Ilene Woods | Voice of Cinderella, 81

Ilene Woods, 81, who provided the speaking and singing voice for the title character in Walt Disney's classic 1950 animated feature Cinderella, died Thursday in Los Angeles.

Ms. Woods, a resident of nearby Calabasas, died of causes related to Alzheimer's disease at a nursing center, said her husband, Ed Shaughnessy, the former longtime drummer on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.

Ms. Woods was a busy 18-year-old singer on radio in 1948 when, as a favor to two songwriter friends, Jerry Livingston and Mack David, she recorded a "demo" of a few songs they had written for Walt Disney's forthcoming animated feature.

"I did the discs for them, in a studio with a piano - 'Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boo,' 'So This Is Love,' 'A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes,' " Woods recalled in a 2005 interview with the Deseret News of Salt Lake City.

"Two days later, Walt called. He wanted me to come over and have an interview. I gladly said, 'Yes, anytime you say.' We met and talked for a while, and he said, 'How would you like to be Cinderella?' "

The singing voice for Cinderella's Prince Charming was supplied by singer and future TV talk-show host Mike Douglas.

On television during the 1950s, Ms. Woods sang on the Perry Como and Arthur Godfrey shows and was a regular on Garry Moore's daytime show, where she met Shaughnessy, whom she married in 1963. - Los Angeles Times