Sleepy

**Sleepy** is one of the seven dwarfs from the 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

## Background

### Development

Though designing the dwarfs was relatively easy, animating them proved to be difficult, as the animators, already finding human figures difficult to animate, now had to animate 'ill-formed' human figures. Vladimir Tytla noted that the dwarfs should walk with a swing to their hips, and Fred Moore commented that the dwarfs had to move a little more quickly to keep up with the human characters. In order to establish Sleepy's character during the march home in "Heigh Ho", George Stalling noted traits specific to the character, to be taken into account in the animation: A drawing by Albert Hurter of Sleepy with his mouth wide open in a yawn inspired animator Fred Moore to be more extreme in Sleepy's animation. Moore made sure that, on every animation drawing of Sleepy, one eye was larger than the other, or one eye was more squashed than the other, to suggest the dwarf's perpetual weariness.

At a story meeting of October 3, 1934, the suggestion was made that Sleepy bring an end to the conflict between the fly and himself by trapping the fly in Snow White's glass coffin.

### Personality

True to his name, Sleepy is always weary, droopy-eyed, and is always eager to fall asleep. Most of the scenes featuring Sleepy showcases the drowsy dwarf struggling to keep awake in the midst of a colourful event taking place.

Though usually stricken with laziness, he is a hard worker, but also a bit of a bumbler, as he often finds himself falling into accidental physical harm due to his lack of quick motion, such as whacking a deer's hide trying to catch a fly or smacking himself with a cymbal doing the same.

However, in spite of spending most of his time nearly falling asleep, Sleepy is apparently the most observant and logical of the seven dwarfs, whether he knows it or not. He was the only dwarf to make the correct assumption that the Evil Queen may be attacking Snow White at the cottage when the forest animals frantically interrupted the dwarfs' mine work.

## Film Appearances

### Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Sleepy is first introduced, with all the other dwarfs, at the Dwarfs' Mine. He controls the mine cart, transporting the diamonds mined, to their leader Doc, who then sorts them. The cart is pulled by a deer. At one point the fly pesters Sleepy, who, in an attempt to swat it, he accidentally hits the deer's backside; this causes the deer to kick the cart several times, sending Sleepy flying. As the dwarfs' march home, singing "Heigh-Ho", Sleepy is fourth in line, behind Happy and in front of Bashful. He is the only other dwarf beside Dopey not to join in the singing, as he is too tired.

When the seven dwarfs reach their cottage, they think that a monster has taken up residence in their house. They sneak into the cottage (with Dopey peeking through Sleepy's beard) and search the room. The dwarfs note that the cottage has been cleaned. They decide that whatever is in the cottage is upstairs, and Doc declares that one of them must go upstairs to chase it out of the house. Dopey is elected, and Doc, his hand shaking, gives Dopey the candle. Dopey is so terrified upon entering the bedroom that, when he hears a noise coming from the beds, he screams and rushes downstairs. The other dwarfs think that he is the monster and rush outside, locking the door. Dopey falls into the kitchen and emerges from the cottage, covered in pots and pans. When the other dwarfs see him, they, thinking that he is the monster, start hitting him. When they realize that it is Dopey, they decide to venture into the bedroom. They are about to strike whatever is sleeping in their beds when they realize that it is the princess, Snow White. Grumpy begins to complain, and Doc attempts to silence him, but Snow White is woken up. She manages to match the name at the foot of each bed to the correct dwarf, identifying Sleepy third.

Eventually, it is agreed that Snow White will clean and cook for the dwarfs if she is allowed to stay. She prepares soup for them but demands that they wash first. The dwarfs reluctantly march outside. Here, the dwarfs, led by Doc, when Sneezy dips his finger in the water, he blubbers shocking that it's wet and cold. Sleepy and the other dwarfs except for Grumpy, then wash while singing "Bluddle-Uddle-Um-Dum (The Dwarfs' Washing Song)". Next to Sleepy, the fly can be seen washing on the soap. Grumpy refuses to wash, but the other dwarfs, led by Doc, to drag him to the water and wash him thoroughly. Later that evening, after supper, the seven dwarfs entertain Snow White with "The Silly Song"; to begin with, Sleepy is once again bothered by the Fly, and attempts to hit it with a cymbal, succeeding only in striking himself in the process. After they finish the song, the dwarfs listen to Snow White sing "Some Day My Prince Will Come", which sends every dwarf, except the stubborn Grumpy, into a dream-like state. Doc declares that Snow White will sleep in the bedroom upstairs, and the dwarfs must sleep downstairs. As Sleepy settles down next to the fireplace, where Grumpy is sleeping in the kettle, the fly sleeps on his nose.

The next morning, as each dwarf leaves, he is kissed by Snow White. While the dwarfs head to the mine, the Queen, as the Witch, makes her way to the cottage, knowing that only Snow White will be at home. Upon her arrival at the cottage, the animals sense danger and, after attempting to drive her away, rush to the mine to fetch the dwarfs, where they try to warn them. When Sleepy suggests that the Queen has found Snow White, the dwarfs rush home to find that the Witch has succeeded in poisoning the princess and is about to leave. Enraged, the dwarfs chase the Witch into the mountains, and she reaches a cliff. She attempts to crush the dwarfs with a boulder, but a flash of lightning causes her to fall from the cliff and be crushed by the boulder herself.

The seven dwarfs mourn Snow White's death; Sleepy is shown silently weeping with Bashful and Sneezy. The dwarfs find her to be so beautiful, even in death, that they fashion a coffin from glass and place her inside. The Prince arrives, and the dwarf’s part so that he can approach Snow White. He kisses her, breaking the spell of the Sleeping Death, and the dwarf’s cheer. Before Snow White leaves with the Prince, she kisses each dwarf on the forehead (Sleepy was never shown being kissed on the forehead, but possibly was last).

### Short Films

#### The Winged Scourge

In 1943's educational short, Sleepy and the dwarfs are enlisted in helping rid their forest and cottage home of deadly mosquitoes that can spread the harmful disease malaria. Throughout the animated short, the dwarfs give examples of the precautions necessary to keep people safe from the spreading crises and ensure safety.

## Television Appearances

### The 7D

Sleepy serves as one of the main protagonists in the animated series, protecting the Jollywood Kingdom, ruled by Queen Delightful, from the Glooms alongside his brothers. He's often seen sleeping on the job and doesn't do much to further the plot of the story, in most cases. He also speaks with a droll, mellow tone and has a tendency to sleepwalk or sleep-work. His most prized possession is his stuffed plush, Mr. Hicklepips, and he loves it so much that he goes crazy without it, as seen in the episode Nicely Done and The 7D.

Sleepy's current voice actor, Bill Farmer, who voices him since 1994, doesn't voice him in the series, lending his voice to Doc instead. This time, Stephen Stanton, Happy's voice actor since 2007, lends his voice to Sleepy, while Happy is voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson instead.

Like with the other dwarfs, his nose is longer, but his design was mostly unchanged in comparison: while everyone else now have a unique hair, beard and eyebrow colour, he's the only one to have white hair and beard like in the original movie, and the same goes for his eyebrows, which are also white, like Happy's in the movie. His prototype appearance in the series is almost unchanged from his final design, except that his hat had a less pointed tip and the stripes on his clothes were more numerous and smaller. Like the other dwarfs, he also has unique clothing on, and in his case, it consists of a blue-striped pyjamas, a nightcap of the same colour and grey shoes. In Once in a Purple Moon, where the dwarfs magically change when the moon changes colour, Sleepy becomes the opposite of his personality and obsessed by caffeine when the moon turns yellow. In this form, his pyjamas are opened, exposing a white shirt and a red tie, his eyes are bloodshot and his hat has a straight shape.

Two episodes in the series, Gnome Alone and Sleepytime, revolve around Sleepy. In the former, the Glooms trick everyone (except for Sleepy, who overslept) in taking a vacation, but after the dwarfs find out that Sleepy was not with them, they go back home and find out that the Glooms have been here. Sleepy then manages to stop them before they could take over Jollywood. In the latter, because of a spell casted by Hildy Gloom, everyone except for Sleepy and Sir Yipsalot, the Queen's pet dog, fall asleep. They then seek in the Glooms's lair and find out that the only way of breaking the spell is climb the top of the tallest mountain and yell the magic words STOP SNOOZING, EVERYONE! before the sun sets, or it will be permanent. Remembering the advice of the other dwarfs, Sleepy manages to reach the top and break the spell. After successfully saving the kingdom, he's rewarded with a special trophy and celebrated as a hero by his brothers, before falling asleep himself.

### Mickey Mouse

Sleepy made an appearance in the episode "Wish Upon a Coin". He and the other dwarfs are first seen depositing coins into a wishing well, which are soon stolen by Pete, causing Sleepy and the other dwarfs to fall into panic. Mickey Mouse heads after Pete and manages to retrieve the coins, settling Sleepy and the other dwarfs and fulfilling their wishes (which is revealed to be a wish to have a head of hair). At one point, following the coin theft, Minnie Mouse tripped over a resting Sleepy during her pursuit of Pete.

### Once Upon a Time

Sleepy is a member of the War Council and was seen aside Grumpy guarding Snow White's castle in "Pilot". In Storybrooke, he is Walter, a security guard who works at Storybrooke Hospital and occasionally dozes off on the job. He is also the Dwarfs Designated Driver, and he falls asleep during that too. A night after a dinner party, Walter drives down a road as Leroy sits beside him in the front passenger seat. Leroy warns him to be careful steering the car. Annoyed, Walter reminds him that he's the designated driver, so he'll drive as he likes. After a moment passes, Walter unexpectedly falls asleep at the wheel. Shocked, Leroy attempts to regain control of the swerving vehicle. Up ahead on the road, the car nearly collides into a woman, but she freezes the entire van into ice which was created by Elsa.

## Other Appearances

Sleepy appeared in the 1941 wartime short, Seven Wise Dwarfs, in which he and the other dwarfs invest the proceeds of their diamond mine into Canadian War Bonds.

In "This is Your Life, Donald Duck", Sleepy and the other dwarfs were amongst the Disney characters present for the finale.

In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Sleepy is seen with the other dwarfs when Eddie Valiant crashed into Toontown.

Sleepy makes a brief cameo in Flubber, along with Bashful and Grumpy, appearing on Weebo the Robot's video monitor, which showcased a scene from the film.

Sleepy made plenty of (usually) non-speaking cameos in House of Mouse, always seen with the other dwarfs. He was also seen falling asleep in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse.

In the Teacher's Pet movie, Sleepy appears in the song "Ivan Krank"; when Dr. Ivan Krank says "he stands on the shoulders of giants", he is standing on the seven dwarfs.

Sleepy made a cameo appearance at the end of The Lion King 1½, where he was entering the theatre to enjoy the film with other Disney characters. His only words were "Excuse me."

## Disney Parks

Sleepy is a rare character when it comes to meet-and-greet sessions, but even so, he and the other dwarfs are commonly utilized in the Disney theme parks. He wears an amber outfit with a fuchsia hat, green pants, and orange shoes.

### Disneyland Resort

Sleepy appears as an animatronic, performing "The Silly Song" in Snow White's Scary Adventures and as a statue in Snow White Grotto.

Sleepy and the other dwarfs were also prominently featured in the 2015 rendition of World of Color, during the segment honouring Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

### Walt Disney World Resort

Sleepy appeared as part of The Disney Inn logo from 1986 to 1996.

An animatronic Sleepy is featured sleeping in the mines in Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

For live appearances, Sleepy can be found in the Festival of Fantasy Parade at the Magic Kingdom. He also makes appearances during the seasonal events, Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.

Sleepy also makes an appearance in the bubble montage at Disney's Hollywood Studios' version of Fantasmic!. During it, he can be heard yawning as usual.

### Tokyo Disney Resort

Sleepy can currently be found in Fantasyland in Tokyo Disneyland for meet-and-greets.

### Shanghai Disneyland

Sleepy appears alongside the other dwarfs during Golden Fairytale Fanfare, as well as Mickey's Storybook Express.