sobbed real tears while recording death of the Beast scene.
20. Disney originally wanted Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid, to provide the voice for Belle.
21. The prince’s name is Adam, but it is never mentioned in the movie.
The name was later confirmed by the CD-ROM tie-in game and the Broadway musical.
22. One scene that was storyboarded, but never animated, was a scene where the Beast is seen dragging the carcass of an animal he killed. The scene was considered too dark and gruesome for the film and was dropped.
23. In the original draft of the film, Gaston was supposed to be killed by wolves after surviving his fall from the Beast’s castle. This plot point was later reused for Scar’s death in The Lion King.
24. Some of the sculptures seen in the castle are early concept versions of the Beast.
25. Sherri Stoner, who served as the animation reference model for Belle and also Ariel in The Little Mermaid, went on to create and voice Slappy Squirrel on Animaniacs.
26. Jackie Chan performed the voice acting and singing for the Beast in the Chinese (Mandarin) dub of the film.
27. Belle was the second Disney princess to not be of royal descent, after Cinderella. Tiana is the third.
28. Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film to earn more than $100 million at the box office.
The film was the third highest-grossing movie of 1991, behind Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
29. Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. It lost to Silence of the Lambs.
Additionally, Beauty and the Beast is the only traditionally hand-drawn film ever nominated for Best Picture.
The only other animated films nominated for Best Picture are Up and Toy Story 3.