Perdita | |
---|---|
Name |
Perdita |
Other Names |
Perdy |
Gender |
Female ♀ |
Species |
Dog (Dalmatian) |
Appearances |
One Hundred and One Dalmatians |
Voice Actor(s) |
Lisa Daniels |
“ | ” |
Perdita is a female Dalmatian and one of the main protagonists of the franchise. She first appeared in the original book by Dodie Smith as a stray dog adopted by the Radcliffes. She also had a mate named Prince.
In the movies, she replaces Pongo's original mate, Missis. Her "pet" is Anita Campbell-Greene. She sports a pair of spotted ears, and a blue collar. Unlike the book, her spots are the usual black rather than brown. She has fifteen puppies with Pongo. She is sometimes referred to as "Perdy."
Personality[]
Perdita is very well-mannered, elegant, and ladylike, a complete foil to Pongo's easygoing and carefree nature. Despite her well-coordinated nature, Perdita tends to be incredibly worrisome in hectic situations, but can be calmed by Pongo. Like Pongo, Perdita shows to be a fierce fighter, as seen when she and Pongo battled Cruella's henchmen Horace and Jasper.
Novel[]
In the Dodie Smith novel, Perdita was a stray liver-spotted Dalmatian who had lost her own litter of puppies. She was born to a county house and whilst pretty, was less valuable due to her smaller spots and her tail which had a curl to it (although it straitened as she got older). She then belonged to a farmer who, though he took care of her, did not give her all the love she needed and just let her roam loose. One day she found a family of Humans having a picnic and she met the love of her life; Prince. The two arranged themselves to be wed, before their Humans pulled them apart. Soon she gave birth to her litter, but the farmer didn't give her enough food to continue supporting them. One day she woke up and found her Puppies missing, for the farmer had sold them to Cruella. As she searched for them, she collapsed in the road where Mrs. Dearly was driving home from a Dog Shelter. Mr. and Mrs. Dearly then took her in to be a wet nurse to the puppies that Missis could not feed. Unfortunately, some time later, Perdita's milk supply failed and she feared that the Dearlys would no longer want her. The Dearlys reassured her, saying she did a good job cleaning the Puppies.
The Dearlys named her Perdita from the feminine singular form of "perditus," which is the Latin word for "lost." It also means "loss" in Italian. Her real name is actually Spotty, but she did not tell anyone this as she liked her new name more. Perdita was a very good mother who particularly loved to give the puppies baths. By the end of the first book, Perdita's litter was returned to her as part of the puppies Cruella had taken. Her liver spotted mate and the father of her puppies, Prince, later became the 101st Dalmatian.
In the novel, Perdita was kind, caring and protective over the puppies. Missis, though also very loving, was a rather ditsy dog. She was illiterate, could not count, and was unable to tell right from left..
Musical[]
In the musical, based more on the novel, Perdita sings a song about how she met Prince called "One True Love".
Disney Animated Films[]
One Hundred and One Dalmatians []
In Disney's works, Perdita is Pongo's wife and the mother of the fifteen puppies, and is more in character with the stray than the mother of the books. She is seen to care deeply about her puppies, is the disciplinarian in the family, seeming to be more strict than her mate. She is a calmer, more collected character and lacks Pongo's ability to think on her feet. She is also more emotional. In the Original Animated film, Pongo is searching for mates for himself and his pet Roger Radcliffe. Pongo is close to giving up when he spots Perdita and her pet, Anita. Pongo rushes to the park to follow them. Perdita spots Pongo and is seemingly attracted to him, but tries to look as if she doesn't notice him. Perdita and Anita soon leave and Pongo tries a trick to attract their attention. At first it seems as if it failed, she angrily refuses at Pongo for making her owner wet, but as Roger and Anita talk more they fall in love. Perdita falls in love with Pongo as well.
Perdita soon becomes pregnant with puppies, but when the family gets a visit from Cruella De Vil, she becomes frightened, referring to Cruella as "that devil woman." Perdita hides, but is able to hear Cruella's desire for the puppies. Perdita regrets having puppies due to the fact that Cruella wants them. Unfortunately for Perdita, the puppies arrived three weeks later on a stormy evening in October, where it is revealed that she has had fifteen puppies. She is tired afterwards but is relieved to hear from Pongo that the puppies are safe thanks to Roger. The puppies grow and are shown watching their favorite show with their parents. Perdita is seen interacting with her various puppies: telling Lucky to get down from the TV, reminding Rolly that he just had dinner, and scolding Patch for his coarse language.
After the puppies are put to bed, Pongo and Perdita go on a walk with their respective owners. During their absence, the puppies were kidnapped by Cruella's henchmen Jasper and Horace Badun. Pongo and Perdita realize that neither the humans nor Scotland Yard will find their puppies, and take it upon themselves to rescue their children. They use the twilight bark, a canine gossip chain, to spread the news of their stolen puppies. Later, they receive an answer, and learn that their puppies are at Hell Hall, Cruella's former home.
Perdita immediately goes off on a dangerous journey to rescue the puppies alongside Pongo. The winter conditions make the journey tough, but they eventually meet with a sheepdog called the Colonel, who takes them to the puppies. Upon seeing the other puppies alongside their own fifteen, they decide to take them all to London, knowing that Roger and Anita would never turn them out.
101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure[]
Perdita reappears in the film's official sequel where she is once again devastated to hear one of her puppies is missing once again. She tries to get Pongo to stop blaming himself for Patch being missing and tells him the important thing is that they find him before Cruella does. Before the ending, she eventually reunites with Patch and all of her pups and tells him how worried they were about him.
101 Dalmatians: The Series[]
Perdita appears as a supporting character being that her pups takeover as the stars. Here she and Pongo after serve minor roles and act as regular parents and often seen with Roger and Anita. She is a much stricter parent than Pongo. In the episode "The Making Of..." Perdita talks about how since she and Pongo were the stars of the movie, that they would be the stars of the series, too. She then remarks that she and Pongo aren't bitter, but proceeds to tear up a promotional poster for the show.
According to some production material (scripts, storyboards), she and Pongo use the wagon inside the barn as their bedroom.
In "The Dogs of DeVil," when Cruella calls Anita into work, hence cancelling the family picnic, Pongo complains that Anita should stay with her family. Perdita sighs that Pongo is always on Roger's side and comes with Anita to work. Thinking that their parents are getting separated, the pups follow Perdita and try to get her to come home. When sneaking backstage, Spot is cornered by Scorch; however, Perdita intervenes and saves Spot by smacking Scorch onto the stage. Pongo soon arrives and apologizes to Perdita, Perdita however assures that she knows Pongo is on her side and she's on his. They then assure the pups that even when they have a little argument, they would never leave each other.
In "Cruella World," Perdita (in her only appearance without Pongo) criticizes Lucky for his act of exaggeration, and warns him not to do that if he wants others to believe him, and sighs in chagrin when he points out her saying it "a million times." After Rolly sees an advertisement for Cruella World, the puppies ask to go there, but Perdy refuses because it's too scary for puppies, but Lucky resents it, trying to tell her a story on how it doesn't scare him.
In "Splishing and Splashing," when Lucy reports Lucky, Cadpig, Rolly, and Spot to their parents for having splashed her, laughed at her, and called her names (not to mention that while Spot did none of those, she failed to jump in and defend her, though it's Cadpig who mentions it and not Lucy), Perdita is the one whom tells them they owe Lucy an apology (especially Lucky) and until they do, Hiccup Hole is off-limits. When Pongo asks if that is a bit harsh, Perdita gives him a glare, which quickly makes Pongo allow it. Perdita walks off rolling her eyes when Pongo says he hates getting tough on the pups.
In "Lucky to be Alone," Perdita is the one whom comes up with the idea for Lucky to visit the Vandercreams, seemingly assured that Lucky will begin missing his family within just a few days, if she knew the Vandercreams right. This has speculated that Perdita is in some form related to either Coco or Beamer. In the TV show, one of Perdy's ears is solid white.
Episodes where Perdita speaks[]
- "Home is Where the Bark Is"
- "No Train, No Gain"
- "The Dogs of DeVil"
- "Lucky to be Alone"
- "Four Stories Up"
- "You Say It's Your Birthday"
- "Lord of the Termites"
- "Cruella World"
- "Film Fatale"
- "Splishing and Splashing"
- "The Making Of..."
- "Animal House Party"
- "Dalmatian Vacation, Part 2: Cross-Country Chaos"
House of Mouse[]
Perdita makes several appearances in the series House of Mouse. In the episode "House of Crime," Perdita's puppies briefly went missing resulting to Perdita accusing Cruella for once again stealing their puppies.Video Games[]
Perdita makes a minor appearance in Kingdom Hearts, having been transported to Traverse Town with Pongo due to the destruction of their world. During the escape, her owners, Roger and Anita, disappeared during the destruction and the 99 puppies were separated and scattered across other worlds. After meeting Perdita and Pongo, Sora is tasked with locating the puppies throughout his travels in Kingdom Hearts, and sending them back to Perdita in Traverse Town upon doing so. To return Sora's helpfulness, Perdita bestow various gifts upon Sora. When Sora sealed Kingdom Hearts, Perdita, along with Pongo and all of her children, returned home.
In the 101 Dalmatians: Animated Storybook, Perdita acts as a narrator for three pages; the second one being where Anita is designing fancy clothes for Cruella, the fourth being when she and Pongo become proud parents of 15 Dalmatian puppies, and the sixth being when she and Pongo send out the Twilight Bark after their puppies were dog-napped. Here, she is voiced by Mary Kay Bergman.
Theme Parks[]
Whilst Perdita makes no live appearances at the park but holds a few tributes. At Walt Disney World Resort's Disney's All-Star Movies Resort, an oversized statue of Perdita can be seen at the 101 Dalmatians section of the hotel.
In the Magic Kingdom Park of Disneyworld Florida, Perdita plays a role in the "Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom" attraction.
Cruella allies herself with Hades and together, they are able to capture Perdita and the Puppies. The guests are able to free her and the Puppies, but Cruella has gone to Merlin's Vault to steal the Magic Crystal.
Cruella is able to get in, but it is revealed that whilst the guests kept Cruella busy, Perdita and the Puppies switched the Magic Crystal with chew toys. With help from the guests, The Dalmatians are able to save the crystal.Voice Artists[]
In the animated movie, Perdita was originally played by Lisa Daniels (also the voice of Anita). She had recorded about a third of the film as Perdita, but got married and moved to New York, so she was voiced by Cate Bauer for the rest of the film.
In the Animated Storybook, Perdita (along with Anita) was voiced by the late Mary Kay Bergman.
Perdita was also voiced by Kath Soucie in Patch's London Adventure and House of Mouse.
For The Series, she is voiced by Pam Dawber (Mindy from Mork and Mindy).
Other Appearances[]
Perdita makes an appearance in the book Descendants: Isle of the Lost, in which she and Pongo are part of the council of sidekicks, where Prince Ben (son to Belle and The Beast) is able to communicate with them via a translation device on Ben's ear.
She expresses that while having ninety-nine pups can cause her a lack of sleep, she and Pongo are concerned about the pups' college education. This concern has Ben decide to set up and pass the "Puppy Grant" benefit, allowing financial aid for the Dalmatians.
They are also referred to in Descendants: Return to Isle of the Lost, where Doc (one of the Seven Dwarfs) explains that they are touring one hundred and one colleges.
101 Dalmatian Street[]
Even though the series 101 Dalmatian Street takes place 60 years after the 1961 film, Perdita and her mate, Pongo still appears in the series by making cameos when they are seen in their wedding photo when Doug was looking for the hair sample scent of Cruella De Vil in their addict. They are also seen on Hunter de Vil's computer in a picture in. London we have a problem. Their picture is also seen on the staircase wall of the dalmatian house.
Trivia[]
- According to Disney animators, Perdita has 68 spots.
- According to Disneystrology, her birthday is July 6th.
- According to the DisneyLife app, her pet peeve is bad manners and coarse language.
- By size and behavior, in human years, she is 40 years old.
- In the the animated movie, Perdita was originally played by Lisa Daniels (who had also voiced Anita). She had recorded about a third of the film as Perdita, but got married and moved to New York, so she was voiced by Cate Bauer for the rest of the film. It is, however, unknown which actress recorded which lines.
- Perdita is actually based on two characters from the original book: "Missis" Pongo, who was the wife to Pongo and birth mother of the fifteen puppies, and Perdita, a sickly liver-spotted Dalmatian adopted by the Dearlys to be a secondary mother to the puppies.
- In some promotional pictures, Perdita is seen with deep brown eyes.
- All but two of Disney's Nine Old Men did the animation for Perdita in the animated 101 Dalmatians, with Wolfgang Reitherman as the director and Marc Davis as the sole animator of Cruella.
- Perdita's name means "loss" in Italian. It also means the feminine form of "perditus," meaning "lost" or "destroyed" in Latin. This is a point brought up in the novel which 101 Dalmatians is based on.
Known Puppies
Males | |
Lucky | |
Patch | |
Rolly | |
Pepper | |
Freckles | |
Wizzer | |
Fidget | |
Females | |
Cadpig | |
Penny | |
Jewel | |
Two-Tone |