Ramsley
Background information
Feature films
Portrayed by
Character information
Occupation
Home
Likes
Dislikes
Powers and abilities
Status
Ramsley is the main antagonist ofDisney's2003 live-action fantasy comedy filmThe Haunted Mansion.
Appearances[]
The Haunted Mansion[]
Ramsley was a sophisticated chief servant and father figure ofEdward Gracey, the master of the Mansion. However, he uses the relationship to manipulate Edward.
When Edward fell in love withElizabeth Henshaw, Ramsley saw this as a "disgrace" that could ruin the house. In an attempt to prevent Edward from abandoning his home and lineage, Ramsley murdered Elizabeth by poisoning her drink and sent Edward a note from Elizabeth that he forged, making it appear as suicide viapoison. However, Ramsley did not expect that the loss of his master's beloved would devastate Edward into following suit and hanging himself. Upon Edward's death, a curse was cast over the mansion: Until Elizabeth and Edward's spirits were reunited, none of the inhabitants' ghosts could pass over to the High Heavens.
Many years later,Jim Evers, a real estate agent, and his family were lured to Gracey Manor, as Jim's wife,Sara was the spitting image of Elizabeth, and Ramsley believed that she could satisfy his master's loneliness, and they could at last move on.
Jim and his kids,Megan andMichael, manage to discover the truth behind Elizabeth's "suicide", but Ramsley appears and reveals his crime which he committed as he believed Edward and Elizabeth's relationship was deemed unacceptable due to Elizabeth herself being an African American. He locks the kids in a chest and throws Jim Evers out of the mansion so they can't tell Edward the truth. Meanwhile, Sara is confronted by Edward. He believes that she is Elizabeth's reincarnation, but she denies him and runs away in terror. Edward begins to doubt that this is his lover reborn, but Ramsley assures him that Sara is Elizabeth, and tells his master to prepare for his long-awaited wedding. The butler then blackmails Sara into agreeing to the marriage by threatening Megan and Michael.
At the wedding, Ramsley plays the part of the priest, and puts poison into the ceremonial wine, in order to kill Sara. At the last second, after freeing the kids from the chest, Jim shows a letter to Edward from Elizabeth with the promise of marriage.
Edward demands the truth from Ramsley, and the butler finally admits his role in ending the "unacceptable" union. Enraged, he reveals his true nature as a demonic spirit and attempts to attack Jim Evers by summoning wraiths, but a fiery dragon comes out of a fireplace, frightens away the wraiths, and grabs Ramsley for murdering Elizabeth, betraying Edward, and blackmailing the other residents and drags him to damnation. As revenge for his plans being foiled, Ramsley grabs onto Jim Evers, attempting to bring him to damnation with him, but Edward saves Jim at the last second, leaving Ramsley to damnation.
Trivia[]
- He is one of the fewDisney Villains (along withMaleficent,Frollo,Forte, andSkinner) to say "hell."
- Ramsley is the second Disney villain to be a butler behind their master's back, the first beingEdgar Balthazar fromThe Aristocats.
- Terrence Stamp was rather disappointed with the film, stating that a lot of work he did didn't make it into the final cut.[citation needed]
- When Ramsley is talking with Ezra and Emma in the attic, he asks them if they seen Michael and Megan who are not in their room, and then reminds them the children he is looking for saying "Her children. The children she wasn't supposed to bring, along with that brainless husband of hers," and tells them, if they bring Michael and Megan to him if they find them, this foreshadowed his true nature which he revealed later in the film when the truth behind Elizabeth's suicide was discovered.
- When Ramsley was furious about with Edward Gracey after he lied to him after she murder Elizabeth until the curse will be broken with the former shouting and his last words: "Well, damn you. Damn you all... to HELL!!" This is a reference to the 1968 20th Century Fox. film Planet of the Apes.
