The True Story of 101 Dalmatians

Best known by the animated 1961 Walt Disney classic and the 1996 live-action film with Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil, 101 Dalmations is actually based on a book by British children's novelist and playwright Dodie Smith titled "The Hundred and One Dalmatians, or The Great Dog Robbery."

Inspired by her own experience as owner of nine dalmatians, the oldest of which was named Pongo, she wrote the children's novel in 1956 after one of her friends casually noted, “Those dogs would make a lovely fur coat.”

Smith wrote a sequel in 1967 titled "The Starlight Barking." The live-action film had a sequel, 102 Dalmations, in 2000.

A 2021 spin-off, Cruella, focuses on the attempted puppy killer villain of the story: Cruella De Vil. Starring Emma Thompson and Emma Stone, this film tells the backstory of Cruella’s early life during London’s punk rock revolution.


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