The Gray-Furred-Kitten Berlioz

**Berlioz** is a major character in Disney's 1970 animated feature film, *The Aristocats*. He is a gray-furred kitten, the youngest son of Duchess, and brother of Toulouse and Marie.

## Relationships

### Other Known Relations

Duchess (mother)Thomas O'Malley (stepfather)

## Background

### Personality

Berlioz is usually very quiet, but mischievous. He enjoys playing the piano, as seen when Duchess asks him to practice his *Scales and Arpeggios* with his sister Marie. He isn't easy to impress and can be annoyed rather quickly, usually he's the first to make a snide look or comment toward things he doesn't like. Still, he's shown to be just as naive and sweet-natured as his siblings.

### Physical appearance

Berlioz has blue eyes, dark grey fur (practically dark green fur) with a lighter stomach. He also wears a small red ribbon around his neck that is tied but sometimes falls apart. Being a kitten, he's fairly small.

## Biography

### .

Berlioz first appears in *The Aristocats* during the opening credits, which display some of the scenes that he will appear in later. **Berlioz is next seen during the carriage ride during the beginning of the movie, where he rides on Frou-Frou's head. At the end of the carriage ride, his mother, Duchess, reminds him to thank Frou-Frou for letting him ride on her head. After asking how his thank you was, Duchess comments, "That was very nice."** Later, Berlioz is in a race with his siblings to see who goes through the front door first. When Marie states that she has the right of way, Berlioz sides with Toulouse's argument that Marie isn't a lady, even going as far to say that she is "nothing but a sister." Soon, Berlioz ends up in a fight with his sister (with Toulouse encouraging his brother from the sidelines). Berlioz tickle tortures Marie but ends up receiving punishment when his sister refuses to fight fair by tugging at his bow tie. Eventually, the fight ends when Toulouse accidentally knocks down a candle, which lands on Marie's head. Duchess comes in to break up the fighting, insisting that fighting would not make them sophisticated (stating later that "Aristocrats do not practice biting and clawing and things like that"). Berlioz insists that Marie started it, while Marie retaliates, "Ladies do not start fights, but they can finish them!" **Soon enough, it is time for the family to concern themselves with self-improvement. While Toulouse goes to practice painting, Berlioz and Marie go to the piano to practice their music. Though there is a brief tiff between Berlioz and Marie when (thanks to Berlioz's piano-playing) Marie gets her tail squished, the fight ends and "Scales and Arpeggios" begins. Berlioz gets a little show-offish and, after Toulouse decides to join in on the playing, Berlioz and he end up in a piano battle that ends in a draw.** Later that evening he and his family are enjoying their dinner when they fall asleep. After a bump ride, he lands in a pond while the chase is still continuing. He and his family later encounter Thomas for the first time. They go on a few adventures with him on a milk van and on a train bridge. Later the cats encounter Scat Cat and his friends and party. **An while later, they return to the mansion but their door is locked. They try to meow their way in but get captured by Edgar. The sack is sent into an old oven where Toulouse brags to his siblings that he was right that Edgar tried to get rid of them which annoys him and Marie. He and his family get rescued by the musician cats and watch as a defeated Edgar is mailed to Timbuktu instead of them. He is seen getting a picture taken then running downstairs to join the party.**

## Trivia

* Berlioz was named after the French romantic composer Hector Berlioz.
	+ His Italian name is "Bizet", a reference to the musician/composer Georges Bizet.
* Berlioz resembles a younger version of Scat Cat. However, Scat Cat is grey with white patches around his eyes and nose, and Berlioz is completely grey, but they both wear the same red ribbons.
* In some books, Berlioz is misidentified as his brother Toulouse, and vice versa.
* In one of the books, Berlioz is referred to as "Berly" for short.