First Disney actress dies, aged 90

Virginia Davis, who is widely regarded as the first actress for Walt Disney Pictures, has died at the age of 90.

In 1923, Walt Disney hired the young girl to star in his first action-animated film entitled Alice's Wonderland for his Laugh-O-Gram studio, after spotting the 4-year old in an advertisement for Warneker's Bread, the Orange County Register reports.

Disney then convinced Davis's parents to move out to California, where he created a whole series of Alice shorts, which were directed by his filmmaker brother Roy in their garage studio.

She starred in 13 adventures as the titular character, each running from five to ten minutes. She later auditioned for the lead role of Snow White in Disney's first full-length animated feature. However, her mother turned down the part for the minor, as she believed the pay was too low.

She later earned a degree at the New York School of Interior Design, which led her to become a decorating editor for popular 1950s magazine Living for Young Homemakers.

In recent years, Davis appeared at silent film festivals, while in 1998 she was inducted as a Disney Legend by the studio.