Marcellite Garner

Marcellite Garner (February 17, 1910 – July 26, 1993) was an American artist and voice actress. She is most remembered as the first regular voice of Minnie Mouse during her time working at Walt Disney Productions and has been partially credited with defining Minnie's personality.

Garner started working at Walt Disney Productions on February 17, 1930 after interviewing the previous year. She worked in the ink and paint department, first working as a cel painter and later as an inker. The studio at the time was a small organization of about 35 employees. After Garner had been working about six months, she auditioned for the voice of Minnie Mouse at the studio's sound stage, then located on Melrose Avenue. Because Minnie was to play a Mexican in the upcoming film The Cactus Kid, Burt Gillett had asked the Ink and Paint department, which was entirely women, if anyone could speak Spanish. Only Garner and another woman responded, and when the other woman was unwilling to sing, Garner was cast for the role. She went on to voice Minnie in more than 40 films over a decade. Occasionally Garner also provided additional voices, such as cat meows (Three Orphan Kittens, Lend a Paw), dog barking, and crowd noises. During the Disney animators' strike of 1941, Garner shot home video of the picket lines in color. Some of this footage appears in the 2001 documentary Walt – The Man Behind the Myth. Garner was sympathetic to the studio during the strike, commenting "I couldn't see that we were not being treated fairly. People weren't so union oriented then I guess." She described the atmosphere at the studio as "one big family" before the studio was unionized. Garner worked at the Disney studio off and on for 12 years, during which she also did work for some other studios, including Walter Lantz Productions. In 1941 she permanently quit her job at Disney to devote more time to her children.

Filmography

 * The Cactus Kid (1930)
 * The Fire Fighters (1930)
 * The Shindig (1930)
 * The Gorilla Mystery (1930)
 * The Picnic (1930)
 * Pioneer Days (1930)
 * The Birthday Party (1931)
 * Traffic Troubles (1931)
 * The Delivery Boy (1931)
 * Mickey Steps Out (1931)
 * Blue Rhythm (1931)
 * The Barnyard Broadcast (1931)
 * The Beach Party (1931)
 * Mickey Cuts Up (1931)
 * Mickey's Orphans (1931)
 * The Grocery Boy (1932)
 * Barnyard Olympics (1932)
 * Mickey's Revue (1932)
 * Musical Farmer (1932)
 * Mickey in Arabia (1932)
 * Mickey's Nightmare (1932)
 * King Neptune (1932)
 * The Whoopee Party (1932)
 * The Wayward Canary (1932)
 * The Klondike Kid (1932)
 * Building a Building (1933)
 * Mickey's Pal Pluto (1933)
 * Mickey's Mellerdrammer (1933)
 * Ye Olden Days (1933)
 * The Mail Pilot (1933)
 * Mickey's Mechanical Man (1933)
 * Mickey's Gala Premiere (1933)
 * Puppy Love (1933)
 * The Steeplechase (1933)
 * The Pet Store (1933)
 * Giantland (1933)
 * Shanghaied (1934)
 * Camping Out (1934)
 * Mickey's Steamroller (1934)
 * Two-Gun Mickey (1934)
 * On Ice (1935)
 * Three Orphan Kittens (1935)
 * Mickey's Rival (1936)
 * Hawaiian Holiday (1937)
 * Boat Builders (1938)
 * Brave Little Tailor (1938)
 * Mickey's Surprise Party (1939)
 * The Little Whirlwind (1941)
 * The Nifty Nineties (1941)
 * Lend a Paw (1941)