What color is Maleficent's skin in Sleeping Beauty?

Maleficent’s skin is green in Disney’s 1959 animated film Sleeping Beauty.

Her green face and hands are part of the character’s striking visual design, which contrasts with her black-and-purple clothing and tall, horned headdress. The unusual palette immediately separates her from the three good fairies and gives her a supernatural, otherworldly appearance before she casts a single spell.

Maleficent appears at Aurora’s christening after being excluded from the celebration. She calls herself the “Mistress of All Evil” and curses the infant princess to die from pricking her finger on a spinning-wheel spindle. Merryweather weakens the curse so that Aurora will instead fall into a deep sleep.

Viewers sometimes mix up Maleficent’s green skin with the color schemes of other Disney villains, particularly the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or the green-skinned Wicked Witch of the West. Maleficent’s design is distinctive: her skin is green, while her costume is predominantly black with purple accents. Her green complexion remains a recognizable feature of the animated character in later Disney merchandise and appearances.