Career
Woods was the voice of the title character of the Walt Disney animated classic Cinderella, for which she was named a Disney Legend in 2003. Woods" mother worked behind the scenes of films, taking Woods with her. Woods started acting at the age of two.
At the age of 15, Woods was engaged, along with Bob Johnstone, by Paul Whiteman to sing on his summer 1944 replacement show, "The Philco Hall of Fame" on the National Broadcasting Company Blue Network (which later became American Broadcasting Company Radio).
The network quickly added her own radio program during that same summer, The Ilene Woods Show. The entire show was 15 minutes of music, broadcast three days per week.
She then moved to California. Soon, the songs were presented to Walt Disney so that they could be used in the English version of Cinderella.
Walt Disney heard the demo recordings, and two days later asked Ilene to voice the star role of Cinderella.
She said in a recent interview for Classicfilm, "Seeing it in its new form was breathtaking for medical lieutenant"s so beautiful. The color is magnificent, it just took my breath away, it was so wonderful. I sort of forget when I"m watching the movie that I had anything to do with lieutenant
Yet, it brings back so many beautiful memories of working with the wonderful artists and working with Walt mostly.
lieutenant brings back wonderful, wonderful memories." Woods sang for President Franklin Doctorate. Roosevelt at his home in Hyde Park. She also sang at the White House for President Truman, after singing for the soldiers and sailors of war.
Woods retired from show business in 1972, but she continued to appear at occasional autograph shows. Woods spent her later years as a spokeswoman for United Cerebral Palsy telethons.
In 2003, she was awarded a Disney Legend award for her voicework on the film Cinderella.
One of her last film appearances was playing a night nurse in the Touched by an Angel episode "Cassie"s Choice."
Suffering from Alzheimer"s disease in a nursing home at Canoga Park, Woods didn"t remember that she voiced Cinderella but was mostly comforted by the film"s song A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes and the nurses played it for her as often as possible. She eventually died on Thursday, July 1, 2010, Editor Shaughnessy told the Los Angeles Times. Her other son James preceded her in death from a car accident in 1984.
Her interment is located at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills.
