Last year, I had written a post about characters who share the same voice actors, and Kathryn Beaumont was the first on my list. I remember seeing her in One Hour in Wonderland (1950), a television special that was Walt’s first television production. She was introduced near the beginning, and she introduced the audience to Bobby Driscoll, the voice of Peter Pan. At the time, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan were in production, with Alice in Wonderland premiering only 7 months after this television special. The purpose was to promote the film, get people excited about it, and introduce the young people to Kathryn: the voices of Alice and Wendy.

Kathryn Beaumont’s Childhood

Kathryn was born on June 27th, 1938, in London, England. She had grown up surrounded by the entertainment business, as her mother was a professional dancer, and her father was a musician. She was scouted at just 5 years old and landed her first gig as a young girl in It Happened One Sunday (1944). Her next role was with MGM, when they spotted and contracted her out in the US to work with them. She had a small role in On an Island With You (1948), The Secret Garden (1949), and Challenge to Lassie (1949).

She had only done small, uncredited roles up to this point, and was looking for her big child star break. However, one of her costars in The Secret Garden, Margaret O’Brien, was experiencing her big break and almost overshadowed Beaumont’s career completely.

Alice in Wonderland Auditions

After Challenge to Lassie’s production closed, Kathryn was out of a job with MGM. The same went for Margaret O’Brien, whose mother accidentally made MGM release her from her contract because she threatened to leave them if they didn’t pay Margaret more. So instead, MGM terminated the contract with Margaret.

She had already made her place in the film industry as a famous child star, so working with Disney was already a given. When Walt began auditioning young girls for the lead voice role of Alice in Alice in Wonderland, he wanted a girl who had an English accent to compliment the English literature, but not enough so that it became a British film. One of Walt’s first choices was Margaret, but not long after he announced that she would play the title role, he realized his choice wasn’t so wise for the studio. Her British accent was heavily criticized by the public after her time on The Secret Garden, and her mother once again demanded that the studio pay more than what was offered. Just 4 days after the studio announced she would play the role, she was withdrawn from the role and it was given to Kathryn Beaumont. Although Kathryn didn’t have the film credits that Margaret did, she had the right voice, right mannerisms, and Disney could be her first big break. And it was.

Kathryn Beaumont and Walt Disney. Image from: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/26810560258312756/

Alice in Wonderland (1951) Production

The development and writing for the film began as early as 1946, and it was occurring at the same time as the production of Cinderella. Whichever film progressed faster would be the first film of Disney’s “Silver Age” Era, that ultimately ended up saving the studio. Cinderella progressed faster and was released in 1950, with Alice in Wonderland trailing after in 1951. During production, Kathryn voiced the role of Alice and was also the live-action reference model to assist animators in creating realistic movements in their drawings. Sometimes these movements turned out to be a lot of work for Kathryn at 12 years old, spinning, dropping and flying to make the mad film come to life.

Alice in Wonderland Release

Alice in Wonderland was released on July 26th, 1951 in London and July 28th, 1951 in New York City. Beaumont went on a promotional tour to celebrate the film, as well as appearing in Disney’s One Hour in Wonderland. This gave audiences a chance to warm up to her as an up and coming actress, and see just why Walt picked her for the role. After the promotional aspects of the film wrapped, Disney immediately offered her the part of Wendy Darling in the upcoming film Peter Pan (1953), alongside Bobby Driscoll.

Alice in Wonderland premiere. Image from: http://vintagedisneyalice.blogspot.com/2016/07/

Peter Pan (1953) Production

Kathryn once again not only served as the voice of Wendy Darling, but also as the physical model for her. In a 2018 interview, Kathryn also recalls having to be the physical reference model for a couple of Tinkerbell scenes as well. When Kathryn wasn’t working, she was using her free time for her studies before she went off to high school after the movies wrapped. At 82 years old, Kathryn recalled a memory of her costar Bobby Driscoll:

“He was very lovely. He went to his own public school when he was not working. He had normal experiences with his peer group — just as I did.” - Kathryn Beaumont

Kathryn Beaumont as the reference model for Wendy Darling. Image from: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/309904018078573556/

After Disney

After finishing Peter Pan, Beaumont attended public high school and eventually the University of Southern California to pursue a teaching career. She states in an interview that it wasn’t the entertainment business that turned her away, but rather just her interests changing as she grew older. She continued to become an elementary school teacher for 30 years. She had not returned to Disney since then as her contract had ended, until 1983 when Howard Green reinstated the contract. Her job with Disney then was just to provide the voices for Alice and Wendy in specials, video games, park attractions, among other things.

Kathryn Beaumont is now 82 years old in 2021, still doing the odd interviews in the last few years about her time working with Walt, becoming Alice, and embracing Wendy.