There are many folks who do not know that I actually spoke words in the Disney film Peter Pan. It was not the voice of Tinker Bell but the voice of the red-headed mermaid!

"Oh, Peter, we're soooo glad to see you!" That was one of the lines I recorded for the picture. And that changed the direction of my career to voice-over acting.

The live-action pantomiming for the mermaid was the same as the live-action reference model for Disney's Tinker Bell for Marc Davis. But it was the voice-over recording that got me thinking. Let's see. In voice-over work you stand in front of a microphone, speak the lines of an animated character which you don't have to memorize, you never have to put on stage make-up or worry about your hair. You don't even have to be fitted for a costume.

You grab a script as you stroll into the sound studio. You're cast in a part (or parts). You study the character's model sheets and the storyboard and you give-it-a-go. If the director thinks its should be done another way, well, they've lots of audio tape.
You're usually done in about two to three hours and you've had fun along the way. It was a voice-over actress's life for me. I recorded over 600 episodes in several TV animated series. I still record radio commercials today. I love it.

Back to the photo. The top image shows the live-action work from a still taken during the filming. Note the camera crew in the foreground. Decked out in a green costume, Roland Dupree plays Peter Pan. The three actresses are: me as the red-head, Connie Hilton as the blond in the center with the brunette portrayed by the one-and-only June Foray. Oh, you remember her. She's the voice of Rocky J. Squirrel on Rocky and Bullwinkle along with Natasha, Little Nell and Mulan's grandmother. Well, I could go on forever. She's the queen of voice-over actresses.

The bottom half of this unique photo is a frame from Peter Pan showing how the scene actually looked after the artists drew it based on the 35mm film. It's fascinating to compare the live and the animated scene. This photo really shows the "inside" of movie making.

By the bye, although this photo has the actor's names printed between the two photos, I also hand write a line I had in the film, "Oh, Peter, we're soooo glad to see you!" And then sign my name, Margaret Kerry.

A certificate of authenticity and this story will be included when you receive your photo.