Ilene Woods, voice of Disney’s Cinderella, dies at 81

The voice behind Cinderella

Ilene Woods, the sweet voice behind the title character in Walt Disney’s classic 1950 animated feature Cinderella, has died of causes related to Alzheimer’s disease Thursday at a nursing and rehabilitation center in Canoga Park. She was 81.

Woods was an 18-year-old singer on radio in 1948 when songwriter friends Jerry Livingston and Mack David, asked her to record a “demo” of a few songs they had written for Walt Disney’s Cinderella.

Woods recalled in a 2005 interview, “I did the discs for them, in a studio with a piano — ‘Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boo,’ ‘So This Is Love,’ ‘A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes’. Two days later, Walt called. He wanted me to come over and have an interview. I gladly said, ‘Yes, anytime you say.’ We met and talked for awhile, and he said, ‘How would you like to be Cinderella?’”

Out of more than 300 singers that had auditioned to be the voice of Cinderella, Woods was selected and she had no idea then that her demo recording would lead her to take part in a significant piece of Disney history.

“I loved doing the character,” she told the Houston Chronicle in 2005. “When my dad saw the movie, he said he saw me in the facial expressions, hand movements and mannerisms. Marc Davis, who animated [the Cinderella character], would watch me record and picked up on things.”

“Walt would sit down at the table with us at meals, and we discussed the movie together. It was just magical. There was a happiness and joy.” Woods apparently enjoyed working at the Disney studio.

Born on May 5, 1929 as Jacquelyn Ruth Woods in Portsmouth, N.H., she dreamed of becoming a teacher. In addition to her husband of 47 years, Ed Shaughnessy, she is survived by their son, Daniel Shaughnessy; her daughter from her first marriage, Stephanie Pagoto; and three grandchildren.