• Based on the works of author Margery Sharp, The Rescuers was originally released in 1977 and was re-released to theaters in 1983 and 1989.
• The Rescuers co-director John Lounsbery was one of Walt’s famed ‘Nine Old Men’. He began his career in 1935 as an assistant animator on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and was a key animator of Pluto, as well as many of the animated feature classics. Lounsbery’s first directing assignment was Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too!, and The Rescuers was his last film. He was named a Disney Legend in 1989.
• Lounsbery’s Rescuers co-director/co-‘Nine Old Man’/co-Disney Legend Wolfgang Reitherman began his career at Disney in 1933, where he started out as an animator on shorts prior to Snow White. He quickly went onto animation director on such features as Pinocchio and Fantasia, eventually directing solo The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats and Robin Hood, and produced The Fox and the Hound.
• Co-director Art Stevens began as a character animator on Peter Pan, 101 Dalmatians and Robin Hood, as well as several shorts. In addition to The Rescuers, he also co-directed The Fox and the Hound.
• Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor returned as Bernard and Bianca, 13 years later, for the sequel The Rescuers Down Under. In that film, Orville was replaced by his brother Wilbur, as in original flyboys Orville and Wilber Wright.
• Eva Gabor also voiced Duchess in The Aristocats.
• Aside from Newhart and Gabor, Bernard Fox (a.k.a. Bewitched’s Dr. Bombay) is the only Rescuers cast member who returned for the sequel; he voiced the Chairman of the Rescue Aid Society in both films. Fox also appeared in The Million Dollar Duck and Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo.
• Gabor’s Green Acres co-star Pat Buttram also voiced Napoleon in The Aristocats, the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood and Chief in The Fox and the Hound, among others.
• Oscar-winning acting legend Geraldine Page (Madame Medusa) co-starred in The Happiest Millionaire as Mrs. Duke, John Davidson’s mother.
• Joe Flynn (Mr. Snoops) is best known to Disney fans as Dean Higgins in the Dexter Riley films, as well as several other live action favorites, such as The Love Bug.
• Jeanette Nolan (Ellie Mae) also voiced Widow Tweed in The Fox and the Hound, and appeared on television in Bayou Boy, Gallagher Goes West, The Sky’s the Limit and The Mystery of Edward Sims.
• John McIntire (Rufus) also appeared in Bayou Boy, Gallagher Goes West and The Mystery of Edward Sims, as well as The Light in the Forest and Herbie Rides Again. Additionally, he voiced the badger in The Fox and the Hound.
• Larry Clemmons, who voiced Gramps the Turtle, was a writer for the Studio whose credits include The Reluctant Dragon, The Jungle Book and others.
• Evinrude, the lovable Dragonfly, was voiced by Disney soundman James MacDonald, who was also the second voice of Mickey after Walt. He also voiced many other characters over the years, including the penguins in Mary Poppins and Humphrey the Bear.
• John Fiedler, best known as the voice of Piglet, can be heard as Deacon Owl.
• Another TV Land favorite, George Lindsey (The Andy Griffith Show’s Goober Pyle) voiced Deadeye the Rabbit. He also appeared in Snowball Express, Charley and the Angel, Treasure of Matecumbe and Bristle Face, and voiced Lafayette in The Aristocats and Trigger in Robin Hood.
• Dub Taylor (Digger the Mole) also starred in The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin, The Wild Country, Treasure of Matecumbe, Menace on the Mountain, Ride a Northbound Horse and The Mooncussers.
• “Someone’s Waiting for You�?, with music by Sammy Fain (who contributed to the music of Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Sleeping Beauty) and lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins (who co-wrote the Rocky anthem “Gonna Fly Now�?) was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song.
• Reused Animation Alert: As was unfortunately common in the Disney films of the 70s, there are some instances of reused animation in The Rescuers, most notably during the “Someone’s Waiting for You�? scene: those deer should look familiar - they're Bambi and his mother.

Coming Soon:

• Buckle your swashes for a high sea-fairing July: Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, the latest animated adventure from DreamWorks, sets sail on July 2^nd, followed by Disney’s own blood-thirsty buccaneers, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl on July 9^th.
• If its summer, it must be time for another Spy Kids movie: adding 3-D, Salma Hayek and Sylvester Stallone into the mix, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over premieres on July 25^th.
• Piglet’s Big Movie makes its small-screen, DVD debut on July 29^th.
• Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan step into the body-switched shoes of Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster in the new remake of Freaky Friday, which actually opens on a Wednesday, August 6^th.