Marge Champion: Dancer and actress who was the model for Disney’s Snow White dies at age 101 

Marge Champion: Dancer and actress who was the model for Disney’s Snow White dies at age 101

Marge Champion has passed away at 101.

The dancer and actress, who served as the model for Disney’s iconic Snow White character, died in Los Angeles on Wednesday, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The sad news was confirmed by dance instructor Pierre Dulaine. 

Legend: Marge Champion, who served as the model for Disney’s iconic Snow White character, died at 101 in Los Angeles on Wednesday, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Seen here in 2002

Champion was best-known for her role in creating one of Walt Disney’s most iconic characters.

Animators on the 1937 film studied Marge’s movements in order to make Snow White move more realistically.

Speaking in a 1998 interview with the Archive of American Television, Champion said, ‘None of them [the all-male animation team] had been a young girl or knew how a dress would do this or that or the other thing.’

The young dancer, then 14, was paid $10 per day for her work on the film. 

Snow White: Animators on the 1937 film studied Marge's movements in order to make Snow White move more realistically

Snow White: Animators on the 1937 film studied Marge’s movements in order to make Snow White move more realistically

The native Angeleno was also known for starring alongside her husband and dance partner Gower Champion in a string of MGM musicals in the 1950s. 

The couple memorably starred in George Sidney’s 1951 remake of Show Boat, which starred Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson and Ava Gardner.

They also appeared in Mr Music (1950), Lovely to Look At (1952), Everything I Have is Yours (1952), Jupiter’s Darling (1955) and Three for the Show (1955) alongside a young Jack Lemmon.

Marge and Gower were married from 1947 until their divorce in 1973.

She had previously been married to Art Babbitt from 1937-1940 and subsequently married Boris Sagal from 1977-1981.

She is survived by two sons, Blake and Gregg.  

Partners: The native Angeleno was also known for starring alongside her husband and dance partner Gower Champion in a string of MGM musicals in the 1950s. The couple seen here in 1958

Partners: The native Angeleno was also known for starring alongside her husband and dance partner Gower Champion in a string of MGM musicals in the 1950s. The couple seen here in 1958

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