It always amazes me just how far-reaching the world of Disney has become. And every time I find a connection to Disney – however remote – I feel obligated to share it.

For instance, several years ago, I came across a movie from 1946 called The Harvey Girls, where I discovered a number of Disney connections in the cast, including Angela Lansbury (who would go on to voice Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast) and Virginia Davis in her last screen appearance. Ms. Davis starred in Walt Disney’s ground-breaking Alice Comedies series in the mid-1920s.

The film Red Badge of Courage, released in 1951, featured a performance by Royal Dano, who was credited as The Tattered Man, a dying Union soldier. Dano bore a striking resemblance to Abraham Lincoln and portrayed him in a number of films and TV shows during his career.

Dano was personally selected by Walt Disney to do Lincoln’s voice for the Audio-Animatronics figure in the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln show at the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair, as well as Lincoln’s voice in the Hall of Presidents attraction in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.

I recently came across a singer/songwriter Carol Connors, who was the lead singer in a group called The Teddy Bears and who had a No. 1 hit record in 1958 with the song “To Know Him Is To Love Him.” At the time, Carol was known by her birth name, Annette Kleinbard.

Connors was still in high school when “To Know Him Is To Love Him” topped the charts. The song was written by bandmate Phil Spector, who would go on to fame and fortune as a record producer before being convicted of murder and spending the rest of his life in prison.

Although The Teddy Bears recorded several albums, they never came close to the success they had achieved with “To Know Him Is To Love Him.” Because of that, and the fact that Kleinbard was seriously injured in a car accident, The Teddy Bears broke up in 1960.

After The Teddy Bears disbanded, Connors briefly dated Elvis Presley.

But she continued to pursue her music career, writing and recording songs. During this time, she officially changed her name to Carol Connors to avoid confusion with Disney Studios star Annette Funicello.

She is credited with writing the hit song “Hey Little Cobra,” performed by The Rip Chords, before receiving an Academy Award nomination for the theme song to the film Rocky, “Gonna Fly Now,” which she co-authored with Ayn Robbins. The music was composed by Bill Conti.

She also sang the theme song to the 1977 film Orca, titled “My Love, We Are One” heard in the film’s final credits.

And what, you may ask, is Carol Connors Disney connection?

At the same time “Gonna Fly Now” was capturing America’s attention in 1976, Connors and Robbins were asked by co-director Woolie Reitherman to add more “contemporary” songs during the production of the animated Disney classic film The Rescuers.

Reitherman called Connors and Robbins into his office and showed them storyboards of the main characters Bernard and Bianca flying on the bird Orville.

Connors and Robbins then composed “Tomorrow Is Another Day” to accompany the scene. They also composed the symphonic piece “The Journey” which was played during the film’s opening credits. They also wrote the song “Someone’s Waiting for You,” which was cut from the film at the last minute.

Connors has stayed active over the last few years, but in very different ways.

In 1995, she was called to testify at the murder trial of O.J. Simpson. It turns out Connors had seen Simpson at a charity event the night before the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman.

More recently, Connors wrote her autobiography, along with Steve Bergsman, Elvis, ‘Rocky’ and Me: The Carol Connors Story, for Bear Manor Media.

The audio version of her book, which was narrated by celebrated actress Kathy Garver and produced by Connors and David Longoria, received a Grammy nomination for the 68^th Grammy Awards, which will be broadcast on Feb. 1.

And if you really want to stretch her Disney connection, Carol Connors was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey … which is where Disney Legend Marty Sklar was born.

Chuck Schmidt is an award-winning journalist and retired Disney cast member who has covered all things Disney since 1984 in both print and on-line. He has authored or co-authored eight books on Disney, including his On the Disney Beat and The Beat Goes On, as well as his latest, Marty, Mickey and Me, all for Theme Park Press. He has written a regular blog for AllEars.Net, called Still Goofy About Disney, since 2015.

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