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Ginni Mack, The Original Model For Tinker Bell In ‘Peter Pan,’ Has Passed Away

By Danny Cox
Published on: 10:46 PST, Aug 30, 2017

The world has lost a great person as one of the most recognizable faces in the world has passed away. Many people may not automatically recognize the name of Ginni Mack, but they know her face as she is the model who was used to inspire none other than the iconic Tinker Bell. Not only did she provide the look for the feisty pixie in Disney’s Peter Pan, but she was also known as one of the original “Ink & Paint Girls” in Disney Animation.

Ginni Mack was 90 years old.

According to Animation Magazine, Ginni Mack died on Aug. 23, 2017, but the news of her passing is just starting to make the social media rounds. Her death was first reported by a family friend named Mindy Johnson who is also a Disney historian.

Mack did a lot for The Walt Disney Company where she worked as an ink and paint artist who worked her way up the ranks. However, it wasn’t until legendary animator Marc Davis discovered her and asked her about being the model for Tinker Bell in the 1953 animated hit Peter Pan that her face became iconic.

Believe it or not, the world didn’t even know that Mack was the model for Tinker Bell until 2012. It was a full 60 years after the release of Peter Pan that the people at Disney confirmed the model for one of their most iconic characters was Ginni Mack.

She was originally hired on for the Ink & Paint Department at Walt Disney Studios in June of 1946 when she was just 18 years old. She worked for the company until late 1952 when she left Disney to work for some other animation studios and even started a production company of her own with her husband Brice.

Ginni simply couldn’t stay away from the Mouse, though, as she returned to Disney Studios in 1977. She worked on Pete’s Dragon and a number of other films over the years to become one of the truly great artists at Disney.

Ginni Mack is a true pioneer for all in the world of animation and she did it for a very long time at Walt Disney Studios and numerous other places. Her life was full of bringing characters to life on the page and being one of the first ever “Ink & Paint Girls.” Her death brings about much sadness for those that knew her personally as she was a family member and a friend, while to the world, she was none other than Tinker Bell.

[Featured Image by Disney]

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