October 13, 2009 10:40 AM
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Real Life Snow White Still the Fairest
(CBS)
Today's films are filled with computer-generated characters but in a bygone era artists drew - hand - from models. CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller spent time with a woman who was the model for one of the most classic characters to ever hit the big screen.
It is the film that gave life to fairy tales, and gave girls the world over, the dream of happily ever after.
That "once upon a time" wasn't make believe for dancer Marge Champion.
"Scouts from the Disney studio came to watch my father's class and he picked three of us out of the class," Champion remembered.
Out of nearly 300 girls, Walt Disney picked Champion for the role of dressing up as Snow White and posing for animators who copied her every move for the 1937 big screen animated classic, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."
"I was thrilled I was going to get out of Hollywood High School for two or three or four days a month," she admitted.
That's not all, she earned $10 a day.
"At first Snow White, their vision, looked like Betty Boop. She had little round eyes and lashes. She had a very tiny waist and all of that, which I didn't have."
She was surprised when animators asked her to pose for another role.
"They put a real loose coat on me once and had me do Dopey for about an hour and a half. I really made a very good Dopey," Champion joked.
Years later she partnered with her husband Gower Champion and together they lit up the screen, dancing in seven films during Hollywood's Golden Age.
And at 90, she's still dancing.
For the past 70 years, Champion tries to stretch everyday, but admits that she can't reach that far now.
Seven decades later, she can strike a pose - and take you back.
She never voiced the mid-evil princess, but something tells me, Champion might have liked to.
Champion isn't relinquishing the title anytime soon. She'll never have to. She's the original.
You can see more behind the scenes of Marge Champion and the making of "Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs" on the newly released DVD - Blu Ray combo pack.
It is the film that gave life to fairy tales, and gave girls the world over, the dream of happily ever after.
That "once upon a time" wasn't make believe for dancer Marge Champion.
"Scouts from the Disney studio came to watch my father's class and he picked three of us out of the class," Champion remembered.
Out of nearly 300 girls, Walt Disney picked Champion for the role of dressing up as Snow White and posing for animators who copied her every move for the 1937 big screen animated classic, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."
"I was thrilled I was going to get out of Hollywood High School for two or three or four days a month," she admitted.
That's not all, she earned $10 a day.
"At first Snow White, their vision, looked like Betty Boop. She had little round eyes and lashes. She had a very tiny waist and all of that, which I didn't have."
She was surprised when animators asked her to pose for another role.
"They put a real loose coat on me once and had me do Dopey for about an hour and a half. I really made a very good Dopey," Champion joked.
Years later she partnered with her husband Gower Champion and together they lit up the screen, dancing in seven films during Hollywood's Golden Age.
And at 90, she's still dancing.
For the past 70 years, Champion tries to stretch everyday, but admits that she can't reach that far now.
Seven decades later, she can strike a pose - and take you back.
She never voiced the mid-evil princess, but something tells me, Champion might have liked to.
Champion isn't relinquishing the title anytime soon. She'll never have to. She's the original.
You can see more behind the scenes of Marge Champion and the making of "Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs" on the newly released DVD - Blu Ray combo pack.
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