Fictional

Marie

1970

The prim, pink-bowed white kitten of Disney's 'The Aristocats' — the poised little sister who insists that ladies do not start fights, but they can certainly finish them.

Owner: Disney's The Aristocats
Years: 1970
Known for: Fictional

Marie is one of the three kittens at the heart of Disney's 1970 animated film 'The Aristocats', a fluffy white kitten distinguished by the pink bow between her ears and her air of delicate refinement. The daughter of the elegant Duchess and sister to her brothers Toulouse and Berlioz, Marie fancies herself the most ladylike of the litter, forever correcting her siblings and standing on her dignity — even as the family is catnapped and bundled off to the French countryside, far from their comfortable Parisian home.

The film follows Duchess and her kittens as they try to find their way back with the help of the streetwise alley cat Thomas O'Malley. Marie's mix of prissy poise and hidden pluck — she is quick to demand rescue but equally quick to declare that a lady can finish a fight — made her an enduring favourite. Decades on she remains one of Disney's most merchandised cats, her bow-topped silhouette instantly recognisable on everything from soft toys to stationery.

Fun fact: Marie's most quoted line — 'Ladies don't start fights, but they can finish them' — turned the tiny kitten into an unlikely style mascot, and she is now one of the most heavily merchandised characters Disney has ever drawn.

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