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Original Tinker Bell Model Margaret Kerry, 96, Is Still Tap-Dancing

In new interviews, she explains how animators built the 1953 character from her performances using entirely hand-done, pre-digital methods.

Overview

  • People reports Kerry recently took the stage at Mayberry Days to tap dance to The Andy Griffith Show theme.
  • She served as the live-action reference for Tinker Bell in Peter Pan, with animator Marc Davis telling her, “We want her to be you.”
  • Kerry describes being filmed on 35mm as animators selected key frames that Davis refined before in-betweeners drew the motion by hand.
  • She notes the labor involved, citing hundreds of thousands of drawings for the film, and says she infused the character with dancer-like movement.
  • Accounts differ on how long her reference work lasted, with reports citing six months or nine months at Disney Studios.