Ursula (The Little Mermaid) from the sea. Ursula's appearance was also based on that of the character Norma Desmond, who appears in the film "Sunset Boulevard" (1950). Divine never lived to see his own likeness appear in "The Little Mermaid"; the actor died in 1988, one year before the film's release. However, his cohorts agree that Divine would have greatly enjoyed Ursula. Documentarian Jeffrey Schwartz joked that the actor would have wanted to play Ursula himself had he known about the character, having once told Waters "When I was young, all I wanted to be was a Disney villain". About.com's David Nusair observed that
Ursula (The Little Mermaid) Bad to Worst". Moviefone ranked Ursula seventh on the website's list of the thirty greatest Disney villains of all-time. TVOvermind also ranked Ursula seventh in its article "Ranking the Top 10 Animated Disney Villains". Recognizing Ursula among "8 Disney villains who are better than the heroes", Beamly's Sophie Hall believes that the character "had more charisma than Ariel". By extension, Ursula is also often considered to be among the greatest animated villains of all-time. Sky Movies included the character on the website's list "Despicable Them: Top Animated Villains". The "Toronto Sun" ranked Ursula the third "top animated [villain] of all