Maurice is the name of Belle’s father in Disney’s 2017 film Beauty and the Beast.
Kevin Kline played Maurice, who is presented as an inventor and a loving, protective parent. At the beginning of the story, Maurice travels to a market and becomes trapped in the Beast’s castle after picking a rose from the grounds. Belle later takes his place as the Beast’s prisoner, beginning the central relationship of the film.
The 2017 version gives Maurice more personal history than the 1991 animated film. It establishes that Belle’s mother died in Paris during a plague outbreak, and Maurice and the young Belle later moved to the provincial village. These additions help explain their close relationship and Belle’s independence.
Maurice is also the father’s name in Disney’s 1991 animated film. The name comes from the Disney adaptations rather than being a universal feature of every Beauty and the Beast version.