She may not be the most charismatic Disney villain, but she is certainly the most glamorous, a fashion icon, the demon of animalists and anyone with a little heart. Cruella has appeared in more movies and series than you can imagine and, therefore, today we show you all the actresses who have played Cruella de Vil over time. And they are more than meets the eye.
Not many know, but 101 Dalmatians , the classic animated film, is based on a children’s novel by author Dodie Smith . She imagined Cruella de Vil for the first time, but it would be Disney that engraved her on everyone’s mind.
And those in charge of bringing it to life over time, in movies and series of real action or animation, have been these eight actresses , which we show you in chronological order.
1. Betty Lou Gerson, the first Cruella de Vil
The pioneer and the original. American actress Betty Lou Gerson voiced the unforgettable character in the 1961 classic film. It is also the first adaptation to be made of the novel and Gerson received the Disney Legend Award in 1996 for his entire career.
Before Cruella, she had been the narrator of the 1950 film Cinderella. Later, she would also act, with voice and body, in Mary Poppins (1964) and, curiously, in the horror film The Fly . Not in the unforgettable 80s with Jeff Goldblum under Cronenberg and his fetishes, but in the first version from 1958.
2. Glenn Close, the most glamorous Cruella
It would take 35 years for another actress to don Cruella’s coats, but it was worth it. Glenn Close was the actress in charge of bringing it to life in the first live-action film adaptation of 101 Dalmatians .
Her performance was so celebrated that she was nominated for best actress at the Golden Globes , but did not win, which is in addition to her eight Oscar nominations, of which she has not won any so far.
An injustice, but at least the movie was a success for Disney. So much so that four years later, Close would reprise the role of Cruella in the sequel : 102 Dalmatians .
3. April Winchell, Disney’s best known voice
April Winchell is the third actress to play Cruella de Vil. Or rather, she gave voice only, since she was in charge of dubbing the villain in 101 Dalmatians: The series . It was the first adaptation of the story made for television and aired in the late 1990s.
Winchell is probably the voice that Americans have heard the most in Disney productions , since he has played hundreds of roles in a multitude of series and animated films, inaugurating his record with the great and disturbing Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
4. Susanne Blakeslee, Cruella’s most common voice
We continue with voice actresses who lend their voice to Cruella de Vil. In this case, Susanne Blakeslee is one of the actresses who has done the most of Cruella , since she is the official voice of the evil one since 2001.
Animated films, series, video games and everything for which Cruella de Vil needs a voice and is minimally modern, is usually done by this actress.
5. Wendy Raquel Robinson, the first Cruella of color
Robinson was the first black actress to play the role in Descendants , a 2015 television movie produced by the Disney Channel.
The truth is that, although not much is known here, the film was a tremendous success, with an audience of more than six and a half million viewers in the United States when it first aired.
In fact, it was so popular, it even had two sequels and an animated spin-off.
6. Victoria Smurfit, the Cruella from Once Upon a Time
Victoria Smurfit has the honor of embodying Cruella in one of the most curious and unknown appearances of this evil fashion icon, especially if you have not seen this series or do not know what it is about.
Cruella de Vil appeared as a character in Once Upon a Time , whose main premise is to mix the folklore of fairy tales, and their fantastic characters, with current reality.
As a curiosity, she was not the only Disney villain to go through the series. The evil Ursula from The Little Mermaid and Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty also appeared as flesh and blood characters in other episodes.
7. Michelle Gomez, return to animation
Michelle Gomez is a Scottish actress who voiced Cruella de Vil in 2019, in the series 101 Dalmatian Street , a British production.
This story is set almost 60 years after the original film. In it, all the Dalmatians have a name that begins with the letter D and they live unsupervised in a large house of a multimillionaire who has gone to live on an island.
The name of that rich woman? Dodie Smith, in honor of the author of the original novel.
8. Emma Stone, the last Cruella
The latest incarnation of Cruella de Vil looks like Emma Stone and is very recent.
Released in May 2021, Cruella is a story focused on the origins of the villain, in the vein of other Disney hits of this type, such as Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent.
In it, we immerse ourselves in the story of Estella Miller, a girl gifted for fashion, but with a cruel side , who leads her mother to nickname her Cruella. Once again, Disney’s obsession with explaining the origin of the names of its characters, which no one has asked of it and takes away all the aura of enigma and mystery that they have. Does anyone remember the scene from the movie Solo ? I guess not, because I must have been one of the only three people in the world who suffered it, unfortunately.