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| Richard Todd, Walt Disney and Joan Rice |
Here is a collection of publicity shots of Walt Disney with Richard Todd (Robin Hood) and Joan Rice (Maid Marian). In July 1951, just as his cartoon version of Alice in Wonderland was released in America, Disney visited Europe with his wife Lillian and their daughters to supervise his second live-action movie, The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952) which was financed again by the blocked monies of RKO and Disney. Apparently he was thoroughly pleased with the way things were going.
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| Walt Disney greets Joan Rice (Maid Marian) |
Before leaving America, Walt had screened films at the studio, looking at prospective actors and directors and making what he himself called ‘merely suggestions’, while he left the final decisions to Perce Pearce, who was producing. For his part, Pearce had laid out every shot in the movie in thumbnail sketches, or storyboards, just as the studio had done with the animators, and sent them on along with photostats and the final script to Walt for his approval, which Walt freely gave, though not without a veiled threat that Pearce had better make the film as quickly as possible. “This is important not only to the organisation but to you as the producer,” he wrote.
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| Another publicity shot of Walt with Joan and Richard |
In his biography Caught in the Act, Richard Todd described Perce Pearce as a jolly, rubicund Pickwickian figure.
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| Perce Pearce with Richard Todd |
Todd is vague in how he was chosen to play the part of Robin Hood for Disney. He didn't remember if it was through his agent or the legendary film maker himself. But, after agreeing to play the part of the outlaw he met Perce Pearce and Maud Spector (the casting director) at the Dorchester Hotel in London and went through lists of candidates for parts in the film. Todd's only contribution was to suggest James Robertson Justice as Little John.
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| Walt Disney enjoys a picnic with Robin and Marian |
What is certain is Disney personally chose Joan Rice to play the part of Maid Marian. Todd doesn't mention Joan in his biography but Ken Annakin, the director on The Story of Robin Hood, does. He depreciatingly describes Joan as Disney's, Achilles Heel and only fit to be somebody's house maid!
Audiences around the world disagreed with Annakin.
3 comments:
Disney's visit to the Robin Hood set.
Don't forget to visit Neil's fantastic web site 'Films of the Fifties' and read about Joan Rice's experiences filming Robin Hood.
Her treatment by Richard Todd and lesser so by Ken Annakin on the set of this film was appalling and one of my Contributors on the Blog pointed out that Joan Rice appeared on Richard Todd's This is Your Life in the late eighties and received a very cool - if not cold - reception from him. Walt Disney chose her and as Clement rightly says - he was right. Film fans the World over loved her in this role - she just looked the part, was very beautiful and came over very well on the Technicolor screen. I wish her career had been much longer - she deserved it. I wish I had been lucky enough to meet her and talk about this film but I wasn't
This is so sad to learn that one of my heroes was rude to his co-star , Joan Rice. I know that he was a terrible sexist anyway after seeing another film that he made called A MAN CALLED PETER and i think that his co-star was Jean Peters !! I am really saddened to learn that Todd wasn't kind to Ms Rice even after she saw him in the eighties at his THIS IS YOUR LIFE : RICHARD TODD !!
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