Marion Darlington

Marion Darlington (November 7, 1910 – March 17, 1991) was an American voice actress known for supplying the bird whistling and animal sound effects in films including Cinderella, Snow White, Bambi, and Pinocchio. She also voiced the bird chorus in Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room.[1][2]

Personal Life

Marion Elizabeth Sevier was born on November 7, 1910 in Monrovia, California.

She attended the California School of Artistic Whistling, founded by Agnes Woodward in Los Angeles and emerged as one of its most famous graduates.[3][4] In the 1940s she was an instructor of “artistic whistling” from her home, and gave performances with her students.[5]

She married Keith Darlington in 1930, and was widowed in 1937. In 1943 she married trumpeter Don Pratt.[6] They moved to Sedona, Arizona[7] where in 1960 they started Pink Jeep Tours.[8] They were later divorced. In 1974 she married Willis Maley.[9]

Darlington died on March 17, 1991 in Sedona, Arizona.[10]

Acting Career

Darlington's early musical skill in whistling led her to perform on the radio, accompanied by Herbert Nixon on the Wurlizer in 1929[11] with the Harmony Trio in 1930,[12] as part of the J.C. Penney nightly dinner program, along with Hawaiian guitar players and Spanish singers in 1930,[13] and with Raymond Paige’s orchestra, among others. From this exposure, she was sought out by film companies and radio shows to do sound effects.[14]

She provided bird song for many early Disney shorts, including their first Academy Award-winning short "Flowers and Trees." Darlington was also featured in a number of Disney feature films, including the solo whistling part of the little bird who takes part in a call-and-response session with Snow White,[15] supplying the birdsong with the tune “Whistle While you Work,” as well as whistling all the groups of bird songs in that film.[14] She also provided the whistling for Give a Little Whistle in Pinocchio.[16]

Throughout her career, Darlington also produced the sounds in films of crickets, bees, bluejays, grouse, peacocks and parrots, and bigger animals such as penguins, hyenas[17] and the voice of Cheetah in Tarzan films.[18] She also supplied the whistling for film actors including Reginald Gardner, Dorothy Lamour, George Montgomery,[19] Eileen Hackett, and Audrey Hepburn.[20]

Darlington was able to whistle duets and trios with herself, providing all the voices for multiple characters.[21] With a repertoire of 5000 bird calls[22] she was known as the “Bird Voice of the Movies.”[23][19][24]

Filmography

References

  1. ^ Spectro Radio. “The Music of Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room.” Nov 20, 2017.https://www.spectroradio.us/post/the-music-of-walt-disney-s-enchanted-tiki-room.
  2. ^ Ehrbar, Greg. “Walt Disney’s ‘Enchanted Tiki Room’ on Records.” Cartoon Research. May 5, 2020. https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/walt-disneys-enchanted-tiki-room-on-records/.
  3. ^ Bebco, Joe. “Margaret McKee -- The Queen of Whistlers: Nov. 1920 – May 1929.” The Syncopated Times. July 2025. https://syncopatedtimes.com/margaret-mckee-the-queen-of-whistlers-nov-1920-may-1929/
  4. ^ Eley, Craig. ““A Birdlike Act”: Sound Recording, Nature Imitation, and Performance Whistling.” The Velvet Light Trap, Number 74, Fall 2014, pp. 4-15.
  5. ^ Tidbits by Trane. Long Beach Independent. January 28, 1940 Page 3.
  6. ^ Darlington-Pratt. Long Beach Independent. November 21, 1943, P. 22.
  7. ^ Press Telegram. January 27, 1966 Page 23.
  8. ^ Rigby, Elisabeth. “New Sightseeing Tours, Jeep Trips at Sedona.” Arizona Republic. August 13, 1963.
  9. ^ Pratt-Maley Wedding. Sedona Red Rock News. Thursday, November 14, 1974. p. 24.
  10. ^ Obituary. Marion Darlington Pratt Maley. March 20, 1991. Sedona Red Rock News.
  11. ^ Radio Programs. Around the Clock Hour by Hour. Vol 1. Oct 13 to 20, 1929. No. 1. KGER. Oct. 13. 9:30 pm to 10:oo pm. Marion Sevier, whistler, accompanied by Herbert Nixon on the Wurlizer
  12. ^ Broadcast Weekly. The Leading Radio Guide of the Pacific Coast. Week of April 27-May 3, 1930. Tuesday programs 10:30 pm. KGER Harmony Trio with Marion Sevier.
  13. ^ Santa Ana Daily Register, March 27, 1930.
  14. ^ a b Rawson, Laura. “Talented Whistler Captivates Audience at Carolina Swope School; Whistled ‘Snow White’. Santa Cruz Sentinel. Thur, Aug. 10, 1939. p. 5.
  15. ^ Batchelder, Daniel. 2012. “From Highbrow to Heigh-Ho: Musical Tropes in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Master of Studies thesis, Musicology. Oxford University.
  16. ^ Ren, Gillian. "Attention Must Be Paid." The Solute. https://www.the-solute.com/attention-must-be-paid-marion-darlington/
  17. ^ Davis de Rose, Margaret. “Marion Pratt Whistles at Her Work.” Christian Science Monitor. January 22, 1965.
  18. ^ Gastwirth, Mickey. "Easter Sunrise on Chapel Hill." Independent Press Telegram. April 14, 1962. p. 74.
  19. ^ a b Randolph, Nell. Press-Telegram (Long Beach), Volume 61, Number 233, 19 September 1948 — Page 78.
  20. ^ Williams, Vera. "Inside Out". Long Beach Independent. April 28, 1959 Page 9
  21. ^ Bishop, Paula J. Bishop and Kendra Preston Leonard. Hidden Harmonies: Women and Music in Popular Entertainment. University Press of Mississippi, 2023
  22. ^ Berkeley Daily Gazette. April 22, 1942, Page 5.
  23. ^ Ink and Paint podcast: Episode 8—Bambi. https://open.spotify.com/show/4tPbCt0Rse1eflLlSgNKYz
  24. ^ Crash Hurts “Bird Voice of Movies.” Press Telegram. April 8, 1964 Page 4.
  25. ^ “Two Outstanding Artists to Appear at the Sacred Chautauqua First Methodist Church.” Long Beach Independent. Sunday, October 25, 1942 Page 7.
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