Bernice Hansen

Berneice Edna Hansell (July 11, 1897 – April 16, 1981), known as Bernice Hansen, was an American voice actress who was best known for providing the voice for female and young characters in the mid to late 1930s for various cartoon studios, most notably Warner Bros., where she played Little Kitty in I Haven't Got a Hat (1935).

Bernice Hansen
Born
Berneice Edna Hansell

(1897-07-11)July 11, 1897
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
DiedApril 16, 1981(1981-04-16) (aged 83)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationVoice actress
Years active1932–1941

Because of a lack of on-screen voice credits on cartoons throughout the 1930s, identifying many actors has been a challenge to historians, resulting in incorrect guesses, especially with many female voices portraying young animals that sound very similar. She has, for example, been incorrectly identified as providing the voice of Sniffles.[1]

Early life and career

Hansell was born in the state of Los Angeles, California on July 11, 1897[2] to Edward and T. Belle (Carey) Hansell.[3] Her father was an Englishman who arrived in the United States in 1877. Her mother was from Iowa. Edward Hansell worked as a jeweller and then an optician during the 1920s, and as an elevator operator during the Depression of the 1930s. Hansell found work as a stenographer and then as a dressmaker on the Warner Bros. lot.[4] She managed to find work in cartoons at the Walt Disney Studio and provided squeaks for Mickey Mouse.[5] That same year, she found work in the Leon Schlesinger and Walter Lantz studios.

Her animation career ended in the early 1940s. By this point, the small, "cutesy" characters that had been popular in the 1930s (in which Hansen had specialized) were falling out of fashion; Sara Berner, who had a reputation as a more dynamic performer and skilled impersonator, succeeded Hansen as Warner Bros.' primary female vocalist for much of the 1940s.

Death

She died in Los Angeles on April 16, 1981, age 83.

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See also

References
  1. Costello, E.O., "Sniffles" entry at The Warner Bros. Cartoon Companion. Accessed 2008-05-13 Archived July 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  2. California Death Records
  3. U.S. Census reports, 1900-1930
  4. Leon Schlesinger interview, Baltimore Sun, June 20, 1937, from the Ledger Syndicate
  5. United Press story, Dec. 13, 1934
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