Kathryn Priscilla Beaumont (born 27 June 1937) is a British actress. She is best known for voicing Alice in Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Wendy Darling in Peter Pan (1953), for which she was named a Disney Legend in 1998.

Early life Beaumont was born to Evelyn and Kenneth Beaumont in Victoria Park, Manchester, England, on 27 June 1937. Evelyn was a professional dancer, while Kenneth was a singer with British dance bands, including those led by Henry Hall and Oscar Rabin.

Beaumont was an infant when World War II began. Though authorities in war-torn England urged Evelyn to send her daughter to safety on the SS Athenia, Evelyn refused. Authorities were very upset at first, but when the ship sank, they "ceased to scold" her for her decision. However, after frequent bombing raids—and witnessing the death of a close friend—Evelyn and Kathryn moved to the safer, smaller area of Bangor, Wales. When the war ended in 1945, all three of the Beaumonts moved back to London.

Beaumont's first experience with acting came when Evelyn enrolled her in school, "when she was still very small." There, she acted in a school pantomime and later in a play. After watching Beaumont perform, her teacher told her mother that she had a talent for acting.

Career Beaumont made her feature film debut in It Happened One Sunday (1944). The film drew interest from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who offered her a contract. She recalled: "MGM was planning to have films with British characters and British-type stories. However, as ideas come and go, they must have shelved the idea because they brought me over and put me under contract, then nothing happened." In spite of this, she did play small parts in MGM's On an Island with You (1948), where she did a Jimmy Durante impression in front of Durante's character, a non-speaking, uncredited role in The Secret Garden (1949) and another uncredited role in Challenge to Lassie (1949), though she did appear on one of the film's lobby cards.

After Beaumont had relocated to Los Angeles at the age of 10, Walt Disney Pictures began auditioning young British actresses to portray Alice in their animated version of Alice in Wonderland (1951). Beaumont auditioned three times and received the role, working under voice director Winston Hibler. While filming Alice in Wonderland, Beaumont's mother and tutor stayed on set with her. Though she worked four hours a day, she still studied three. After filming finished, Beaumont went on a promotional tour, which included several on-screen appearances with Walt Disney.

Disney subsequently cast Beaumont in the voice role of Wendy Darling in their following feature, Peter Pan (1953), which began production in 1951. In addition to voicing Wendy, Beaumont also served as a performance model for live-action reference to help the animators. When performing as Wendy, Beaumont was suspended in the air to simulate flight, although she had a fear of heights. When asked how she overcame her fear of heights, Beaumont answered, "[I] gritted my teeth! That's about all you can do. I thought, 'Oh, well, I have to do what I have to do.' So you grit your teeth and you do it."

Beaumont reprised her voice acting role as Alice in two episodes of the animated series House of Mouse (2001–2003) and as both Alice and Wendy in the 2002 video game Kingdom Hearts. In 1998, Beaumont was awarded a Disney Legend award for her voice work on Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan.

In 2005, Beaumont retired from acting; the roles of Alice and Wendy were taken over by Hynden Walch. Beaumont made a brief return to voice acting in 2010 when she voiced Kairi's grandmother in Disney's Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.Kathryn Beaumont at Behind the Voice Actors Behind the Voice Actors, Retrieved March 10, 2022 In 2023, she guest-starred as Alice in the second season of Alice's Wonderland Bakery.

After completing Peter Pan, Beaumont enrolled in high school, where she joined a drill team and ran for a position in student government. After graduating, Beaumont enrolled at the University of Southern California, where she graduated with a degree in education. Upon graduating from college, Beaumont worked as an elementary school teacher in Los Angeles for 36 years.

Personal life Beaumont has been married to her husband, Allan Levine, since 1985.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1944 It Happened One Sunday Jill Buckland 1948 On an Island with You Penelope Peabody 1949 The Secret Garden Muriel Uncredited Challenge to Lassie Tenement Child 1951 Operation Wonderland Herself / Alice Alice in Wonderland Alice (voice) A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. Live-action reference 1953 Peter Pan Wendy Darling (voice) 1963 Noddy Goes to Toyland Noddy, Mrs. Tubby Bear, Mrs. Noah, Little Doll, Little Doll's Mother (voice) Uncredited 2003 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure Crystal (voice)

Television Year Title Role Notes 1950 One Hour in Wonderland Herself / Alice 1951 The Fred Waring Show Alice What's My Line Herself 1 episode Operation Wonderland Herself / Alice Segment of Ford Star Revue Walt Disney Christmas Show Herself/ Wendy 1 episode 1955 TV Reader's Digest Priscilla Mullins Episode: "The Voyage of Captain Tom Jones, the Pirate" Climax! Dorrant's Daughter Episode: "The First and the Last" 1958 From All of Us to All of You Wendy (voice) Television special 2002 House of Mouse Alice (voice) 2 episodes 2023 Alice's Wonderland Bakery Original Alice (voice) Episode: "Alice's First Day in Wonderland"

Video games Year Title Role Notes 1999 Disney's Villains' Revenge Alice 2002 Kingdom Hearts Alice, Wendy Darling 2010 Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Kairi's Grandmother 2013 Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix Alice, Wendy Darling Archive audio 2014 Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix Kairi's Grandmother 2016 Kingdom Hearts χ

Theme parks Year Title Role Notes 1982 Alice in Wonderland Alice Voice 1992 Fantasmic! Wendy Darling Voice

Radio Beaumont made three appearances on Lux Radio Theatre.

+ Caption text Episode title Role Date "Treasure Island" Herself / interstitial ad January 29, 1951Treasure Island "Alice in Wonderland" Alice Dec. 24, 1951 Lux Radio Theatre - Alice in Wonderland Alice in Wonderland] "Peter Pan" Wendy 21 Dec 1953Peter Pan

Awards and nominations +Awards and nominations Year Award Category Title Result 1998 Disney Legend Award Animation – Voice

References

External links

Kathryn Beaumont at Discogs