BabbitBlog / Disney

Realistic humans are among the most difficult characters to animate. For 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,' animators with relatively little experience animating real people had to create characters that were convincingly real. To aid in this task, Disney hired a young dancer, then named Marjorie Belcher, to act out the role of Snow White. Champion's performance became the model for how future live-action reference was shot. Dressed in the character's costume, she danced and pantomimed scenes from the film with stand-in props.

Champion later did live-action modeling for the Blue Fairy in 'Pinocchio' and Hyacinth Hippo from 'Fantasia.' She was briefly married to Disney animator Art Babbitt and later found fame dancing in MGM musicals alongside her second husband, the actor/dancer/director Gower Champion.