Bonus Video! All of the amazing actresses who almost played Ursula

Great video, Matt! One of my favorite Pat Carroll roles was one of the Stepsisters in the Lesley Ann Warren version of "Cinderella". I also saw her play Mrs. Meers in "Thouroghly Modern Millie" at La Jolla Playhouse. She was incredible. I wished she would have recreated the role on Broadway. She was one of my favorite character actresses. I had the wonderful opportunity of playing Ursula at one of the local Theater companies here in San Diego, had a blast!!! Oh, and I love "Honey I'm Homo". I read a chapter a day to my partner, he loves the story time hour, as we call it. Great book!!

That Jeffrey Katzenberg read, I nearly spit my ice tea across the office.

I adored Pat Carroll's version of Ursula. When Little Mermaid came out, I was stage managing a college production of Chicago that was still in rehursals, and we just couldn't get Mama Morton right. I made the director come see Little Mermaid with me and said "That right there (Pat's performance) is what Mama Morton should be doing".

Charlotte Rae actually had a song in the film adaptation of "Hair". It was cut from the film, but was included on the soundtrack album. It is called, "My Conviction". Here's a YouTube link to the song. No video, just the audio (although the music that plays before the song starts makes you think she's about to start singing "Springtime for Hitler"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW8INmGdNTo

My parents still tell the story of when I went to see the Little Mermaid in the theater with them, because as soon as Ursula spoke on screen, i yelled out, at the top of my lungs: "That's grandma". It apparently got a pretty big laugh from the crowd. Now, I wasn't being a little smartass, and it's not because my grandmother was literally a seawitch (although my mother might argue that point). It was because I recognized the voice instantly. Pat Carroll voiced the character of Grandma in the 1987 Garfield Christmas Special, a special that I rewatched borderline obsessively in the year before the Little Mermaid came out. It really is a cute little short film, a weird pseudo-musical, which really is anchored by the Grandma character who is a mean as she is tender. If anyone wants to check it out, the whole 20+ minute film is on Youtube. It's worth a watch if you want to watch Pat Carroll's second best vocal performance (although it will always be first in my heart)... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqJbFTG_MEw

There is this unfortunate stigma that older women in Hollywood are destined to play witches, but witchy characters always eat and there is a campy allure that only seasoned actresses can capture

Please do a video on the visual creation of Ursula...I would love see those early Joan Collins sketches...and see how it evovled, via Divine, into the Ursula we know today...

I'd like to say I'm sad the video is a week late, but it's Pride here today so I can't join live! 😂

Omg when you said Charlotte Rae had never done a villain role, I immediately thought of the Worst Witch! Not exactly a seductive role, but definitely a fun one. Also, I’d always heard that Ursula was inspired by the drag queen Divine.

Maybe Aaron Spelling simply advised Joan to pass? Also can't see Bea Arthur.