| Lady Tremaine | |
|---|---|
| File:Tremaine.jpeg | |
| appears in | Cinderella (1950) Cinderella II: Dreams Come True (2002) Cinderella III: A Twist in Time (2007) |
| supervising animator | Frank Thomas |
| vocal talent | Eleanor Audley |
| live-action reference | Eleanor Audley |
| goal | To improve her own family's status; to torment and ultimately destroy Cinderella |
| weapons | Cunning, force of will, control over the household |
| minions | Anastasia and Drizella Tremaine, Lucifer |
| enemies | Cinderella, Jaq, Gus, other mice |
| fate | Still alive, but perpetually annoyed at Cinderella's success |
Lady Tremaine, the Evil Stepmother, is the villain of Cinderella.
Role in Cinderella
- Spoilers start here.
- Spoilers end here.
Prologue
Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizella in the prologue
She is introduced in the prologue of the film. Young Cinderella's father, a widower, anxious for his daughter to have a mother figure, married Lady Tremaine, who is described as a woman of good family, with two daughters of her own, named Anastasia and Drizella, and a cat named Lucifer. After Cinderella's father died, Lady Tremaine showed her true colours, pampering her own daughters while forcing Cinderella to become a servant in her own home. After the prologue it is revealed that Cinderella lives in a small room at the top of the tower in her house.
The Royal Ball
Lady Tremaine allows Cinderella to attend the Royal Ball, on the condition that Cinderella finishes all her chores and finds a suitable dress. She and her daughters then proceed to heap chore after chore on Cinderella. When, despite this, Cinderella appears ready for the Ball in a suitable dress (her mother's, decorated by her mice and bird friends), Lady Tremaine (indirectly but intentionally) causes her daughters to tear apart Cinderella's dress, leaving her unable to attend the ball. When Cinderella, with the help of the Fairy Godmother, nevertheless attends the ball, her stepfamily do not recognise her, but note a familiarity about her as she dances with Prince Charming.
The Finale
Lady Tremaine locking Cinderella in her room
At the news that the Prince will marry the girl whose foot fits in the glass slipper (accidentally left behind by Cinderella at the Ball), Cinderella falls into a dreamlike trance, singing to herself. Lady Tremaine, realising the identity of the mysterious girl at the Ball, quietly follows Cinderella up the tower and locks her in her room, putting the key in her pocket. The Duke then arrives with the glass slipper, which both Anastasia and Drizella attempt to force their feet into. While this is happening (prologued by the stepsisters' repeated attempts to get the slipper to fit their own feet), two mice, Jaq and Gus, steal the key from Lady Tremaine's pocket and bring it to the door of Cinderella's room. Though delayed by Lucifer, the mice succeed in returning the key to Cinderella, who rushes downstairs to the Duke. Lady Tremaine, in bitterness, trips up the servant bearing the glass slipper, causing it to smash. However, Cinderella reveals that she has the other slipper, and that it fits her foot, much to her stepmother's horror.
Personality
Unlike most other Disney Villains, Lady Tremaine does not possess any magical powers or exert any physical force. She strongly believes in maintaining her self-control, reminding her daughters of this when the two fight during their music lesson. The only time she herself breaks this rule is, ironically, at this point; when Cinderella interrupts the music lesson to bring Lady Tremaine the invitation to the Royal Ball, she slams her hands onto the keys of the piano in frustration.
She also never goes back on her word; when permitting Cinderella to attend the Ball, she makes sure to lay down seemingly impossible conditions; when Cinderella nevertheless does the required chores and puts on an appropriate dress, Lady Tremaine provokes her daughters (by subtly showing them that some of their accessories have been used to decorate her stepdaughter’s dress) to rip the dress apart; without appropriate attire, Cinderella does not fulfil her stepmother’s conditions and is therefore unable to accompany them; this allows Lady Tremaine both to keep her word and to maintain her self-control.
Behind the Scenes
a photograph of Eleanor Audley's live-action performance being used as reference for the animator
Lady Tremaine was voiced by Eleanor Audley, who also provided live-action reference for the character. She was animated by Frank Thomas.
Significance in Story
a character design for Lady Tremaine
Thomas commented that Lady Tremaine was the driving force throughout the film, and that she had to be believable, even tough she was far from human, to be considered a serious threat to the realistically animated Cinderella. The fights between Lucifer and the mice could be seen to reflect the (much less physical) conflict between their human counterparts, Lady Tremaine and Cinderella.
Animation
Like all of the character animators for "Cinderella" (excluding Ward Kimball, who animated Lucifer and the Mice), Thomas used live-action footage as reference when drawing the frames of animation. Eleanor Audley, dressed as Lady Tremaine, was filmed performing every action the character was required to make; the individual frames from this footage were then placed under tracing paper. The actions were not traced exactly, but used as guidelines. This is perhaps why Lady Tremaine moves in a very human way.
Whenever the photostats were followed too closely, or a piece of human action was directly copied, the results seemed to the animators to lose the 'illusion of life'. The live action reference was therefore used primarily to suggest to the animator movements and mannerisms he may not have thought of otherwise. These were then applied to the animated character within their context. Thomas praised Audley's cold, regal performance, the inspiration for his animation of the character.
Trivia
- Lady Tremaine was nominated for a place in 'AFI’s 50 Greatest Villains list', along with the Queen, Stromboli, Man, Maleficent, Cruella De Vil and Ursula. The Disney Villains to make the final list were the Queen (10), Man (20), and Cruella De Vil (39).
- Disney Historian John Culhane once referred to Lady Tremaine as 'the most hated of all the Disney Villains'.
- Lady Maudeline Everglot, in Tim Burton's 'Corpse Bride', appears to be a caricature of Lady Tremaine, both in appearance and personality.
References
- Frank Thomas and Olie Johnston, "The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation"
- "Disney Family Album: Frank Thomas"
- "From Rags to Riches: The Making of Cinderella", 2005