- “The most beautiful creature on four legs!”
- ―Pongo describing Perdita
Perdita is the female protagonist of the 1961 Disney animated feature film One Hundred and One Dalmatians. She is the pet of Anita, mate of Pongo, and the birth mother of 15 Dalmatian puppies as well as the adoptive mother of 84 more Dalmatian puppies.
Background[]
Personality[]
Perdita is very well-mannered, elegant, and radiant: a complete foil to Pongo's goofy nature. She is also rather stern and appears to be a tad more prominent when it comes to disciplining her puppies, as well as the rascally Pongo.
Despite her well-coordinated nature, Perdita tends to be incredibly worrisome in hectic situations and prefers to avoid oncoming conflict by leaving the scene, as shown when Cruella visits. She is also rather observant and appears able to sense nearby danger, being the only one to expect Cruella's villainy even before the kidnapping of her children. A complete contrast to the optimistic Pongo, Perdita's worries can often escalate to pessimism, only to be put to rest by the always headstrong and relentless Pongo.
Even so, Perdita is a fierce warrior and will jump into battle if the situation calls for it. Like Pongo, her primary concerns are her puppies. As such, she has shown to willingly abandon her usual guidelines of self-composure for the sake of her family.
Appearances[]
One Hundred and One Dalmatians[]
In the original film, Pongo is searching for decent mates for himself and his pet Roger Radcliffe. Pongo is close to giving up when he spots Perdita and her pet, Anita. Pongo rushes to the park to follow them. Perdita spots Pongo and is seemingly attracted to him, but tries to look as if she doesn't notice him. Perdita and Anita soon leave and Pongo tries a trick to attract their attention. At first, it seems as if it failed and Perdita is mad at Pongo for making Anita wet. But as Roger and Anita talk more, they fall in love. Perdita falls in love with Pongo as well.
Perdita soon becomes pregnant with puppies but becomes frightened when the family receives a visit from Cruella De Vil, whom she refers to as "that devil woman". Perdita hides but is able to hear Cruella's desire for the puppies. She then breaks into sobs and regrets having puppies due to Cruella wanting them. Unfortunately for Perdita, the puppies arrive three weeks later on a stormy evening in October, where it is revealed that she has had fifteen puppies. She is tired afterward but is relieved to hear from Pongo that the puppies are safe from Cruella thanks to Roger. The puppies grow and are shown watching their favorite show with their parents. Perdita is seen interacting with her various puppies: scolding Patch for his coarse language, telling Lucky to get down from the TV, and reminding Rolly that they just had dinner.
After the puppies are put to bed, Pongo and Perdita go on a walk with their respective owners. During their absence, the puppies were kidnapped by Cruella's two henchmen, Jasper and Horace. Pongo and Perdita realize that neither the humans nor Scotland Yard will find their puppies and they take it upon themselves to rescue their children. While on their usual walk in Primrose Hill, they use the twilight bark, a canine gossip chain, to spread the news of their stolen puppies across England, though they were dragged back home by Roger and Anita (they thought they were disturbing the whole neighborhood). Later, they receive an answer and learn that their puppies are at Hell Hall, Cruella's former home.
Perdita immediately goes off on a dangerous journey to rescue the puppies alongside her husband. The winter conditions make the journey tough, but they eventually meet with a sheepdog called the Colonel, who takes them to the puppies. When the puppies are cornered by Horace and Jasper, who are about to kill them, Pongo and Perdita break into the room through a window looking extremely livid, and Perdita fights Horace while Pongo fights Jasper. After they escape, both Pongo and Perdita are relieved to have reunited with their fifteen puppies, yet shocked to discover that there are eighty-four more puppies with them making a total of ninety-nine puppies. Perdita is horrified to hear that Cruella plans to kill the puppies, including her own children, and use their fur for dog-skinned coats. With that in mind, Perdita and Pongo decide to adopt the other 84 puppies as their children and take them home too, knowing Roger and Anita would never turn them out.
After thanking the Colonel, Captain, and Sergeant Tibbs for their help, Perdita and her family flee with Jasper and Horace on their tail. They walk on the ice to avoid leaving tracks on the snow. The next day, Perdita, Pongo, and the puppies are forced to walk in the snow during a blizzard. However, they are found and rescued by a Collie who leads them to a dairy farm for shelter. Once, the Dalmatian family arrives at the dairy farm, safe from the blizzard, the puppies ask Perdita for food, but Perdita doesn't have any to feed her children. However, she is quickly relieved when the cows offer their milk to the puppies, and Perdita orders her children to take turns. After getting enough to eat, Perdita and her family fall asleep before continuing on their journey the next day.
Perdita and her family continue to avoid Cruella (who had learned of their escape) and her minions as they hunt for them. In the small town of Dinsford, Perdita and her family meet a Labrador who reveals that a truck is heading for London, and there is enough room for the entire family. However, when Cruella, Jasper, and Horace arrive, Perdita worries how they'll get to the truck. When Pongo gets inspired to disguise themselves as Labradors by rolling in soot, after Lucky and Patch fought in a soot pile, Perdita reluctantly allows her children to roll in the soot before allowing herself to get covered in soot. The plan goes smoothly as they are not unrecognized by the three villains. As they finish up loading the puppies into the truck, Perdita jumps on and helps get the rest of the puppies into the truck. However, their cover is blown when the puppies' disguises are washed away by dripping icicles and falling snow, allowing Cruella to recognize them.
Pongo and Lucky manage to get into the truck as it starts leaving, but Cruella and her minions give a violent chase after them. Perdita and her husband can do nothing but watch in horror as Cruella and her minions try to crash into the truck to knock it off the road with her and her entire family inside. One of the puppies almost falls out of the truck, but Perdita manages to rescue it while the truck nearly falls off the cliff. Fortunately, Jasper and Horace lose control of their truck and violently crash into Cruella's car in the chaos, destroying both their truck and her car, allowing Perdita and all of her family to safely escape.
They are all driven back to London and reunite with their owners. Roger and Anita decide to keep the other eighty-four puppies and move to a bigger property in the country, giving the Dalmatians enough room to roam freely.
101 Dalmatians: The Series[]
Perdita with Pongo in 101 Dalmatians: The Series.
Perdita appears as a supporting character, with her pups taking over as the stars. Here she and Pongo serve minor roles and act as regular parents and are often seen with Roger and Anita. Some have speculated that she is a much stricter parent than Pongo, but this is arguable as both she and Pongo have penalized the pups for being disrespectful or non-compliant in the series. According to the series bible, while Pongo is susceptible to the puppies' cuteness, Perdita is able to see straight through it, with Perdita using reverse psychology to get the puppies to do what she wants without them realizing.
In the episode "The Making of...", Perdita talks about how since she and Pongo were the stars of the movie, they would be the stars of the series.
In "Lucky To Be Alone", Perdita is the one who comes up with the idea for Lucky to visit the Vandercreams, seemingly assured that Lucky will begin missing his family within just a few days if she knows the Vandercreams right. This has speculated that Perdita is in some form related to either Coco or Beamer.
The episodes Perdita has appeared in are "Home is Where the Bark Is", "The Dogs of DeVil", "Lucky to be Alone", "No Train, No Gain", "Four Stories Up", "You Say It's Your Birthday", "Lord of the Termites", "Cruella World", "Food for Thought", "Film Fatale", "Splishing and Splashing", "The Making of...", "Animal House Party", and "Dalmatian Vacation, Part 2: Cross-Country Chaos".
101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure[]
Perdita in 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure.
In the sequel, Perdita and the rest of the family move to the farmlands where she and her puppies can roam freely and, to her biggest relief, be far away from Cruella De Vil. However, unbeknownst to Perdita, her son Patch is feeling insignificant. She tries to help Patch during this time but is too busy taking care of the other 98 puppies. After falling asleep in the kitchen cupboard, Patch is accidentally left behind when the Radcliffes move away to Cherry Tree Farm in Titchfield, Devon so he decides to stay in London and meet his idol, Thunderbolt at his auditions.
When Perdita learns of Patch's missing, later on, she is devastated and quickly rallies Pongo, Roger, and Anita to travel back to London to find him. During their absence, Cruella, Jasper, and Horace kidnap the puppies yet again. Meanwhile, Patch meets and befriends his hero Thunderbolt, who gladly helps the pup rescue his siblings. In the end, Cruella is arrested, and Perdita and Pongo reunite with her children and befriend Thunderbolt.
Interestingly, Kath Soucie, Perdita's voice actress in 101 Dalmatians II, previously voiced Anita, Cadpig, and Rolly in the 101 Dalmatians TV series.
House of Mouse[]
Perdita and Pongo in House of Mouse.
Perdita makes several appearances in the series House of Mouse.
In the episode "House of Crime", Perdita's puppies briefly go missing, resulting in Perdita accusing Cruella of once again stealing their puppies while Pongo snarls at her.
In the episode "The Stolen Cartoons", Perdita is seen with her family as Daisy Duck orders for a table for one hundred and one.
In "The Mouse Who Came to Dinner", Goofy demands that the magic brooms ensure that the club is "spotless" in time for a critic's arrival, resulting in the brooms wiping away the spots of Perdita and the other Dalmatians.
Perdita can be seen at the end of Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse during the finale song.
101 Dalmatian Street[]
Pongo and Perdita on Hunter's laptop.
Despite the show being set almost sixty years after the original, Perdita, as well as Pongo, still make appearances in flashbacks and photos, such as one seen on the staircase of the Dalmatian's house.
In "London, We Have a Problem", Dolly sees a photo of them on Hunter's laptop and refers to them as her great-great-great-grandparents. Their wedding photo can also be seen later when Delilah and Doug get a sample of Cruella's hair.
Live-action appearances[]
101 Dalmatians[]
Perdita in the live-action remake.
In the live-action remake of the original animated film, Perdita is featured as a non-speaking dog but still retains her role as the main deuteragonist. Like the original, Perdita resides with Anita in London. When Pongo first catches a glimpse of her, both dogs fall in love and get their masters together. Like in the original film, Perdita gives birth to fifteen puppies, and Cruella sends her goons to kidnap them. While Pongo and Perdita are gone for a walk by Roger and Anita, the goons break in, lock Nanny in the closet, and steal the puppies. They return home hearing the pensioner's bulldog barking at Jasper and Horace and the witness making Roger and Anita realize what they just have done; They leave the puppies unprotected and why they have to go out for a walk. When there is word that her puppies have been found, Perdita and Pongo go out to rescue them. Meanwhile, the puppies are able to outwit Cruella, Jasper, and Horace with the help of several animals. They reunite with their parents and are escorted home by the police.
Cruella[]
In the live-action spin-off film, Perdita has a cameo appearance in the post-credits scene. She is a small Dalmatian puppy given to Anita Darling as a gift from Cruella De Vil, thanking her for her help in the arrest of Baroness Von Hellman. The card Cruella attaches reveals the Dalmatian's name, Perdita, and a promise to see them both soon.
Printed media[]
Descendants: Isle of the Lost[]
Perdita makes an appearance in which she and Pongo are part of the council of sidekicks, where Prince Ben (son of Belle and the Beast) is able to communicate with them via a translation device on Ben's ear. She expresses that, while having ninety-nine pups can cause her a lack of sleep, she and Pongo are concerned about the pups' college education. This concern has Ben decide to set up and pass the "Puppy Grant" benefit, allowing financial aid for the Dalmatians.
Video games[]
Kingdom Hearts[]
Perdita makes a minor appearance in Kingdom Hearts, having been transported to Traverse Town with Pongo due to the destruction of their world. During the escape, her owners, Roger and Anita, disappeared during the destruction and the 99 puppies were separated and scattered across other worlds. After meeting Perdita and Pongo, Sora is tasked with locating the puppies throughout his travels in Kingdom Hearts and sending them back to Pongo and Perdita in Traverse Town upon doing so. To return Sora's helpfulness, Perdita and Pongo bestow various gifts upon Sora. When Sora sealed Kingdom Hearts, Perdita, along with Pongo and all of her children, returned home.
Animated StoryBook: 101 Dalmatians[]
In the Animated StoryBook: 101 Dalmatians PC game, Perdita acts as a narrator for three pages; the second one where Anita is designing fancy clothes for Cruella, the fourth when she and Pongo become proud parents of 15 Dalmatian puppies, and the sixth when she and Pongo send out the Twilight Bark after their puppies were dog-napped. Here, she is voiced by Mary Kay Bergman.
Disney Parks[]
Walt Disney World Resort[]
A large statue of Perdita is featured at Disney's All-Star Movies Resort at Walt Disney World Resort.
Perdita is also featured in the attraction Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. When Cruella De Vil returns to find the legendary Crystal of the Magic Kingdom and kidnap the pups, Perdita and the puppies go into hiding while Pongo teams up with Merlin to save the city. Later on, Cruella breaks into Merlin's secret vault to find the crystal, but she instead finds a chew toy. Perdita and the puppies were able to switch the crystal with the toys just before Cruella's arrival.
Disney Cruise Line[]
Perdita is also seen reuniting with her puppies in Midship Detective Agency aboard the Disney Fantasy. She can also be seen during the end credits of the Disney Fantasy's Animators Palate show.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- According to Disney animators, Perdita has 68 spots.
- According to Disneystrology, her birthday is July 6.
- According to the DisneyLife app, her pet peeve is bad manners and coarse language.
- By size and behavior, in human years, she is 37 years old.
- In the animated movie, Perdita was originally played by Lisa Daniels. She had recorded about a third of the film as Perdita but got married and moved to New York City, so she was voiced by Cate Bauer for the rest of the film, though it's unknown which actress recorded which lines.
- Perdita is based on two characters from the original book: "Missis" Pongo, the mate of Pongo and birth mother of the fifteen puppies; and Perdita, a sickly liver-spotted Dalmatian adopted by the Dearlys as a secondary mother to the puppies.
- In some promotional pictures, Perdita is seen with deep brown eyes.
- All but two of Disney's Nine Old Men did the animation for Perdita in the animated 101 Dalmatians, with Wolfgang Reitherman as the director and Marc Davis as the sole animator of Cruella.
- Perdita's name means "loss" in Italian. It also means the feminine form of "perditus," meaning "lost" or "destroyed" in Latin. This is a point brought up in the novel which 101 Dalmatians is based on but not in the movie.
- Perdita (pronounced ˈpɛrdita) is not a common name in Italy and maybe for this, the character is called "Peggy" in the Italian version of various media.
- Although she wears a blue collar in the film and most of her appearances, in some book adaptations of the film, the live-action remake and 101 Dalmatians: Escape from DeVil Manor, Perdita is seen wearing a red collar.
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