Fear tends to multiply when viewers find out that a horror film has real-life inspiration. Although, not only killers from scary movies can be based on true events. Disney has actually taken inspiration from numerous stars — mostly classic Hollywood film actors — to create many characters throughout its extensive line-up of animated films.
Even villains from classic Disney films were based on real people — like the Evil Queen in Snow White. The wicked Cruella de Vil first emerged in Dodie Smith’s 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians. Viewers met her on-screen five years later in Disney’s cartoon classic — the 1961 film 101 Dalmatians. Cruella even had a cat and a husband in the novel, which weren’t included in the animated film. What was included was Cruella’s vile attitude, which was actually based on a classic Hollywood film star. How could someone be as evil as her?
While the name Cruella de Vil was a pun on both cruel and devil, the inspiration for this villain’s name was created in 1939 when Smith purchased a new Rolls-Royce 25/30 “Sedanca de Ville” motorcar (via Daily Mail). Smith rode in the Rolls-Royce with her pet Dalmatian named Pongo, and the vehicle later became the cartoon model for Cruella’s own motorcar in the animated films. In addition to her motorcar, Cruella lived extravagantly in her mansion in London due to her ancestral wealth.
Other than her memorable split hairstyle, Cruella was etched into children’s brains for her cruelty toward animals. Cruella stole Dalmatian puppies and took their fur to design gaudy fur coats. She hired thieves named Jasper and Horace to steal a litter of Dalmatian puppies, but parents Pongo and Perdita saved their pups from Cruella. Decades after the original film, fans of the 101 Dalmatians franchise learned a little more about Cruella’s infamous history in the 2021 live-action film Cruella, arguably one of the better Disney live-action films.
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Several people inspired the creation of Cruella. According to Entertainment Weekly, actor Mary Wickes served as the live-action model for Cruella. But the Hollywood actor who left the biggest mark on the development of Cruella was Tallulah Bankhead. Bankhead was extremely thin and smoked around 120 cigarettes per day, both traits Cruella also possessed. Bankhead even had the notorious arched brows similar to the Disney villain’s.
The comparisons between Bankhead and Cruella didn’t just stop at their appearance and financial status. According to David Bret’s 2017 biography Tallulah Bankhead, Bret believed Bankhead suffered from manic narcissism throughout her life. Bankhead was even banished to convents, but the nuns expelled her twice.: once for throwing ink at the Mother Superior and another time for her flirtatious attitude. Likewise, The Hundred and One Dalmatians revealed Cruella was expelled when she was caught drinking ink.
While Bankhead didn’t capture dogs for fur coats like Cruella, the Hollywood star undoubtedly lived a controversial life in luxury. Despite her alcohol and drug addictions, Bankhead also fostered children to help them escape both the Spanish Civil War and World War II (via The Legacy Project), an act of charity people likely wouldn’t see Cruella perform.