Interview: Beauty and the Beast's Paige O'Hara Shares Memories of Playing Belle

It's a tale as old as time -- or in this instance 25 years -- with the re-release of Walt Disney Pictures' Beauty and the Beast for the animated film's silver anniversary.

Beauty and the Beast is the story of Belle (voiced by Paige O’Hara), an independent and intelligent, modern-day heroine who’s taken prisoner by a hideous beast (voiced by Robby Benson) in his castle.

Of course, as so often happens when a couple "meets cute" in romantic love stories, despite their differences, Belle discovers that beneath the Beast’s rough exterior is the heart and soul of a prince.

But before she does that, Belle befriends the castle’s enchanted staff—a teapot (Mrs. Potts, Angela Lansbury), a candelabra (Lumière, Jerry Orbach) and a mantel clock (Cogsworth, David Ogden Stiers), among others, which provide the opportunity for the movie to feature wonderful songs and comic moments.

Beauty and the Beast, the 13th animated film released by Disney, made Academy Award history when it became the first animated feature film to be nominated for Best Picture. Now, the Blu-ray release will include the original theatrical film; an extended version with the “Human Again” song sequence, and a never-before-released on home entertainment sing-along version.

For the occasion, Parade.com spoke to O'Hara and also to Mark Henn, the lead animator for Belle, to get their memories of working on the classic film.

You made a special feature for the 25th Anniversry release. Can you talk about that and the memories it brought back?

Paige O’Hara: When they came to my house, they made me remember a lot of things because we spent three days going back in detail. I even went back to my script. I have a different perspective now at 60 years old as opposed to in my early 30s.  I never really appreciated then – I was too young –that Belle sacrificed her life for her father.  As I get older and I’ve lost my parents, that scene really gets to my heart when I see it now. You see things different as you get older.

I certainly understand why it’s a classic. It’s as relevant now as ever in terms of beauty is found within, especially dealing with the prejudice and everything else going on now.

What is it like to see this work that you did all that time ago? They must have tszujed it up for the new release?

Mark Henn: What you see is the way it came out 25 years ago. If anything, they may have cleaned it up a little bit -- digitally done their magic to take some dust and dirt spots off, but essentially it's what you would have seen 25 years ago.

But as an artist, we’re always very hard on ourselves, so I’m always very critical going, “I would have liked to have that scene back and re-tweaked a little bit here and there.”  But that’s artists right, right?

Being a Disney princess is a big deal. How did it change your life?

Paige O’Hara: My dream was to be on Broadway, which I achieved, but I think that I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did without Belle because she’s universal, she’s global. People might not know me, but I’ll say, “I am the voice of Belle.”  And then you can get charity work done, I can raise money for kids, I can utilize this in such a positive way that I would never, ever have been able to do had I just been a working actress in New York.

So it’s enabled me to branch out and do my work and my charities and, on a selfish point, my concert career took off. It’s made me financially comfortable, so I can take time and go work with kids.

It’s still mindboggling to me after all these years when I get letters and hugs at these events saying, "You changed my life. I had a rough time as a kid and Belle totally gave me confidence."

And yet they’re doing a live version of it. Is there any chance that you might do a cameo in that?

Paige O’Hara:  That is so funny. They should have done that. I’ve had more people say, “You should have a cameo in this movie.” I don’t, but I’m excited for it. I think it’s going to be great. I feel like I’m sort of passing the baton on to the new one, but I think Emma Watson is perfect casting.

Do you think you had more freedom doing it animation than they will in the live action version?

Mark Henn: That’s a good question, because they’re two different mediums completely. The boundaries of what you can do only in animation and what you couldn’t do in live action are pretty much obliterated. So it becomes an aesthetic choice, an artistic choice. I’ll be curious to see what they do with it, the few little clips that I’ve seen it looks pretty much right out of our film. They’re taking cues from our film, which will be kind of neat.

I think in certain cases there’s a warmth and an accessibility to certain characters in animation that in a live action world may not be quite the same. It’s hard to explain but it’s just art versus live action. Again, like I said, it’s an aesthetic. I can draw a face on a teapot, or create a character like Belle that artistically people have a reaction to, an emotion.  That’s just the artistic side of things as opposed to having a portrait, a photograph taken of a live action person, which would be just as equally gorgeous but you have different reactions to it.

You are also an artist and you’ve done works for Disney. Can you talk a little bit about how it came about?

Paige O'Hara:  It’s really another dream come true because art is my second passion to acting and singing. I’ve always painted my whole life. When I was in New York at 17, I would do water colors and sell them on the street to help pay my rent. After the movie came out, people would ask, “Would you do a painting of Belle for me?”  I was doing that and [Disney Fine Artist] Rodel Gonzalez asked me to be at one of his showings for a Beauty and the Beast painting.  He said, “Bring your painting. Why not? Let’s see what kind of reaction you get.”  It sold and they signed me.

Beauty and the Beast is available as part of Walt Disney Signature Collection on Digital HD and Disney Movies Anywhere, and on Blu-ray™ and DVD.