D23.com - Virginia Davis McGhee, Walt Disney's first star and the lead child actress in his landmark silent "Alice Comedies," passed away at her home in Corona, California from natural age-related causes on Saturday, August 15. She was 90 years old. Virginia made a total of 13 "Alice" films for Disney (with such intriguing titles as Alice Hunting in Africa, Alice's Spooky Adventure, Alice's Wild West Show, Alice Cans the Cannibals and Alice Gets Stung). She frequently participated in a variety of Disney fan celebrations, including a recent Disney historical gathering in Kansas City, Missouri, in May 2009 and an event in Anaheim in July 2009, hosted by the National Fantasy Fan Club. In 1998, The Walt Disney Company honored McGhee for her contributions to the Studio by naming her a Disney Legend. Virginia Davis was just four-years-old and living in Kansas City, Missouri, when she first came to the attention of a struggling filmmaker/cartoonist named Walt Disney. Walt had seen her in an advertisement for Warneker's Bread, and, in 1923, asked her to act in his short film called Alice's Wonderland, which combined a live-action female child with an assortment of animated characters. That film, which also featured an on-camera role by Walt Disney himself, was partially filmed at Davis' Missouri home.
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Born in Kansas City, Missouri on December 31, 1918, to a homemaker and a traveling salesman, Virginia began taking dance and dramatic lessons at age two. A couple of years later, when Walt Disney was struggling with his first Studio, Laugh-O-gram Films, he remembered the girl's long blonde Mary Pickford-style ringlets and charming smile from a local ad, and placed a call to her parents to see if she would star in Alice's Wonderland.
After completing the film, Disney's Laugh-O-gram Studio went bankrupt. Short on funds, but never optimism, Walt moved to California with the idea of creating an entire series of "Alice Comedies," and convinced Virginia and her family to join him. For the next two years 1923-4 Disney directed the girl in a series of popular short films. As the "Alice Comedies" grew in popularity, animation began to become a bigger part of the story. Eventually, Virginia's role was minimized, and her contract was not renewed. Three other young actresses would go on to play the character of Alice over the next three years (and a total of 56 silent short films).
RIP
