Edna Marcellite Garner ( ; July 3, 1910 – July 26, 1993) was an American artist and

voice actress Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

. She is most remembered as the first regular voice of

Minnie Mouse Minnie Mouse is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. As the longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a bow, polka-dotted dress, white bloomers, and low-heeled shoes occasionally w ...

during her time working at

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

and has been partially credited with defining Minnie's personality.

Early life

Garner was born in

Redlands, California Redlands ( ) is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 73,168, up from 68,747 at the 2010 census. The city is located approximately west of Palm Springs and east of Lo ...

in 1910. She attended night classes at

John H. Francis Polytechnic High School John H. Francis Polytechnic High School is a secondary school located in the Sun Valley neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It serves grades 9 through 12 and is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Despite its na ...

in Los Angeles where she studied art.

Work at Disney

Garner started working at

on February 17, 1930, after interviewing the previous year. She worked in the ink and paint department, first working as a

cel A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid (consisting of cellulose nitrate and camphor) was used during the first half of the 20th century, but ...

painter and later as an inker. The studio at the time was a small organization of about 35 employees. After Garner had been working about six months, she auditioned for the voice of

at the studio's sound stage, then located on

Melrose Avenue Melrose Avenue is a shopping, dining and entertainment destination in Los Angeles that starts at Santa Monica Boulevard, at the border between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. It ends at Lucile Avenue in Silver Lake. Melrose runs north of Beve ...

. Because Minnie was to play a Mexican in the upcoming film '' The Cactus Kid'',

Burt Gillett Burton F. Gillett (October 15, 1891 – December 28, 1971) was a Film director, director of animation, animated films. He is noted for his Silly Symphonies work for Walt Disney Pictures, Disney, particularly the 1932 short film ''Flowers and Tree ...

had asked the Ink and Paint department, which was entirely women, if anyone could speak Spanish. Only Garner and another woman responded, and when the other woman was unwilling to sing, Garner was cast for the role. She went on to voice Minnie in more than 40 films over a decade. Occasionally, Garner also provided additional voices, such as cat meows (''

Three Orphan Kittens ''Three Orphan Kittens'' is a 1935 animated short film in the Silly Symphonies series produced by Walt Disney Productions. It was the winner of the 1935 Oscar for Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons). It was followed in 1936 by a sequel ...

'', ''

Lend a Paw ''Lend a Paw'' is an animated short film produced in Technicolor by Walt Disney Productions, distributed by RKO Radio Pictures and released to theaters on October 3, 1941. ''Lend a Paw'' was directed by Clyde Geronimi and features original music ...

''), dog barking, and crowd noises. During the Disney animators' strike of 1941, Garner shot home movies of the picket lines in color. Some of this footage appears in the 2001 documentary '' Walt – The Man Behind the Myth''. Garner was sympathetic to the studio during the strike, commenting, "I couldn't see that we were not being treated fairly. People weren't so

union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

oriented then I guess." She described the atmosphere at the studio as "one big family" before the studio was unionized. Her final role as Minnie would be in the 1942 war effort short "Out of the Frying Pan and into The Firing Line". Garner worked at the Disney studio off and on for 12 years, during which she also did work for some other studios, including Walter Lantz Productions.

After Disney

Garner eventually married Richard B. Wall and started a family. In 1941, she permanently quit her job at Disney to devote more time to her children. The family later moved north to Los Gatos, where she again worked in the cartoon business, producing a newspaper

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

called ''El Gato'' for the ''Los Gatos Times–Observer''. During this time she also worked on different kinds of painting media and ceramics. Some of her artwork she gave to friends, and others she donated to charities and church bazaars.

Death

She died on July 26, 1993 in

Grass Valley, California Grass Valley is a city in Nevada County, California, United States. Situated at roughly in elevation in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this northern Gold Country city is by car from Sacramento, from Sacramento I ...

, three weeks after her 83rd birthday.

Filmography

*'' The Cactus Kid'' (1930) *'' The Fire Fighters'' (1930) *''

The Shindig ''The Shindig'' is a Mickey Mouse short animated film first released on July 11, 1930, as part of the '' Mickey Mouse'' film series. It was the twentieth Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the fifth of that year. The cartoon's cast includes Mic ...

'' (1930) *''

The Gorilla Mystery ''The Gorilla Mystery'' is a 1930 Mickey Mouse animated film produced by Walt Disney for Columbia Pictures, as part of the ''Mickey Mouse'' film series. It was the twenty-second Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the seventh of that year. The sh ...

'' (1930) *'' The Picnic'' (1930) *'' Pioneer Days'' (1930) *'' The Birthday Party'' (1931) *''

Traffic Troubles ''Traffic Troubles'' is a Mickey Mouse short animated film first released on March 7, 1931, as part of the ''Mickey Mouse'' film series. It was the twenty-sixth Mickey Mouse short to be produced, and the second of 1931. Plot Mickey is driving an ...

'' (1931) *'' The Delivery Boy'' (1931) *''Mickey Steps Out'' (1931) *''

Blue Rhythm ''Blue Rhythm'' is a 1931 American animated short film directed by Burt Gillett, produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It was the 31st short to star Mickey Mouse, the 7th of that year. The plot focuses on a m ...

'' (1931) *''The Barnyard Broadcast'' (1931) *''The Beach Party'' (1931) *''Mickey Cuts Up'' (1931) *'' Mickey's Orphans'' (1931) *''The Grocer Boy'' (1932) *''Barnyard Olympics'' (1932) *''

Mickey's Revue ''Mickey's Revue'' is a 1932 Walt Disney cartoon, directed by Wilfred Jackson, which features Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow performing a song and dance show. The film was delivered to Columbia Pictures on May ...

'' (1932) *''Musical Farmer'' (1932) *''

Mickey in Arabia ''Mickey in Arabia'' is a 1932 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Columbia Pictures. This was also the final cartoon in the Mickey Mouse series to be released by Columbia Pictures. Walt Disney plays ...

'' (1932) *''

Mickey's Nightmare ''Mickey's Nightmare'' is a 1932 Walt Disney short black and white cartoon starring Mickey Mouse and Pluto. It was the 44th Mickey Mouse short, and the eighth of that year. The plot incorporates elements from Disney's first Oswald the Lucky Rabb ...

'' (1932) *'' King Neptune'' (1932) *''

The Whoopee Party ''The Whoopee Party'' is a Mickey Mouse short animated film first released on September 17, 1932. It was the 46th Mickey Mouse short, and the tenth of that year. Plot Mickey Mouse and friends have a party in which Minnie Mouse is playing the p ...

'' (1932) *''The Wayward Canary'' (1932) *''The Klondike Kid'' (1932) *'' Building a Building'' (1933) *''Mickey's Pal Pluto'' (1933) *''

Mickey's Mellerdrammer ''Mickey's Mellerdrammer'' is a 1933 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists. The title is a corruption of "melodrama", thought to harken back to the earliest minstrel shows, as a film shor ...

'' (1933) *''

Ye Olden Days ''Ye Olden Days'' is a 1933 animated short film, released as part of the ''Mickey Mouse'' film series. It was directed by Burt Gillett and produced by Walt Disney. It was the 55th Mickey Mouse short film, and the fifth of that year. Plot Set in E ...

'' (1933) *''The Mail Pilot'' (1933) *''

Mickey's Mechanical Man ''Mickey's Mechanical Man'' is a 1933 animated short cartoon created by Walt Disney. It was the 57th Mickey Mouse short film, and the seventh of that year. Plot Mickey finds out about a new boxing match involving "Kongo the Killer". So what Micke ...

'' (1933) *''

Mickey's Gala Premier ''Mickey's Gala Premier'' is a Walt Disney cartoon produced in 1933, directed by Burt Gillett, and featuring parodies of several famous Hollywood film actors from the 1930s. It was the 58th Mickey Mouse short film, and the eighth of that year. So ...

'' (1933) *''Puppy Love'' (1933) *''The Steeplechase'' (1933) *''The Pet Store'' (1933) *''

Giantland ''Giantland'' is a 1933 animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by United Artists. The film is an adaptation of the fairy tale "Jack and the Beanstalk" with Mickey Mouse in the title role. Mickey is voiced by Walt ...

'' (1933) *''Shanghaied'' (1934) *''Camping Out'' (1934) *''

Mickey's Steam Roller ''Mickey's Steam Roller'' is a 1934 animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists. In the cartoon, Mickey Mouse is the driver of a steamroller which is hijacked by his two nephews. It was directed by Da ...

'' (1934) *''Two-Gun Mickey'' (1934) *'' On Ice'' (1935) *''

'' (1935) *''

Mickey's Rival ''Mickey's Rival'' is a 1936 Mickey Mouse short film. It was directed by Wilfred Jackson and produced by Walt Disney. It introduces the character of Mortimer Mouse. It was the 84th Mickey Mouse short film to be released, the fifth of that year. ...

'' (1936) *''

Hawaiian Holiday ''Hawaiian Holiday'' is a 1937 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon stars an ensemble cast of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Donald Duck, and Goofy while vacationing ...

'' (1937) *''

Boat Builders This is a list of boat builders, for which there is a Wikipedia article. Motorboats (<50 feet)

*American Skier *Andrée & Rosenqvist *Bayliner *Beneteau *Boston Whaler *Brunswick Boat Group *Carter Safari 28, Carter Marine *Carver Yach ...

'' (1938) *''

Brave Little Tailor ''Brave Little Tailor'' is a 1938 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It is an adaptation of the fairy tale ''The Valiant Little Tailor'' with Mickey Mouse in the title role. It wa ...

'' (1938) *''

Mickey's Surprise Party ''Mickey's Surprise Party'' is a 1939 American animated short film directed by Hamilton Luske, produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Nabisco. It was the 105th short in the ''Mickey Mouse'' film series to be released, and the sec ...

'' (1939) *''Out of the Frying Pan and into the Firing line'' (1942) *'' Get a Horse!'' (2013) (Posthumously, archival audio)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Garner, Marcellite 1910 births 1993 deaths 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American women artists American comic strip cartoonists American voice actresses American women cartoonists Actresses from California Artists from California John H. Francis Polytechnic High School alumni People from Redlands, California Walt Disney Animation Studios people Walter Lantz Productions people