Thomas O'Malley

Wolfgang Reitherman directed The Aristocats from a script developed by Larry Clemmons, Vance Gerry, Frank Thomas, Eric Cleworth, Ralph Wright, and Julius Svendsen, based on a story outlined by Tom McGowan and Tom Rowe that had been pitched originally as a two-part live-action True-Life Fantasy television production. Walt Disney himself approved the conversion to an animated feature before his death from lung cancer on 15 December 1966. The film entered active production in 1967 and released on 24 December 1970, making it the first Disney animated feature completed entirely after Walt's involvement ended. Phil Harris voiced the alley cat Thomas O'Malley, whose full christened name within the script is given as Abraham de Lacey Giuseppe Casey Thomas O'Malley. Harris had previously voiced Baloo in The Jungle Book (1967) and would go on to voice Little John in Robin Hood (1973), forming a recognisable trio of Reitherman-era Disney animal leads characterised by warm, swing-era vocal phrasing. Eva Gabor played Duchess; the Hungarian-born actress had limited animation experience but her register matched the production's 1910 Paris setting. The song "Thomas O'Malley Cat", co-written by Terry Gilkyson, sits as a vocal showcase introducing the character; Gilkyson had written "The Bare Necessities" for The Jungle Book three years earlier and his contributions across both pictures established a small but consistent musical signature for Reitherman's Disney era. The film grossed approximately 55 million USD worldwide on a 4 million USD production budget. A planned sequel was developed twice (in the early 2000s and again in 2007) but was cancelled both times; the property survives in Disney parks merchandise, particularly through the kitten Marie, who has become a major Tokyo Disney Resort character on her own. The Aristocats was the last Disney animated feature scored by composer George Bruns before his retirement and the first feature for which Eric Larson served as supervising animator on the central animal cast.