume work A Dance to the Music of Time, published between 1951 and 1975....
and Rosemary Burrows, received appreciative attention, including a spread in Vanity Fair magazine. Claws were applied to gloves, and necklaces were made from teeth, to add to the idea that Cruella enjoyed wearing parts of dead animals. Nails were also projected from the heels to make them especially vicious in appearance. Close has commented on how demanding the slapstick physicality of the role was while wearing nail-heeled boots and corsets. She was always smoking to give the appearance of a mysterious "villain".
In 102 Dalmatians
102 Dalmatians
102 Dalmatians is a 2000 live-action film, produced by Walt Disney Pictures and starring Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil. It is the sequel to 101 Dalmatians, a live-action remake of the 1961 Disney animated feature of the same name. In the film, Cruella de Vil attempts to steal puppies for her...
, while under effect of Dr. Ivan Pavlov's hypnotherapy treatment
Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is a therapy that is undertaken with a subject in hypnosis.The word "hypnosis" is an abbreviation of James Braid's term "neuro-hypnotism", meaning "sleep of the nervous system"....
, Cruella was cured of her evil habits and released from prison on parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
, three years after the events of the first film. She insisted on being called "Ella" because "Cruella sounds so ... cruel". Completely devoted to saving animals and while experiencing "doraphobia", she was scared by even the smallest sight of fur fashion, especially since she had all of her old fur clothes and Anita's drawing of Cruella in a Dalmatian puppy coat boarded up. Unfortunately, this new persona was not to last for long, since the effects of Big Ben's bells managed to undo the hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is a therapy that is undertaken with a subject in hypnosis.The word "hypnosis" is an abbreviation of James Braid's term "neuro-hypnotism", meaning "sleep of the nervous system"....
, reverting Cruella to her former self. During the "Ella" stage, Cruella quit her characteristic habits, such as wearing fur
Fur
Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...
clothing, long nails
Nail (anatomy)
A nail is a horn-like envelope covering the dorsal aspect of the terminal phalanges of fingers and toes in humans, most non-human primates, and a few other mammals. Nails are similar to claws, which are found on numerous other animals....
, extravagant hair styles, and of course, smoking
Smoking
Smoking is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco or cannabis, is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled. This is primarily practised as a route of administration for recreational drug use, as combustion releases the active substances in drugs such as nicotine and makes them...
. Once Big Ben jolted her brain waves back into Cruella, her old habits returned. At the end of the movie, she was baked into a massive cake
Cake
Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet and enriched baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape...
and arrested once again; this time sentenced to life in prison, and her entire fortune went to 2nd Chance Dog Shelter.
Animated series
In the 101 Dalmatians animated series, Cruella was voiced by April WinchellApril Winchell
April Terri Winchell is an American actress, writer, voice actor, talk radio host, and commentator. She is the daughter of the late Paul Winchell.-Acting:...
and was based on Glenn Close's portrayal from the live-action film, but with Betty Lou Gerson's design from the animated film. She appears to be a vegetarian in the show, therefore did not wear clothes made out of animals, nor smoked (although in the episode "Smoke Detectors" she did) and is totally sane. Her villainous plot in the show was to steal the Dearlys' farm from them, and using the puppies as a ransom
Ransom
Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved.In an early German law, a similar concept was called bad influence...
, mainly because the old widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
Smedly would not sell it to her and that her mother Malevola demands it. She is an archetypal corporate villain who will seize on any scheme to make money, including drilling oil from the swamp near Dearly farm (thereby polluting it), buying Kanine Krunchies and replacing the nutritious ingredients with sawdust and chalk or sending Jasper and Horace to drive out the owners of Mom and Pop's Grocery Store so she can buy it herself.
In the Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
episode, "A Christmas Cruella", since she was a child, Cruella wanted a dalmatian puppy, but her parents always go on vacations
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
, leaving her with a foreign nanny and clothes for gifts. During her teens, was the final straw which gave her her half white hairline in her fury (earlier, she is seen with all black hair and a slight gray-ish streak). Her miserable childhood is what drove her to evil.
The series is also the first time Cruella uses seduction as one of her evil schemes. In the series finale, she uses an inflatable body suit to disguise herself as a sexy blonde bikini surfer to seduce Roger to make Anita think he is cheating her so they will split up and she can get the farm. When Anita goes swimming, she makes her move on him. She asks him to go swimming with her and then tries to kiss him, but her suit is deflated by the puppies' chicken friend, and she turns into a surfboard.
Broadway musical
Cruella also appears as the primary antagonist in the Broadway musical based on the novel. The character was portrayed by Rachel YorkRachel York
Rachel York is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles in City of Angels, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Les Misérables, Victor Victoria, Kiss Me, Kate, Sly Fox, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels...
; however, the actress announced on her blog that she had stepped down from the role of Cruella de Vil to pursue other projects. The role has been taken over by Sara Gettelfinger
Sara Gettelfinger
Sara Gettelfinger is American actress, singer, and dancer.-Early life and education:Gettelfinger was raised in Kentucky and Jeffersonville, Indiana. She graduated from the Youth Performing Arts School at duPont Manual High School in 1995...
.
In popular culture
The QueenQueen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
song "Let Me Entertain You" features the lyrics "I'll Cruella de Vil You!"
The Children 18:3
Children 18:3
Children 18:3 is a punk band from Morris, Minnesota. The band is composed of homeschooled siblings David, Lee Marie and Seth. The lead vocals are shared by David and Lee Marie with their brother Seth on the drums.-Formation and debut album:...
song "The Cruel One" is about 101 Dalmatians and mentions Cruella de Vil by name in the chorus.
The Deadsy
Deadsy
Deadsy is an American synth rock band from California. The band is known for its visual iconography and signature characteristics assigned to each band member. Each musician is identified by a specific color, stage name, and graphic tied into the band's theatrical nature. The band has released...
song "Cruella" is written about Cruella de Vil to honor her memory because of the fact that she was shot by a mysterious assassin in "Who Shot Cruella De Vil?" [Part 1].
The Spanish singer Alaska
Alaska (singer)
Alaska is a Spanish - Mexican singer, dj, and TV personality famous in Spain and Latin America. She was of the main characters in the so called Movida the cultural movement following the Franco dictatorship in Spain...
made a song called "Cruella de Vil" for the 101 Dalmatians Live-action film.
Teen singer and actress Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez
Selena Marie Gomez is an American actress and singer best known for portraying Alex Russo in the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel television series Wizards of Waverly Place...
redid the song, based on the song from Disney's 101 Dalmatians.
American singer and performer Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
dressed up as Cruella de Vil for Halloween in 2010. The performer has had many outfits inspired by the villain.
Parodies
In The SimpsonsThe Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode, "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds
Two Dozen and One Greyhounds
"Two Dozen and One Greyhounds" is the 20th episode of The Simpsons sixth season and originally aired on April 9, 1995. The episode was written by Mike Scully and directed by Bob Anderson. Frank Welker guest stars as Santa's Little Helper and various other dogs. In the episode, Santa's Little Helper...
", Mr. Burns plays the role of Cruella De Vil, who was authentically assassinated, but unlike her in the movies, where she steals the dalmatian
Dalmatian (dog)
The Dalmatian is a breed of dog whose roots are often said to trace back to Dalmatia, a region of Croatia where the first illustrations of the dog have been found. The Dalmatian is noted for its unique black- or brown-spotted coat and was mainly used as a carriage dog in its early days...
puppies to make them into fur coats, he steals Santa's Little Helper
Santa's Little Helper
Santa's Little Helper is a recurring character in the American animated television series The Simpsons. He is the pet greyhound of the Simpson family. The dog was introduced in the first episode of the show, the 1989 Christmas special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", in which his owner abandons...
and his girlfriend's greyhound puppies to make them into a tuxedo
Tuxedo
A tuxedo is a type of semi-formal dress for men.Tuxedo may also refer to:-Places:Canada* Tuxedo, Winnipeg, Manitoba, a city neighborhood** Tuxedo , a provincial electoral district in Manitoba...
. And unlike Cruella, who has no hesitation in killing the puppies, Burns cannot bear to kill the puppies himself because they are too cute. Instead, he decides to train them to be world-class racing dogs.
Coco LaBouche from 2000's Rugrats in Paris is a parody of Cruella.
External links
- Cruella de Vil at the UltimateDisney.com Villains Countdown
- Cruella de Vil at the Disney Archives