Cruella de Vil him that the purchaser of a house in Piccadilly, London is "a foreign nobleman, Count De Ville". Count De Ville, however, proves to be an alias for Count Dracula himself. It is also believed that the inspiration for the name began in 1939 when Dodie Smith purchased a new Rolls-Royce 25/30 "Sedanca de Ville" motorcar in which she and her pet Dalmatian "Pongo" frequently travelled, which also formed the basis of the cartoon imagery of Cruella's own motorcar. In the original story, Cruella is depicted as a pampered and glamorous London heiress who knows the owner of the Dalmatian puppies
Cruella de Vil has made her husband adopt her surname as his own, in an effort to carry on her family name. She and her husband have no children. Cruella is portrayed as the tyrannical figure in the marriage, and her husband as a meek, subservient man who seldom speaks and obeys his wife entirely. He supplies Cruella with extravagances, such as the white mink cloak she often wears with skin-tight satin gowns and ropes of jewels in contrasting colours, such as a black dress with ropes of pearls, or a green dress with ropes of rubies. Cruella's chauffeur-driven car is black-and-white striped,