Dave Pruiksma - Mrs Potts and Chip

While Glen Keane was deliberately kept from seeing Robby Benson during his work on Beast, Dave Pruiksma studied Angela Lansbury in order to create the character of Mrs Potts - although, apparently, he never actually met her. He was impressed by her subtle mannerisms, and incorporated many of them into the final character. While Mrs Potts is very much an interpretation of Angela Lansbury, her teacup-son emerged from the shadows thanks to Bradley Pierce, the boy who provided his voice. Jeffrey Katzenburg liked his performance so much that he insisted Chip's role (initially minor) was strengthened. Interestingly, Chip replaced the Musical Box as the 'stowaway' when Belle fled the castle... the Musical Box is now only glimpsed in one scene. A graduate of CalArts, Dave Pruiksma's first work at Disney was in-betweening on Mickey's Christmas Carol. He moved on and up with work on The Great Mouse Detective, and he animated both the seahorse 'messanger' and Ariel's friend Flounder in The Little Mermaid.