Disney’s Original Tinker Bell Says Her Role Was Filmed Without Any Digital Tools: ‘Everything Was Done By Hand’

The actress who played the original Tinker Bell in Disney’s animated Peter Pan is opening up about what her role entailed — and how the character was modelled directly after her.

Margaret Kerry, 96, served as live-action reference model for Tinker Bell in Disney’s animated Peter Pan, released in 1953. In an interview with Woman’s World, Kerry spoke about her career while appearing at Mayberry Days, an annual Andy Griffith Show celebration, telling the outlet her Tinker Bell role “seems like a hundred years ago,” adding, “But it was… what, 75? Almost 80 years ago now.”

At the time of the film’s production in the 1950s, there were still no digital tools — with Kerry telling the outlet that she was selected as Tinker Bell so the character could be built around her.

“At that time, they didn’t have electronics. Everything was done by hand,” she told Woman’s World. “So, they cast a person in the role and then filmed them with 35-millimeter film … a man on a little cart with a pad that came out, and that was the camera.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The man would then roll the camera around Berry as she acted out scenes in silence via gestures and reactions, with the live-action shots taking nine months to complete.

Speaking to Wilma Mag in a recent interview, Kerry noted the duration of her career, touching on her favorite roles to date. “I have a career that reaches back to 1934, and I loved it. Sometimes I was an extra, and sometimes I was given lines, but I was in the business,” she said. “I loved doing Tinker Bell, my favorite role. My second favorite role is The Little Rascals. My third favorite is The Andy Griffith Show. That was a joy.”

When Kerry approached Disney animator Marc Davis about how he wanted Tinker Bell to appear in the shots, he simply said, “Margaret, we want her to be you.”

“I said, ‘Golly, I can do that,’ ” she told Woman’s World, adding, “I turned her into a dancer,” and noting that there’s “always a ballet move” in the character’s gestures.

She also explained to the outlet how the filming process worked for the animated film, saying, “They would process the film, and then pick out the main frames. Marc Davis would do what he wanted with that frame and start the movement. And the in-betweeners would do each frame or every other frame, all by hand. Six hundred and fifty thousand pieces of art were done for that movie.”

“When I asked my boss how he wanted me to play Tinker Bell, he gave me carte blanche,” she told Wilma Mag. “He said he wanted Tinker Bell to be me. I love people, and people loved Tinker Bell, so it was a great match. Also, I’m a person who can’t wait to see what’s around the corner, no matter what happens. And that’s exactly who Tinker Bell is. She could hardly wait to peek around the corner to see what’s going on.”