The 1961 Disney animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians was based on the 1956 children’s novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith. It follows two London dogs, Pongo and Perdita, who rescue not just their kidnapped puppies but dozens of other Dalmatian pups, bringing the total number of dogs in the story to the famous 101.

When the film premiered on January 25, 1961, it became a major hit and was the first animated movie ever to earn more than $10 million during its initial theatrical release, a huge achievement for animation at the time.

The villainous fashion fanatic Cruella de Vil quickly became one of Disney’s most memorable antagonists thanks to her dramatic personality, wild black and white hair, and shocking plan to turn Dalmatian puppies into fur coats.

The movie was directed by three Disney veterans, Wolfgang Reitherman, Hamilton Luske, and Clyde Geronimi.

One reason the film was made relatively cheaply compared to earlier Disney movies was the use of xerography, a then new technique that copied animators’ drawings directly onto animation cels instead of requiring artists to trace them by hand.

The xerography process turned out to be perfect for this movie because it allowed animators to reproduce the hundreds of Dalmatian spots quickly without having to redraw each dot individually.

Despite its modest production budget of about $3.6 to $4 million, the film eventually grossed around $303 million worldwide after multiple theatrical re releases.

When adjusted for inflation and including all reissues, the movie ranks among the highest grossing films ever in North America and is one of the most successful traditionally animated films of all time.

The film helped rescue Disney’s animation department financially after Sleeping Beauty struggled at the box office and left the studio worried about the future of animation.

Screenwriter Bill Peet made history by writing the entire story and screenplay himself, making this the first Disney animated feature developed primarily by a single writer.

Peet initially wrote the script by hand on legal paper because he never learned how to type on a typewriter.

In the original novel, the Dalmatian mothers were two separate characters named Missis and Perdita, but the film combined them into one character called Perdita.

The human couple in the story were originally named Mr. and Mrs. Dearly in the book, but the movie renamed them Roger and Anita Radcliffe.

The character Pongo serves not only as the main hero but also as the narrator of the film, guiding the audience through the adventure.

Actor Rod Taylor provided the voice of Pongo and was chosen partly because the filmmakers wanted the dogs’ voices to sound stronger and more commanding than the human characters.

The voice of Cruella de Vil was performed by Betty Lou Gerson, whose dramatic performance helped make the villain one of the most recognizable characters in Disney history.

Animator Marc Davis designed Cruella’s look and based parts of her personality on actresses like Bette Davis and Tallulah Bankhead.

Cruella’s massive fur coat was intentionally exaggerated to match her oversized personality and emphasize her obsession with fashion and luxury.

The catchy villain song “Cruella De Vil” was written by composer Mel Leven in only about 45 minutes before a meeting with Walt Disney.

The film’s setting in 1950s London allowed animators to include iconic British locations such as parks, townhouses, and countryside farms in the story’s backgrounds.

The success of the movie led to a massive Disney franchise that includes sequels, television shows, remakes, and spin offs. A live action remake titled 101 Dalmatians was released in 1996 and starred Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil. That remake was followed by a sequel called 102 Dalmatians, continuing the story of the spotted dogs and their villainous foe.

The franchise even inspired a villain focused film called Cruella that explores the early life and rise of Cruella de Vil, starring Emma Stone.

The Dalmatian puppies also appear in the video game Kingdom Hearts, where players must rescue and return the lost puppies to their parents.