Anita Radcliffe (Anita Dearly in the TV series) is a supporting character from Disney's 1961 animated feature film One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
Background[]
Anita is the wife of Roger Radcliffe and the owner of Perdita. The first film establishes that she and Cruella De Vil had gone to school together as children and were apparently friends at one points. Although by the time of their adulthood (at least after Anita had married Roger), Anita appears to have grown weary of their meetings and admits to Roger at one point that she does consider Cruella to be eccentric.
Personality[]
Anita is beautiful, kind, and caring. She is also devoted to her husband, Roger Radcliffe, and loving toward Perdita, Pongo, and the puppies. However, she can be somewhat naǐve, such as being hesitant about Cruella being the thief who actually stole fifteen Dalmatian puppies, but it becomes clear that she doesn’t like her.
Physical appearance[]
She wears a light blue long-sleeved shirt, a matching low apron, and a blue skirt. Anita has long strawberry blonde hair and black eyes. In one scene of the film, she has a yellow shirt and her apron and skirt are grey. At the beginning of the film, she wears a dark green hat with a red-stemmed yellow flower tied to a purple ribbon, a matching scarf, and a light green dress. In another scene, her jacket and suit are purple and she wears boots. In other scenes, her apron is light green and her skirt is dark green.
Appearances[]
One Hundred and One Dalmatians[]
In the animated film, Anita is spotted by Pongo, while out on a walk with her Dalmatian, Perdita. Pongo, who is looking for potential mates for both him and Roger, attempts to bring the two owners together. Pongo tricks Roger into going to the park earlier than usual and pursues Anita. Eventually, Anita and Roger are both tangled up in Pongo's leash, resulting in the two of them falling into a pond. Anita frets at first, as she was wearing a new suit and hat, but she and Roger begin laughing together.
A time skip shows that Anita marries Roger, and she and Perdita move into a small home with Roger and Pongo, joined by Nanny. It's also revealed that Pongo and Perdita are expecting puppies. Anita is shown trying to get Roger, who is busy composing, to come down for tea. When he finally does, she playfully teases him on the song that he is writing. Their tea is interrupted by the impromptu visit of Anita's former schoolmate, Cruella De Vil. The name inspires lyrics for Roger's song, and he begins singing in a somewhat mocking tone. Anita tries to silence him, but Roger goes upstairs to work on the song, leaving Anita to entertain her friend.
Cruella walks in, and Anita notes Cruella's new fur coat. Cruella responds with a comment about her love for fur. Cruella then gets down to business and asks where the puppies are. Anita tells Cruella that the puppies are not expected for a few more weeks and that these things cannot be rushed. However, Cruella is now looking at a picture of Pongo and Perdita, murmuring about their coats. Anita invites Cruella for tea, but Cruella cannot stay. Cruella leaves just as quickly as she came, noting that she will be back in three weeks when the puppies are born.
Three weeks later, Perdita gives birth, and Anita, along with Nanny, assist. Anita is shown calling out puppy numbers, as the litter increases from 8 to 11 to 14 to a total of 15. However, one of the puppies apparently dies. However, Roger is able to revive the puppy, much to Anita's relief. Cruella soon comes in, as she had promised. However, Cruella is shown to be disappointed and angry that the puppies are all white. Anita notes that the spots come in a few weeks after the puppies are born. Cruella is relieved and quickly offers to buy the puppies, noting that Anita and Roger cannot possibly afford to keep them all. Anita notes that they couldn't sell the puppies, as Perdita would be heartbroken, and that she and Roger could find a way to get along. Cruella laughs at the idea of Roger's songs supporting the family. This incites Roger to step in, furious at Cruella disrespecting his passion. Roger sternly tells Cruella that they have no intention of selling the puppies for any price with finality. Cruella is angered to the point that she ends her friendship with Anita, and storms out vowing revenge. Anita applauds Roger on his bravery.
One night, when the puppies are older, Anita and Roger take Pongo and Perdita to the park. They return to find that the puppies have been stolen. Soon after, Cruella calls, expressing shock over the theft. Roger is shown to believe that Cruella was behind the theft, but Anita isn't convinced only because of her former friendship with Cruella. She admits that Cruella is eccentric, but that she couldn't be a thief. Anita also notes that Cruella's home had been searched, but no evidence had turned up. However, unknown to her, Cruella had hired two henchmen, Jasper and Horace Badun, to steal the puppies, with the intention of turning them into fur coats and hid them in another deserted house. During their night at Primrose Hill, she and Roger both got annoyed at Pongo’s bark and escorted both dogs home. However, Pongo’s message has managed to spread to the dogs in all over England.
Anita is not shown again until around Christmastime. She is shown decorating a tree while Roger listens to the radio, which is playing the song he wrote. Anita notes that the song was Roger's first hit and brought in a substantial amount of money. Roger agrees but notes that he can't believe that Pongo and Perdita ran away. (Unknown to either of them, Pongo and Perdita had gone to rescue the puppies from Cruella.) Suddenly, a group of "Labradors" bound in through the door. Anita cleans the face of one of the adults and discovers that it's actually Perdita. Anita and Roger notice that the puppies with them are much greater in number than the original 15. She, along with Nanny, counts the puppies while Roger adds up the totals, finding out that there are 101 Dalmatians in total. Anita asks Roger what they should do with the other puppies. Roger decides to keep them, which leads Anita to point out that they have a small house. Roger responds that they can use the money from his song to buy a country home large enough for them all.
Since the DVD commentary and sequel confirm that Cruella was arrested for the theft of the puppies after she failed to ram the truck apart, it's presumed that Anita finally accepted the idea of Cruella being a thief and possibly pressed charges against her.
101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure[]
Anita returns for the sequel and is shown, alongside Roger, to be preparing for the move to a country home they have bought. It's also revealed that Anita cut contact with Cruella, evident when the latter did not know about her and Roger moving to the country. A while after they move, the family learns of Patch being left behind in London when they see him in the newspaper; they frantically travel back in their car to find him, arriving in time to retrieve not just Patch, but the rest of their puppies who had also been kidnapped from the farm while they were gone. Jasper and Horace confess to her that it was Cruella who was behind the dognapping. As they find the puppies, they also adopt Thunderbolt.
101 Dalmatian Street[]
While set 60 years after the original, both Anita's spring hat and reading glasses can be seen in certain episodes. In "London, We Have a Problem", Anita appears in a photo with Roger, Pongo, and Perdita, when Doug grabs a vial containing a sample of Cruella's hair.
House of Mouse[]
She appears in the episode "Mickey vs. Shelby" in the audience with her husband.
Relationships[]
Roger Radcliffe[]
Anita met her husband Roger Radcliffe in the park when his dog Pongo tied them together with his leash and accidently caused them to fall into the water. When Roger offers his tissue, which is wet, he and Anita share a laugh and realize they've fallen in love with each other and later marry each other, as do their dogs Pongo and Perdita. Anita supports Roger's music career and believes he has excellent talent, but when he begins to write a song about Anita's schoolmate Cruella DeVil, Anita at first doesn't think it will work until the end when it winds up becoming Roger's first big hit and makes them rich.
Perdita[]
Coming soon!
Cruella De Vil[]
The first film establishes that she was a schoolmate to Cruella De Vil, and the two apparently shared a friendship at one point. By adulthood, Anita seems to be exhausted after Cruella's meetings and admits at one point that she finds Cruella to be eccentric. In the film Cruella, it's revealed that Cruella protected Anita from bullies and they became friends in the process. Because Cruella protected her she helped her in the arrest of the Baroness.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the animated movies, Anita's maiden name was never mentioned. However, in the 1996 remake, her last name was originally Campbell-Green before she met and married Roger.
- Anita's maiden name is "Darling" in Cruella.
- Anita is given the maiden name "Darling" in Cruella. This is a play on the original movie when Cruella greets Anita as "Anita, darling. How are you?"
- There has been some debate over whether Anita's hair color is red or brown. In the films and television series, it appears to be strawberry-blonde, but in related books, it appears to be brown.
- Anita's original voice actress, Lisa Davis, was first brought in by Walt Disney, to audition for Cruella. However, she felt that she was wrong for the role. She expressed this to Walt and was cast as Anita.
- Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid, voices Anita in the film's sequel.
- In the TV series, Anita has a niece named Amber, who bears an uncanny resemblance to her.
- Anita's name is slightly similar in sound to Perdita.
- According to Disneystrology, her birthday is March 1.
