ADRIANA CASELOTTI, SNOW WHITE'S VOICE.

Byline: Stacy Brown Daily News Staff Writer

Adriana Caselotti, who helped make movie history by providing the voice for Snow White, the heroine of Walt Disney's first feature-length cartoon, has died at her Los Angeles home.

She was 80 when she succumbed to cancer Sunday, said officials of Walt Disney Pictures.

The daughter of a well-known Los Angeles vocal coach, Caselotti was 15 years old when a call was made to her father by a Disney casting representative inquiring if any of his students might have a suitable voice for the lead role in ``Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.''

Caselotti, listening in on the conversation, chimed in, ``Listen to me - wouldn't my voice do?''

Not only did she get the singing part, animators studied her gestures during her performances for inspiration in drawing the Snow White character for the film - which is 60 years old this year.

She never lost her sense of fun and enthusiasm for the character, said Roy E. Disney, vice chairman of The Walt Disney Co.

Caselotti's home in the Larchmont area of Los Angeles featured a ``wishing well'' on her front lawn and a doorbell which would greet visitors with the tune, ``I'm wishing for the one I love to find me today. Goodbye, Grumpy. Dinner!''

Disney called her death the end of an era.

``We really feel as if we've lost a member of the family,'' he said in a written statement. ``Adriana played such an important part in our history and became the true embodiment of that wonderful character.''

Born in Bridgeport, Conn., on May 6, 1916, Caselotti came from a musical family and, according to friends, began to sing before she could talk.

Her father, Guido, was born in Italy and went on to teach music in New York City for 40 years. Her mother, Maria, from Naples, sang at the Royal Opera and her sister, Louise, was an opera singer and teacher who trained Maria Callas.

Widowed three times, Caselotti married Florian St. Pierre in 1989. Caselotti was honored in 1994 with a Disney Legends Award and her handprints in cement in front of the Studio Theater in Hollywood.

``I feel very blessed,'' she said at the time. ``Not everyone gets the chance to be part of a genuine classic like `Snow White.' And it's very exciting to hear songs like `Some Day My Prince Will Come' and `Whistle While You Work' and know that you're the person who introduced them.''

As for the voice she used in ``Snow White,'' she recalled: ``I had to push it up, so to speak, to get that Never-neverland quality Mr. Disney was looking for.''

For the role of Snow White, she was paid just $960 and Disney retained the rights to the character.

Caselotti is survived by St. Pierre; her sister, Louise Caselotti, of New York City; and her close friend, Gary Stark of Hollywood Hills.

Disney officials said there will be no memorial services and in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Humane Society.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Adriana Caselotti

Inspired film's animators