Madame Medusa is the main villain from Walt Disney Productions' 1977 classic animated film, The Rescuers. Madame Medusa was inspired by the Diamond Duchess from Margery Sharp's 1959 children's novel, Miss Bianca; early sketches of her design showed similarities to the drawings by Garth Williams. Madame Medusa was animated by veteran Disney animator Milt Kahl and voiced by Geraldine Page.Madame Medusa had kidnapped Penny from her home at Morningside Orphanage in order to use her to obtain the Devil's Eye, the world's largest diamond. She had left her partner, Mr. Snoops, in charge of Penny while she searched for the diamond. Mr. Snoops, Penny and Madame's aligators, Brutus and Nero, resided in an uncharted island off of the Atlantic Ocean, in a large, abandoned riverboat floating in a gloomy swamp called Devil's Bayou. Numerous times, Mr. Snoops had taken Penny to the Black Bayou, located near the shore, to search for the Devil's Eye. Madame Medusa's map revealed that the precious jewel was hidden somewhere inside a dark, underground cave where pirates had left it centuries before. Little did any of them know that the jewel was in fact hidden inside the cranium of an old pirate skeleton. Mr. Snoops' too soft character prevented him from being too hard with Penny, and the girl refused to search for the diamond in fear that her beloved teddy bear, Teddy, might get wet. Tired of her partner's alibis, Madame Medusa had decided to take matters into her own hands. Enraged, she left behind her New York City pawn shop for Devil's Bayou, where her cruel, black-hearted character would make Penny enter the cave and retrieve the jewel once and for all. Madame Medusa had no qualms about doing anything to obtain the Devil's Eye, whether it be to motivate Penny by taking 'Teddy' away, or shooting her with her shotgun in order to prevent her from escaping with her treasure. Madame Medusa's uncontrolled anger, greed and cruelty bring on her own downfall; she cheats Mr. Snoops of his fair share of the treasure and uses a rope to whip Brutus and Nero when trying to prevent Penny's escape, thus losing the loyalty of all three. Madame Medusa crashed against one of the riverboat's pipes and was left under the threat of being eaten by her own aligators if she tried to climb down. Quite possibly, when her strength gave in, Madame Medusa fell to her death.The character of Madame Medusa was imitated in Disney's 1989 film, The Little Mermaid, where she shares a large number of similarities with that film's villain, Ursula the sea-witch. Not only do the two share facial similarities, they also act and behave in ways that are very similar. For instance, Madame Medusa tends to dance in a sloppy sort of way when she is convinced her plans will work, Ursula dances in a similar way during the song Poor Unfortunate Souls. Madame Medusa cannot control her greedy laughter when she gets her hands on the Devil's Eye, and neither can Ursula when she gets her hands on Triton's trident. Madame Medusa knows how to motivate Penny, by putting that which is more precious to her at peril, so does Ursula when in order to motivate Triton, she threatens the life of her most precious daughter, Ariel. At one point, Madame Medusa is watched by Penny as she removes her make-up in front of her vanity; Ursula, on the other hand, is watched by Ariel putting on make-up in front of her own vanity. Finally, Madame Medusa has a pair of identical reptiles whom she lovingly refers to as pets and petsy-poos, in the same way that Ursula refers to her beloved pair of identical eels as poopsies. Show less «