Roger Radcliffe

Roger Radcliffe (or Roger Dearly in the live-action version and TV series) is a character from Disney's 1961 film One Hundred and One Dalmatians and its sequel. Roger is the husband of Anita and owner, best friend, and "pet" to Pongo. He is voiced by Ben Wright and portrayed by Jeff Daniels in the live-action film.

Background
At the beginning of the original film, Roger is a bachelor songwriter, who lives in a small bachelor flat with Pongo. He works from home, usually not quiting work until after 5:00, and is describe by Pongo as being married to his work. As a songwriter, he is very creative, and can easily write lyrics when given proper inspiration. However, it is only at Pongo's insistence that Roger meets Anita, as Roger would have stayed a bachelor forever according to Pongo.

After his marriage, he is shown to be a kind man who cares for his family, including his pets. Roger is not afraid to stand up against Cruella when his family is involved. A scene near the end of the film shows that he is good at mental math, as he is able to tally up the number of dalmatians fairly easily.

Roger is based on the character of Mr. Dearly from the original book The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith. In the book, Mr. Dearly plays a similar role to Roger, but is a financial wizard rather than a songwriter.

One Hundred and One Dalmatians
At the beginning of the film, Roger is seen working on a song. Pongo, having grown bored with their bachelor lives, conspires to set his pet up with a girl. After seeing Anita and Perdita, Pongo decides they would be perfect, as they were both beautiful. Pongo sets the clock ahead, so that Roger believes that it is time for their walk. Roger is then forcefully dragged along as Pongo attempts to get Roger and Anita to meet. Eventually, Roger and Anita end up in the pond of the park, entangled by the leashes of their dogs. Roger attempts to apologize to the upset Anita, and the two end up laughing. A time skip shows that Roger and Anita fall in love and marry, and the two settle in a small house near the park with Pongo, Perdita, and Nanny.

Sometime later, Roger is writing a new song, but has only managed to get the melody written. He gains inspiration for lyrics after hearing the name of Cruella De Vil, Anita's former classmate. While Anita visits with her "friend," Roger writes a mocking song, relating the name to many frightening images. Three weeks later, Perdita is preparing to give birth to puppies. Roger is shown to be just as nervous as Pongo during the process, such that he jumps when Pongo licks his hand. He is initially overjoyed at the prospect of 15 puppies, but saddens after hearing that one died. However, Roger is able to revive the puppy by rubbing it. When Cruella returns, intent on buying all the puppies, Roger stands up to her, informing Cruella that they will never sell the puppies for any price. Cruella is angered to the point that she storms off, threatening to get even. However, both Anita and Nanny call him a hero.

One night, Roger and Anita take Pongo and Perdy out for a walk in the park. While they are gone, the puppies are stolen by Jasper and Horace, hired hands working for Cruella. Roger is shown to be saddened by the theft. He suspects Cruella's involvement, but neither he nor the the police are able to connect her to the crime.

That same night, while on their usual walk in the park, Roger becomes annoyed at Pongo's constant barking and forcefully drags him home, unaware that Pongo was actually passing the message of the puppies' theft through the Twilight Barking Chain.

Roger is seen near the end of the film, around Christmas time, wondering why Pongo and Perdita had run away (unknown to him, they had gone to rescue the puppies). After hearing his Cruella song on the radio, he turns it off. It is revealed by Anita that the song had become Roger's first big hit, and had brought in more money than they could dream of. When a group of "Labradors" come bursting into the home, Roger is confused, but he quickly realizes that they are actually Pongo, Perdita and the puppies. Roger soon realizes that there are more than 15 puppies, and as Anita and Nanny find puppies, he adds up the totals to reveal that there are 101 dalmatians all together. Together with Anita, he decides to use the royalties from his song writing to buy a country home big enough to keep all the puppies.

101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure
Roger is shown packing up for their move to their new country home when, seeing the spots from the large number of puppies inspires him to write a new song "Seeing Spots". Later, after moving to the country home, Roger is trying to adjust to his new life when he notices the newspaper showing a photo that includes Patch, causing him to realize that they have accidentally left the puppy behind during the move, and the adults frantically travel back to London in their car to retrieve him. They succeed in doing do at the end of the film. During the credits, a newspaper clipping shows that Roger's new song "Seeing Spots" wins him an award on music.

101 Dalmatians (1996 film)
In the live-action remake of "101 Dalmatians", Roger's last name is changed to "Dearly". Here, he is the main protagonist and is an American citizen, but he lives in a British flat (the British word for "apartment") with Pongo. His goal is to make a good video game. In the end he makes one starring the Dalmatian puppies with Cruella as the main antagonist. This proves to be a huge success and he is able to move with his family to a large mansion in the country.

101 Dalmatians: The Series
Roger appears in the series along with Anita and Nanny. He is always aware of Cruella's evil schemes to get him to give up the farm.

Trivia

 * In the first animated film, Roger shares the same speaking voice actor with Grimsby of The Little Mermaid, known as Ben Wright, but his singing voice is done by Bill Lee of the Mellowmen.
 * Roger's last name, Radcliffe, is changed to Dearly for the live action remake of the film.