48 Fun Facts About Pocahontas

Who provides the speaking voice of Pocahontas in the 1995 Disney film?

Irene Bedard, an Alaska-born actress, was the speaking voice of Pocahontas (1995) and later played Pocahontas's mother in Terrence Malick's The New World (2005).

Which Broadway performer provides Pocahontas's singing voice?

Judy Kuhn, a Tony-nominated Broadway performer from Les Misérables and Chess, provided Pocahontas's singing voice and was hired before the speaking role was cast.

Which movie star voices John Smith?

Mel Gibson took the part to make 'something for my kids' and, unusually for a Disney star of the time, sang John Smith's songs himself, which he called the hardest part of the job.

What is the name of Pocahontas's pet raccoon?

Meeko grew out of a sketch by veteran story artist Joe Grant of a raccoon braiding hair; the directors loved it, and John Kassir supplies his chatter.

What kind of animal is Flit?

A hummingbird: co-director Mike Gabriel had them 'all over my backyard' and thought one would be a great animal to animate. Frank Welker voices Flit, who is wary of John Smith at first.

What breed of dog is Governor Ratcliffe's pet Percy?

A pug, because the directors found that royalty of the time often carried small pugs about with them; pampered Percy ends the film by abandoning Ratcliffe for the other side.

Who voices Grandmother Willow, the talking tree?

Linda Hunt voices Grandmother Willow; she had won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing a man, Billy Kwan, in The Year of Living Dangerously (1982).

Which future Batman voices the young settler washed overboard during the storm in Pocahontas?

Christian Bale voices the young settler who falls overboard and is rescued by John Smith; Bale later played Pocahontas's eventual husband in Terrence Malick's The New World (2005).

Which activist and actor voices Chief Powhatan?

Russell Means, a leader of the American Indian Movement, at first objected to the script because its Native characters addressed each other by name rather than as 'my father' or 'my friend'.

David Ogden Stiers voices Governor Ratcliffe and which other character?

Wiggins is Ratcliffe's gentle manservant. Stiers got the governor's part too after the first choice, Richard White, was judged likely to sound too much like his own Gaston in Beauty and the Beast.

What does Governor Ratcliffe believe the Powhatan are hiding from the settlers in Disney's Pocahontas?

Gold is all Ratcliffe wants from Virginia; there is none to be found, and he ends the film sent home in chains by his own men.

What is the name of the ship that carries the settlers from London in Disney's Pocahontas?

The Susan Constant was the largest of the three ships of the real 1607 voyage; the film leaves out the Godspeed and the Discovery, and ends with her carrying the wounded John Smith home.

What is the name of the warrior Pocahontas fears she will be made to marry?

Kocoum is the stern warrior her father wants her to marry; when he attacks John Smith he is shot dead by a young settler, and Smith takes the blame and is condemned to die.

What does Pocahontas keep seeing in her dreams before the English settlers arrive?

A spinning arrow is the image from her recurring dream; when she later sees the needle of John Smith's compass spin, she takes it as the sign pointing her to her path.

How does Pocahontas save John Smith from execution in Disney's 1995 film?

She shields him with her body just as her father is about to strike, and persuades him to spare Smith and call off the fight; Ratcliffe then fires at the chief, and Smith takes the bullet.

Besides Best Original Song, which other Oscar did Pocahontas win?

Best Musical or Comedy Score was a new category that year: after Disney's animated musicals had won the single score award four times in six years, the Academy split it so musicals no longer competed with dramas.

Which song from Pocahontas won the Oscar for Best Original Song?

'Colors of the Wind' was the first song written for the film and shaped the story built around it; Vanessa Williams's end-credits version became a top ten hit.

Which love song was cut from Pocahontas after test audiences of children lost interest?

'If I Never Knew You', the love duet for Pocahontas and John Smith, was cut after test screenings with children; it was restored for the 2005 tenth-anniversary DVD.

Where did Disney stage its huge outdoor premiere of Pocahontas in June 1995?

New York's Central Park hosted the outdoor premiere on 10 June 1995: Disney gave away 100,000 free tickets by lottery, and about half a million people entered the draw.

Which Disney film was in production alongside Pocahontas and got fewer of the studio's top animators?

The Lion King was in production at the same time, and most of Disney's top animators chose Pocahontas as the prestige project; The Lion King went on to be the far bigger hit.

Which film did Pocahontas narrowly beat to top the US box office on its first weekend of wide release?

Batman Forever lost that weekend by a whisker, $29.2 million to $29.5 million, but had the better summer: by the end of its run it had out-earned Pocahontas at American cinemas by more than $40 million.

What was the 1998 direct-to-video sequel to Disney's Pocahontas called?

Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World turns the title around: this time she is the one who crosses the ocean, going to King James's court in London as her father's envoy while Ratcliffe plots against her.

Pocahontas co-director Eric Goldberg had just been supervising animator of which character in Aladdin?

The Genie made Goldberg's name, and he joined Mike Gabriel expecting another cartoonish comedy; he was told Pocahontas would instead be played straight, in the vein of Beauty and the Beast.

Which Disney studio chairman wanted Pocahontas to be a romantic epic like Beauty and the Beast?

Jeffrey Katzenberg hoped a second animated romance would repeat Beauty and the Beast's Best Picture nomination, so he pushed for an older heroine and silent animals; no such nomination came.

Which supermodel was among the real-life inspirations for Pocahontas's design?

Naomi Campbell was one of several models the animators studied, along with Kate Moss and Christy Turlington; an old engraving of the real Pocahontas struck her lead animator as too plain, so he 'made a few adjustments'.

What is the name of Pocahontas's best friend in the film?

Nakoma, Pocahontas's loyal best friend, is voiced by Michelle St. John; worried for her friend, she sends a warrior after Pocahontas, which leads to the tragedy at the glade.

Which song in Disney's Pocahontas do the settlers and the Powhatan both sing as they prepare for battle?

'Savages' turns one insult on both camps: settlers and Powhatan each use the very same word for the other as they arm for the fight.

According to colonist William Strachey, what did the nickname 'Pocahontas' mean?

'Little wanton' was Strachey's word for a playful, mischievous child: he described her as a girl goading the English boys into turning cartwheels with her around the fort at Jamestown.

What was the name of Pocahontas's father, leader of the Powhatan Confederacy?

Wahunsenacawh, known to the English simply as Powhatan, began with six groups and, by force and diplomacy, had built them into a paramount chiefdom of about thirty by the time the settlers arrived.

In 1613 an English captain took Pocahontas hostage by luring her where?

Aboard his ship: Samuel Argall had a Patawomeck chief and his wife coax her onto the vessel, rewarded them with a copper kettle, and held her to ransom for English prisoners and stolen weapons.

What Christian name did Pocahontas take at her baptism?

Rebecca was the name she was given when she was baptised during her captivity among the English; it was then, too, that she revealed her own private name, Matoaka.

Whom did the real Pocahontas marry in 1614?

John Rolfe, an English settler who reached Virginia in 1610 after being shipwrecked on Bermuda, married Pocahontas in April 1614 with the consent of both the governor and her father.

Pocahontas's son grew up in an uncle's care; where did he sail as a young man?

To America: left behind as a sick child when his mother died, her son sailed for Virginia in 1635, and many old Virginia families have since claimed descent from Pocahontas through him.

Why was Pocahontas taken to London in 1616?

To attract investors: the Virginia Company paid her passage and presented her, a Christian convert married to an Englishman, as proof of what its colony could achieve; she was even received by King James.

Where did the real Pocahontas die in 1617?

Gravesend, England is where Pocahontas died in March 1617, taken ashore ill as her ship set out for Virginia; she was buried under the chancel of St George's Church, and when it was later rebuilt the exact spot was lost.

Where was John Smith taken after his capture in December 1607?

Werowocomoco, Powhatan's capital on the York River, is where Smith was brought after Opechancanough captured him; his own 1608 account of that captivity makes no mention of Pocahontas saving him.

What ended the eight-year 'Peace of Pocahontas' between Jamestown and the Powhatan in 1622?

A surprise attack: in March 1622 Opechancanough's warriors struck the English settlements on the same day and killed hundreds of colonists; Jamestown itself was spared because a Powhatan boy gave warning.

Powhatan gave the priest Tomocomo, who sailed to England with Pocahontas in 1616, which job to do there?

To count the English: Tomocomo began cutting a notch in a stick for each person he saw, but there were so many that he soon grew 'weary of that task'.

What did Pocahontas's husband cultivate at his Varina Farms plantation?

A new strain of tobacco, grown from seeds of the sweeter Nicotiana tabacum obtained from the Caribbean, flourished at Varina Farms and became the cash crop that made Virginia viable.

Which British comedian voices Ben, one of John Smith's fellow settlers in Disney's Pocahontas?

Billy Connolly voices Ben, who is paired throughout with Joe Baker's Lon; another Scot, Robbie Coltrane, read for Governor Ratcliffe, but the part went to David Ogden Stiers.

Which lyricist was hired to write the songs for Pocahontas with Alan Menken?

Stephen Schwartz was hired partly because, like Alan Menken, he was based near New York, while Tim Rice was based abroad; Schwartz later wrote Wicked.

Which Hollywood star was cast as spiritual guide Old Man River before the role became a tree?

Gregory Peck was cast as Old Man River, the story's spirit guide, but came to feel the character ought to be a maternal figure and reluctantly withdrew; the part was reworked as Grandmother Willow.

What kind of animal was Redfeather, a talking sidekick dropped from Pocahontas during production?

A turkey: Redfeather was written as a wise-cracking part for John Candy, but once the film's animals were to be silent he was dropped; as his designer put it, having no hands, he couldn't mime.

Why did Disney name its villain Ratcliffe and not Wingfield, the real captain who despised John Smith?

It sounded more sinister: the villain was drawn from several real captains, and although it was Edward Maria Wingfield who truly feuded with Smith, the filmmakers preferred the ring of 'Ratcliffe'.

Which Native American leader's words inspired the lyrics of the Oscar-winning song in Pocahontas?

Chief Seattle's famous words on the land were the lyricist's starting point, but their authenticity is doubted: the speech was first printed by a settler some thirty years after it was given.

Who was the supervising animator of Pocahontas herself?

Glen Keane, who had animated Ariel and the Beast, was supervising animator for Pocahontas herself, blending the features of several real women into her design.

In Disney's Pocahontas, which settler fires the shot for which John Smith is condemned to die?

Thomas, an inexperienced young settler, shoots a Powhatan warrior who has attacked Smith; Smith sends him away and lets the warrior's people believe he was responsible, so it is Smith who is sentenced.

Which Titanic villain voices Pocahontas's new love interest in the 1998 sequel?

Billy Zane, Cal Hockley in Titanic, voices the English diplomat who becomes Pocahontas's new love in the 1998 direct-to-video sequel; John Smith was recast with a different actor.