The Aristocats was the first Disney Studios animated feature to be produced after Walt Disney 's death. A wealthy woman leaves her vast fortune to her four cats: the well-bred Duchess and her kittens Berlioz, Toulouse and Marie. Jealous butler Edgar, eager to get his mitts on the cats' legacy, abandons the felines in the French countryside. The four lost kitties are aided in their efforts to return home by the raffish country pussycats Thomas O'Malley and Scat Cat. In keeping with a tradition launched by The Jungle Book (1967), The Aristocats is top-heavy with celebrity voices, including Phil Harris , Eva Gabor , Scatman Crothers , Hermione Baddeley and the ineluctable Sterling Holloway . Assembled by the "nine old men" then in charge of animation, The Aristocats was a success, paving the way for future "post-Walt" cartoon features. — Hal Erickson