Cruella Deville

Cruella de Vil is a fictional character in the English author Dodie Smith's 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians. A pampered and glamorous London heiress and fashion designer, she appears in Walt Disney Productions' animated feature film One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), voiced by Betty Lou Gerson; in Disney's 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure (2003), voiced by Susanne Blakeslee; in Disney's live-action 101 Dalmatians (1996) and 102 Dalmatians (2000), portrayed by Glenn Close; as well as Cruella (2021), portrayed by Emma Stone; and in many other Disney sequels and spin-offs.

In most of her incarnations, Cruella kidnaps the 15 puppies of the main Dalmatian characters, Pongo and Perdita, intending to turn them into fur coats along with 84 other Dalmatian puppies she legally bought before. The live-action Disney film reveals that Cruella chooses to skin puppies because when short-haired dogs grow older, their fur becomes coa.r.s.e and does not sell as well as the fine, soft fur of puppies.

Cruella has become a pop cultural icon and a symbol of greed, vanity, evil, and cruelty to animals. Disney's Cruella ranked 39th on AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains.

Name

Cruella de Vil is a pun of the words cruel and devil, an allusion that is emphasised by having her English country house nicknamed 'Hell Hall'. The name 'de Vil' is also a literary allusion to Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), in which the realty firm Mitchell, Sons & Candy write a letter to Lord Godalming informing him that the purchaser of a house in Piccadilly, London, is "a foreign nobleman, Count De Ville". Count De Ville, however, proves to be an alias for Count Dracula himself.

It is also believed that the name is inspired by the Rolls-Royce 25/30 "Sedanca de Ville" motorcar bought by Dodie Smith in 1939, in which she and her pet Dalmatian "Pongo" frequently travelled, which also formed the basis of the cartoon imagery of Cruella's own motorcar.  In automotive coachbuilding, the term "de Ville" had originally indicated a vehicle with a separate compartment for the driver or chauffeur but by mid-twentieth century simply bespoke ostentatious luxury, as befits the overprivileged Cruella.

In some translations of the name, other wordplay is used to similar effect as the name in English. For instance:

• In Bulgarian, her name is Круела Де Вил (Kruela De Vil), but some properties use her translated name, Злобара Де Мон (Zlobara De Mon)—"злоба" meaning malice, spite, or malevolence.
• In Dutch, the name remains 'De Vil'. By coincidence, the Dutch verb for 'skinning' is villen, and vil is the conjugation of this verb for the first person singular.
• In Finnish, she is known as Julmia Juoninen, a name formed from the words julma (cruel) and juoni (plot, scheme).
• In French, she is referred as 'Cruella d'Enfer'—literally meaning 'Cruella of Hell' or 'from Hell'.
• In Hungarian, her name is Szörny Ella (Ella Monster) in the books and Szörnyella de Frász (Monsterella de Fright) in her Disney appearances.
• In Italian, she is called 'Crudelia De Mon'—a pun on crudele ('cruel') and demonio ('demon')
• In Polish (among other translations), the character is known as 'Cruella De Mon'—a play on the word 'demon'. She is also known as Torturella de Mon, a pun on the word 'tortura' (torture).
• In Brazilian Portuguese, Cruella is known as 'Cruela Cruel', which straightforwardly stems from 'cruel'.
• In both Spanish and European Portuguese, the name remains 'De Vil', but instead of representing "devil", it represents words for "from vileness" or "from villainy".
• In Russian, her name is Стервелла Де Виль (Stervella De Vil), from "стерва" (***, as a human character derogative term).
• In Serbian, her name is Круела Де Вил (Kruela De Vil), but some properties use her translated name, Злица од Опака (Zlica od Opaka)—"злица" meaning evil, and "од Опака" meaning wicked.
• In Ukrainian, her name is Лютелла Де Віль (Lyutella De Vil), a pun on the word "лють" (fury). She is also known as Лютелла Де Явол (Lyutella De Yavol), where Де Явол is very similar to the word "диявол" (devil).