Marcellite Garner

Biography

Marcellite Garner was an American artist and voice actress who became the first regular voice of Minnie Mouse at Walt Disney Productions. Born in Redlands, California, she joined the studio in February 1930 in the ink and paint department, working as a cel painter and later an inker. Roughly six months in, she auditioned for Minnie's voice when Burt Gillett asked the all-female department for someone who could speak Spanish for The Cactus Kid, and she was cast. Over about a decade she voiced Minnie in more than 40 films, with occasional extra sounds such as cat meows in Three Orphan Kittens and Lend a Paw, dog barks and crowd noise; her last turn as Minnie came in the 1942 short Out of the Frying Pan into the Firing Line. She also worked for other studios, including Walter Lantz Productions, and later produced the comic strip El Gato for the Los Gatos Times Observer. She died in 1993.

83years old at death

Born July 3, 1910Redlands
Died July 26, 1993Grass Valley
Star sign: CancerThe sign runs June 21 to July 22
Also credited as Edna Marcellite Garner

Movie Career

Films: 5
Career span: 3 years1935 to 1938

Every film, newest first

1938Boat BuildersIMDb rating 7.1
1938Brave Little TailorIMDb rating 7.5
1937Hawaiian HolidayIMDb rating 6.8
1935On IceIMDb rating 7.2
1935The Tortoise and the HareIMDb rating 7.1

Genres

Did you know?!

Big break
For The Cactus Kid, Burt Gillett needed someone who could speak Spanish, since Minnie was to play a Mexican. He asked the all-women Ink and Paint department, and Garner got the role after the other woman who responded would not sing.
First role
Garner began at Walt Disney Productions on February 17, 1930, following an interview the year before. In the ink and paint department she was first a cel painter and later an inker, at a studio of about 35 employees.
Behind the camera
Garner filmed the picket lines in color during the 1941 Disney animators' strike, and that footage was later used in the 2001 documentary Walt - The Man Behind the Myth.