page_title: Aurora (Disney)
section_title: Voice
hierarchical_section_title: Aurora (Disney) / Development / Voice
caption_attribution_description: Photo of vocalist and actress Mary Costa.
context_page_description: Princess Aurora, also known as Sleeping Beauty or Briar Rose, is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Productions' 16th animated feature film Sleeping Beauty. Originally voiced by singer Mary Costa, Aurora is the only child of King Stefan and Queen Leah. An evil fairy named Maleficent seeks revenge for not being invited to Aurora's christening and curses the newborn princess, foretelling that she will die before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday by pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel. Determined to prevent this, three good fairies raise Aurora as a peasant in order to protect her, patiently awaiting her sixteenth birthday — the day the spell can only be broken by a kiss from her true love, Prince Phillip.
  Aurora is based on the princess in Charles Perrault's fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty", as well as the heroine who appears in the Brothers Grimm's retelling of the story, "Little Briar Rose". For several years, Walt Disney had struggled to find a suitable actress to voice the princess and nearly abandoned film entirely until Costa was discovered by composer Walter Schumann.
context_section_description: Aurora is voiced by American singer Mary Costa, who was 22 years old when she was cast as the character in 1952. Costa had grown up a fan of Disney films, the first of which she saw was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. As a child, Costa adored the film so much that she would imitate Snow White by parading around her house wearing a bath towel as a makeshift cape. Costa described herself garnering the role of Aurora as simply "being in the right place at the right time." The filmmakers had long struggled to cast Aurora, having been searching for the right voice for the character for three years. Disney himself had been considering to shelving the project unless a suitable voice actress was found, insisting that the same performer provide both the character's speaking and singing voices. Costa was attending a dinner party for the entertainment industry, to which she had been invited by a friend who was hoping to introduce her to some influential people, where she performed the popular standard "When I Fall in Love". The performance was heard by film composer Walter Schumann who, impressed by her vocals, approached Costa about possibly voicing Aurora and inviting her to audition the following morning. Despite doubting that she would be cast, Costa agreed to audition mostly because she wanted to meet Walt Disney. Upon arriving at the studio the next day, composer George Bruns welcomed Costa by asking her to perform a bird call, which she did successfully. However, being from Knoxville, Tennessee, Costa's strong southern accent nearly prevented her from being cast until she proved that she could sustain a fake British accent for the entire film. The filmmakers likened the situation to English actress Vivien Leigh successfully feigning a southern accent for her role as Scarlet O'Hara in the film Gone With the Wind (1939). Within hours of her audition, Walt Disney himself contacted Costa via telephone to offer her the job, which she immediately accepted. Aurora became Costa's first major film role.
  Costa communicated with Walt Disney at least twice a week for nine months, but almost exclusively via telephone because the producer feared that her personality or physical appearance would influence his vision of Aurora if they were to meet in person too soon. They first met when Costa was recording "Once Upon a Dream", Walt's favorite song in the film. When Costa asked Walt why he decided to cast her as Aurora out of all the actresses who auditioned, the producer explained that it was because her singing voice sounded "like an extension of speech." Walt advised Costa to "paint with [her] voice", as well as refuse to let anyone demonstrate her lines for her. Walt also instructed Costa to avoid catching a cold, eat a warm meal two hours prior to her recording sessions, exercise her vocal chords, and get nine hours of sleep every night. Walt and Costa developed a special father-daughter relationship. Aurora's supervising animator Marc Davis would often observe and sketch Costa while she worked in order to incorporate her mannerisms into the character. Costa worked closely with actresses Verna Felton, Barbara Jo Allen and Barbara Luddy, the voices of Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, respectively, with whom she became good friends, while declaring the utmost respect for actress Eleanor Audley, voice of Maleficent. She also recorded with actor Bill Shirley, voice of Prince Phillip, admitting to having had a crush on him. Costa cites the scene in which Aurora and Phillip meet as her favorite. Schumann, the composer responsible for discovering Costa, eventually departed the project due to creative differences with Disney, and ultimately died before the film was completed.
  Costa's singing voice is a combination of classical and pop singing. Aurora's songs were recorded within the first year of production. Costa would practice her songs live with the orchestra before recording them. After working on the film for three years, Costa finally finished recording in 1955, long before the film was completed; it would take the animators another severa
caption: Aurora is voiced by American singer Mary Costa, who feigned a British accent for the role.
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