Tom Cruise, The Beatles And Other Real People Who Inspired Popular Disney Characters

Walt Disney Pictures is the creator of some of the most popular TV and movie characters in history. From Mickey Mouse to Snow White to Moana, these characters are adorably unique in their own ways and represent stories that people of all ages and all walks of life can relate to.

What most Disney fans do not know, however, is that many of these Disney characters were actually inspired by real people. Here are some icons of reality that inspired some of them.

Jeremy Irons (Scar)

Disney originally intended to make “Lion King” more like a Shakespearian play and wanted to make Scar as scary as he could be. So when conceptualizing the character, they took influence from Jeremy Irons, an actor known for his subtle and conniving voice and expressions.

Tom Cruise (Aladdin)

While creating Aladdin, Disney animators wanted to give the character a roguish swagger. They then thought of Tom Cruise. The character took heavy inspiration from the actor to give Aladdin the characterization that it perfectly needed. Cruise particularly inspired the eyes, the hair and the big million-dollar smile of the character.

Robin Williams (Genie)

Even before the casting for the film was decided, Disney had already put Genie’s test animation against Robin Williams’ stand-up routines as a comedian. The studio created this character to be the Robin Williams of Disney, so they designed Genie in a way that would perfectly represent Williams.

The Beatles (The Vultures)

Buzzie, Flaps, Ziggy and Dizzy, more popularly known as The Vultures in “The Jungle Book,” were inspired by the popular 1960s band The Beatles. Just by looking at their Beatle-esque designs, one can easily tell that John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were the inspirations behind these characters.

Drag Legend Divine (Ursula)

During the production of “The Little Mermaid,” animators came up with several versions of Ursula, but none of them could perfectly capture their vision for the character. Eventually, an artist named Rob Minkoff created a woman whose appearance was very similar to the drag legend Divine, and Disney found it as the perfect version of the character ever made.

Walt Disney (Mortimer Mouse)

Of all the Disney characters ever created, Mortimer Mouse is the one with the most famous inspiration. Mickey Mouse’s rat rival in the short film “Mikey’s Rival” took inspiration from Walt Disney, the father of Walt Disney Pictures himself.