Charles Kimbrough who voiced Victor in the Disney Animated Hunchback version passed away. He was 86 years old.
It seems that he passed on January 11th.
I won’t pretend that I keep up with Kingdom Hearts but Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue recently came out and here some cut scenes from the Hunchback world. I’m not sure what 2.8 means, why is it not three? I’m sure there is a reason some weird Kingdom Hearts logic, I mean how can final chapter have a prologue, it’s nonsense, NONSENSE! Whatever Kingdom Hearts logic. Actually Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is a remastered version of Kingdom Hearts; Dream Drop Distance with some new content. This would explain why IMBD listed some of the voices with “voice achieve.”
The voice actors for the Hunchback character are
Ari Ruben as Quasimodo
Corey Burton as Frollo
Renee Faia as Esmeralda
Phil LaMarr as Phoebus
Jason Alexander as Hugo
Charles Kimbrough as Victor
Patricia Lentz as Laverne
and there is no Clopin, Shame game Shame!
I would say that the voices are weird. They did try to get voices with a similar tone and pattern as the originals, so if feels a little off. It’s good voice acting off wise.
You know what is funny? Hayley Joel Osmond voices Sora but he also played Zephyr in the Hunchback sequel. Ergo Sora is Esmeralda’s son! Ok, no not really but that thought pattern was fun for like two seconds.
The “Fun” Side-Kick Song
After the intensity of Hellfire, the movie gets a little dark. Frollo goes on a tear extorting Gypsies, arresting people, attempting to kill people including Phoebus and burning a good portion of Paris. After these scenes the movie needs some levity, after all this is a children movie. The levity we’re given is “A Guy Like You.” I hate this song, there I said it, I hate “A Guy like you.”
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Ah, the voice acting in Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame. Some of it’s great, some it is just ok and some of the casting is off, which seems to weaken the believability of the characters. This is more or less in the order of rank, as I see it or hear it.. yeah.. I know lame joke.
Tony Jay as Judge Claude Frollo
The highlight of the voices in the movie is Tony Jay’s rendition of Judge Claude Frollo. Jay’s cold sounding baritone mixed with his British accent makes for the perfect bad guy voice. He gives Frollo’s voice an air calm control that at any second could explode into fevered anger. Also his voice is seductive, you can believe this guy is a charmer and yet he speaks with command and authority. Jay’s voice helps make Frollo a more interesting character.
Jay had been a veteran Disney voice actor and voice actor in general. He’s been in a number of Disney related films and television shows as well many other non disney films, television and recordings of broadway shows. On his IMDB page he has 150 credits but I think he most known for Frollo mainly because Frollo is a horrible person and his voice accentuates brilliantly.
Tony Jay was nominated for an Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Voice Acting.
Paul Kandel as Clopin
Paul Kandel voiced Clopin and is a Broadway performer. He’s probably the best singer in the film (the crescendo at the end of Bells of Notre Dame gets me every single time) and that’s probably why he ended up with the most songs in the movie. In fact Clopin sings more than he actually speaks. Kandel gives Clopin a sense of fun and whimsy but he also gives him a flair for the dramatics which is a boon for the introductory scene since it’s not funny.
David Ogden Stiers as Archdeacon
David Ogden Stiers voiced the Archdeacon. Stiers like Jay is a veteran voice actor and has been in many major Disney movies. He’s also primarily a television actor. Stiers runs the gambit of tones with the Archdeacon’s voice; tenderness, command, authority, concern and a little amusement (the Archdeacon sounded a little amused when he thinking about Esmeralda’s merry chase). Just because the Archdeacon is by all account a glorified extra Stiers’ voice helps makes the character more interesting.
Kevin Kline as Captain Phoebus
Kevin Kline voiced Phoebus. Kline does well as Phoebus but I think he falls short of Jay and Kandel because I mean really, Phoebus isn’t a hard role to play. Phoebus has a dry wit but so Kline, I mean Kline is practically playing himself. I give Kline credit, he made Phoebus funnier than probably was originally intended which makes him more interesting as character. Because without the humor would Phoebus have been memorable? My guess is no. Kline is also partly responsible for Achilles’ name. He insistent that horse have a name, so they gave the Phoebus’ horse a name at Kline’s insistent.
Fun Fact about Kline’s process – to get into the character of playing a knight, Kline held a sword in hand during recording sessions. He even ruined some recordings because he would hit the microphone (accidently, I’m sure.)
Jason Alexander as Hugo
Jason Alexander voiced Hugo. As much as I dislike the gargoyles, I think the voice acting is fine. Jason Alexander is best known as George Costanza on Seinfeld. George is uptight and neurotic, the total opposite of Hugo. Hugo is fun-loving and laid back. I think Alexander does very well in the role. But again, is a fun-loving partier a demanding role? No, not really.
Charles Kimbrough as Victor
Charles Kimbrough voiced Victor. Kimbrough has been in many types of media; film, TV and voice acting. Kimbrough does well enough as the prim, more serious-minded Victor, but it’s hard to lay out Victor’s personality compare to Hugo and Laverne. So it’s hard to identify how well Kimbrough did as Victor.
Mary Wickes as Laverne
Mary Wickes voiced Laverne. Later in Wickes’ career she played cranky old ladies. Two of the movies I remember her in were Little Women (Aunt March) and Sister Act (Sister Mary Lazarus), both characters are tell-it-like-it-is, cranky old ladies much like Laverne. So while she does well in the role she definitely playing her type of role.
Jane Withers as Laverne (recast)
I want to mention Jane Withers briefly. Mary Wickes died as the film was being recorded and so Jane Withers stepped in to finish the recording and took over the role of Laverne. There are some lines where Wickes started and Withers finished, which is testament to Withers; acting to able to sound almost identical to Wickes.
Tom Hulce as Quasimodo
Tom Hulce voiced of Quasimodo. Tom Hulce is most known for his role in Amadeus Mozart. I do not find any fault with Hulce’s acting, I think he does a good job giving Quasimodo tenderness, gentleness and a bit of pitiable emo-ness. I also think Hulce does well exhibiting both Quasimodo’s natural disposition and in contrast to his attitude when he’s with Frollo.
So Why is Hulce’s performance second to the last on this Blog post? Well that is because I wonder what the directors were smoking in making Quasimodo a school boy that’s gentle and sweet. Quasimodo is suppose to be gentle but only to Esmeralda. He’s not suppose have a school boy. I can understand why Disney did this and I understand why Hulce’s voice is good for this type of role but just because I can understand it doesn’t mean I have to condone it. Honestly they made Quasimodo into a Disney Princess. Hulce has a clear voice which is a commonality to the Disney Princess trope. Think about, Quasimodo is a Disney princess, he just a male and not very pretty.
2026 Edit – After years of reflection and change of heart, I get the idea behind a sweet voiced Quasimodo but in 2011 I was stuck on the adherence to the book as a gold standard. So now I do condone the concept and concede that Hulce was fine in the role as the Disney movie depicted the character.
Demi Moore as Esmeralda
Demi Moore voiced of Esmeralda. Like Quasimodo, I think casting was way off. I get that they wanted something different. The directors liked Moore’s husky and rough tone of voice and they liked that she also had a tenderness to it, but Moore ages the character. It’s weird looking at the concept art, how youthful Esmeralda started and how mature she looks/acts in the movie. I understand that the decision to cast Moore was intentional and as part the process of animation is that Esmeralda took on Moore’s looks and mannerism but I don’t think the pay off was good in the long run.
I think Esmeralda is too much like Moore and effectively Moore was playing herself (or at the most her type-cast role) so she didn’t exactly have to exert her acting prowess. Also I think Moore got the role due to sex appeal and popularity. And point Deductions for being the only one of the cast not able to sing her character’s song, though if can’t sing than she can’t sing, but they could have just had Heidi Mollenhauer do the role in it entity, she is an singer/actress after all. They fact they they didn’t just mean that Moore was cast for her popularity and appeal.
2026 Edit- Again it’s been years since this blog post was written and I have long since changed my mind on The Disney version. Disney’s Esmeralda is vastly different from the book and a lot of the differences comes from Moore being an inspiration for the character. So I’m a still on fence about the voice choice. But Moore does add a sense maturity and warmth that work for the story of the Disney version so I think she does a good job with the acting of the role.
Shout Outs/Kudos
Shout out/Kudos to Gary Trousdale voice of Djali (that not a bleat) and the Old Heretic.
Shout out/Kudos to Corey Burton and Bill Fagerbakke, Brutish and Oafish Guards these two made those characters hilarious.
Next Time- Going to Start Looking Music/Songs, starting off with beginning “The Bells of Notre Dame”
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Hugo, Victor and Laverne are the agents of forced levity in Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame. They all have distinct personally and looks.
Hugo
Hugo is the short and fat one. He has a pig nose, thin horns that point straight up, bat-like wings, hooves for hand, rounded teeth and animal-like ears. He also for some reason is the only one of the three gargoyles to have a belly button. Hugo is the most animal looking among the three. This is he is the crudest and I think Disney thinks that he’s the funniest, in the infantile sense so he has to look somewhat amusing or people are going to believe he’s the “funny” one.
Victor
Victor is the tallest and largest of the three. He also the most muscular of the three. He’s the only one not to have horns, instead he has elf-like ears, large angel wings, an underbite, two fanged teeth and his hands are more like claws , almost human but a tad more beastly than human. His nose is stylized but almost human. His more human-like form is indicative of his prissy-like, prime, introverted personality.
Laverne
Laverne is the female of the group. She has the most human-like hands. Her face looks old and she has no teeth. She has cherub wings, fatter and short horns than Hugo and there’re wider. She also have like a crown like detail that frames her horns. Her ears and nose like the most human too except her nose is a bit bulbous. Her no nonsense, tell it like it is personality is the reason why her features look more human than Victor and Hugo. The human-look enables Laverne to be take more seriously. I mean if she looked like Hugo, I doubt people who believe her “old women who tells it like it is” persona.
Concept Art
The Stains
Looking at the concept art
Early in the production and this can be seen on the gargoyles in their introductory scene, the gargoyles have stains on them from the elements. The studio had maps for each gargoyle in order to keep the stains consistently placed. Then the idea was abandoned as the film progress. Funny it’s it, they tried so hard to be consistent on a detail that few noticed and then abandoned it but they very inconsistent with the light in the characters eyes.
Next Time – The Looks of the Archdeacon
The Gargoyles – Victor, Hugo, and Laverne
The Gargoyles are the most annoying characters in this movie. They’re the comic relief but they fail at it (ok there are some funny bits but they’re few and very far between).
Hugo (voiced by Jason Alexander), the short piggish one, is a load mouth and the most annoying. He also has a thing for Djali.
Victor (voiced Charles Kimbrough) is the tall prissy serious one. He is the least interesting.
Laverne (voiced by Mary Wickes/ Jame Withers) is the old one who tells it like is. She is probably the most of tolerable of the gargoyles.
Victor and Hugo were named for Victor Hugo the author, the writers thought they were being clever and they really wanted to prove they had read the book. Laverne was named after Laverne Andrews, one of The Andrew Sisters. They each have their own personalities and at least they balance each other out.
The theory goes that the Gargoyles are aspects of Quasimodo’s imagination because he is a forced shut-in who is desperate to be love. However the Directors who thought they were being all smart and junk by trying to deep and profound, forgot (actually they didn’t forget they’re just inconsistent) that Djali interacted with Hugo and they fought to defend Notre Dame. Quasimodo’s main squeeze also saw the Gargoyles in the Sequel {shudders at the thought of the sequel shudders.}
So let’s say that the directors are right and their theory that the Gargoyles are imaginary holds water; does this mean Quasimodo imagines Djali seeing Hugo? Does his means when Quasimodo is crowned King of Fools he imagines the Gargoyles cheering him on? Does he imagines the Gargoyles throwing stuff off off Notre Dame and the soldiers getting hurt especially when Quasimodo is occupied? Does this mean that Quasimodo is the source the pop culture anachronisms? And if the Gargoyles are Quasimodo’s imagination does this mean that after Quasimodo made some real life friends and was accepted by the people the Gargoyles would cease to be? Because they’re still around in the {shudders} sequel {shudders}. If Quasimodo lives in his head this much does this mean Quasimodo in the book is more functional? Plus he must be contently winded from lugging three stone statues around the place, then again maybe that’s why he can lift up Phoebus in full armor one handed.
Personally I think that the Gargoyles are Pan’s Labyrinthesque beings; only those who are innocent and pure can see them, hence why Quasimodo and Djali can see them but they can some effect on the actual world. Though in the German Musical, Der Glockner van Notre Dame, they are imaginary and they have different names.
So why are the sidekicks Gargoyles in the first place? Well the oh so smartie directors said in the commentary that Quasimodo speaks to the Gargoyles in the book. They also claim that Quasimodo has long conversations (plural) with the Gargoyles.
Looking over the book, I found that he was fond of a ‘grotesque personages sculptured on the wall,’ and to this he says “why wasn’t I made of stone like you” (Book 9 Chapter 4 Earthenware and Crystal). I’m not sure what version of the novel they read where Quasimodo had long conversations with Gargoyles ( maybe the 1939 movie version? In the 1939 version Quasimodo utters this line to a gargoyle).
If they were going to base a sidekick character off of objects that Quasimodo had a relationship with, it should have been the bells. They could’ve a sassy bell named Patti (Patti the Bell (Patti LaBelle, bad joke, sorry) that would have much better than the Gargoyles.
So what do the Gargoyles do in the film?
They’re Quasimodo’s friends and guardians. They make [try] funny quips. They also make pop culture references. Disney has a habit of doing this. They started with the Genie in Aladdin. With the Genie it makes a level of sense because Genies are a supernatural beings, but in Hunchback this doesn’t work as well. The Gargoyles are part of Notre Dame, so how can they have inferences to the future? I don’t care that they magically – they’re part of an ancient building, they should be funny without making stupid references, Djali doesn’t resort it. Plus if they’re in fact imaginary, this means Quasimodo is the one doing it, so it makes even less sense. The only thing that the Gargoyles do well is they get Quasimodo off his ass and encourage him. But they also build Quasimodo’s expectations up too high. They convince him that Esmeralda is in love with him, which leads to some of Quasimodo’s emoness when she doesn’t reciprocate.
So the point of the Gargoyles is to provide levity but they just distract from the movie. Disney boasts the Hunchback as being their darkest movie but the Gargoyles hinder it. Plus the movie has some good levity already, Phoebus, Esmeralda, Clopin, Djali, Achilles, those bumbling guards, the old heretic, the torturer guy etc, they all provide good comedy while keeping the flow of the movie and without making references. Disney really could have done better in the sidekick department for Quasimodo.
Speaking of Sidekicks next time – Achilles and Djali
Today is Quasimodo Sunday ( Low Sunday… First Sunday after Easter)
So since Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame is character driven let’s look at the main characters.
Quasimodo
First let’s start with the titular character Quasimodo (Tom Hulce). Quasimodo is depicted as caring, gentle, kind, shy, and dreamer who dreams of something beyond his sheltered life (classic Disney Princess erm hero.) At first all he wants is to spend one day among the people of Paris and sings about it à la “Part of that World” type of “I want” song.
When someone shows him kindness he answers with loyalty. He does has a bit of an emo-side. Later in the film he hopes for love but that doesn’t come to fruition but he is happy that Phoebus and Esmeralda have each other and that is enough for him at the end of the film.
Frollo
The next important character is Frollo (Tony Jay). Frollo is a hypocritical judge who HATES the romani people. He regards them as the reason why Paris is going to hell in hand-basket. He sees no harm in killing people especially ugly babies if he views in the best interest of “justice.”
He also has a pious streak, which he quite proud of. During the course of the movie he develops an unhealthy obsession with Esmeralda where he uses tons of public funds to barrack her in Notre Dame and when she escapes he set Paris ablaze and then blames it other people because hey he just doing his job (it’s a good thing King Louis IX is not a main character or somebody would have been fired).
Esmeralda
Esmeralda (Demi Moore), the beautiful Romani dancer, who is often referred to as “girl” but she comes off as older than Quasimodo who is 20. She is kind and has a fierce sense of justice and loyalty. She knows a wide assortment of parlor tricks that she can use in a pinch. She also can read palms though she is is a dancer by trade.
Djali
Esmeralda is always accompanied by her pet Goat Djali. Djali turn offs include heights, ugly faces and hangings. Turn ons include dancing, money, and eating wood cravings. Djali is used more as comic relief but Djali is a from the original book.
Phoebus
Phoebus (Kevin Kline), another attractive character, Phoebus has been called back from the wars by Frollo to protect Paris from the Romani; an assignment he takes with major annoyance and a grain of salt. He has a dry wit and is a flirt but he also has a high sense of morality and won’t kill people just because crazy old Frollo says so. He also has a horse named Achilles who enjoys heeling and sitting on people he doesn’t care for.
Clopin
Clopin (Paul Kandal) , the leader of the Court of Miracle and the story teller. He is an extrovert who loves to have a good time whether it’s entertaining small children, all of Paris at the festival of fools or hanging trespassers. Where Clopin is the party is.
The Gargoyles
Gargoyles, the comic relief characters Victor (Charles Kimbrough), Hugo (Jason Alexander) and Laverne (Mary Wickes/Jane Withers). The three only come to life for Quasimodo and once for Djali. They have their distinctive personality, Victor is prim and calm, Hugo is loud and fun loving, and Laverne is old and tells it like it is. There loyal to their pal Quasimodo and to encourage him to follow his heart. But they’re annoying as all hell.
The Archdeacon
Archdeacon (David Ogden Stiers), the kind, caring, gentle, wise Archdeacon of Notre Dame. As Archdeacon he has some authority over Frollo and Frollo while not happy is at least compliant. He the one who guilts or rather scares into taking care of Quasimodo.
Next Time more on the more characters of Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Disney version starts off with Clopin (Paul Kandel) regaling small children with the tale of the mysterious bell ringer and how he came the position. Though a song (The Bells of Notre Dame) and a flashback Clopin tells of a group of Gypsies entering Paris via the Seine, the notable Gypsy is a women with a child. After docking the Romani are caught by Judge Claude Frollo (Tony Jay). Frollo doesn’t care much for gypsies and orders their arrest but when he tries to take the baby from the women (he thinks it stolen goods) she runs toward Notre Dame. After the chase Frollo kills the women on the steps of Notre Dame and Frollo tries to drown the child who is deformed. Before Frollo can do it he’s stop by the Archdeacon (David Ogden Stiers) who guilts Frollo into taking care of child but Frollo demands that the child must live in the bell-tower. Clopin then asks us to consider what the bells supposedly say “who is the monster and who is the man”
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