Mary Costa - a life in pictures

Mary Costa was born in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1930. She is one of America's most noted sopranos, and performed in over 40 operas during her career. Photograph: Joe Corrigan/Getty

In 1954 she was hired to provide the voice of Princess Aurora in the Disney animation Sleeping Beauty. The film was Disney's 16th animated feature and its first in the wide-screen 70mm format. Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive

Walt Disney's film was based on the 1890 ballet by Tchaikovsky. Here the animator outlines his vision of the movie to Costa. Photograph: Kobal

Lost artwork from the film was recently found in Japan. The character of Aurora was reportedly based on Audrey Hepburn, while her eventual saviour, Prince Philip, was named after our own Duke of Edinburgh. Photograph: Disney

Sleeping Beauty tells the story of a beautiful princess who is cast into an enchanted slumber by a wicked fairy. The character of Aurora has the least lines of dialogue of any Disney star with the exception of Dumbo. She utters her first line after 19-minutes and her last on just 39-minutes into the film. Photograph: Disney

Production on Sleeping Beauty ground on for several years. "It was tedious, but marvelous," Costa remembers. The film was eventually released early in 1959. Photograph: Disney

Away from Disney Mary Costa earned a reputation as one of the finest singers of her generation. She studied with Igor Stravinsky and worked with an eclectic range of talents that included Leonard Bernstein, Charlie Parker and Bing Crosby. Photograph: Ernst Haas/Getty

Mary Costa attracted rave reviews for her work on stage in La Traviata ... Photograph: Mary Costa

... and Midsummer Night's Dream. Photograph: Mary Costa

Her fans included John F. Kennedy. Following the president's assassination in 1963, his widow - Jacqueline Kennedy - personally requested that Costa sing at his memorial. "I was proud that I did a good job," she says. Photograph: AP

But Jacqueline Kennedy was not the only first lady who Costa bonded with. She once shared a hot dog with Eleanor Roosevelt, giving her secret service detail the slip after recording a chat-show together. Photograph: AFP