From Folklore to Film: The History of Cinderella

Originally from Tuan Ch'eng-Shih's's Yu Yang Tsa Tsu ("Miscellany of Forgotten Lore"), Yeh-Hsien has also become a children's book. As the oldest known Cinderella story recorded in China, the tale features no fairy godmother, but instead a magical fish — and a golden slipper.

Grimms brothers Jacob and Wilhelm published Kinder-und Hausmärchen in 1812. The collection of 50 fairy tales included "Aschenputtel," which followed a Cinderella much darker than Perrault's. In their version of the tale, a tree is planted on Cinderella's mother's grave, and magical doves help her instead of a fairy godmother. In the end, the ugly stepsisters are punished by birds from the tree who peck their eyes out.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Directed by Georges Méliès, the 1899 black and white French film Cinderella is known as the first Cinderella-inspired movie.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Popular actress Mary Pickford stars in James Kirkwood's silent-film adaptation of Cinderella from 1914.

J. M. Barrie, best known for creating Peter Pan, penned A Kiss For Cinderella, which was produced on Broadway in 1916. In the Cinderella-inspired play, a young girl named Jane cares for orphans during World War I while dreaming of a Prince Charming in her own fantasy world. In 1925 it was made into a silent feature film starring Betty Bronson.

The 1922 animated short Cinderella is an early black and white Disney adaptation of the classic tale.

The 1934 animated short Poor Cinderella is the Betty Boop interpretation of the story — and the only Betty Boop cartoon filmed in color.

As the Disney studio's 12th animated feature, Cinderella was a critical and public success that's now one of the company's most iconic stories. With memorable music, funny animal friends, and plenty of comic moments, it's the classic Perrault tale with a typical Disney twist.

Jerry Lewis stars as an odd but lovable man guided by his fairy godfather in 1960's Cinderfella, a farcical twist on the traditional tale.

The 1976 British musical-turned-movie The Slipper and the Rose stars Richard Chamberlain as Prince Edward and Gemma Craven as Cinderella.

The 1978 musical TV film Cindy features an all-black cast including Cindy, a young girl who dreams of marrying an army officer.

Shelley Duvall's 1985 Faerie Tale Theatre: Cinderella aired on Showtime for six seasons — a modern, live-action version of the story starring Jennifer Beals and a very-young Matthew Broderick.

The 1991 TV production Into the Woods brought the popular 1987 Broadway musical to the masses, and it will again take to the big screen with the 2014 live-action film. The story includes several fairy-tale characters including Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel. Watch Kim Crosby perform "On the Steps of the Palace" as Cinderella.

Cinderella made it to the big screen once again — this time named Danielle de Barbarac‚ in 1998's Ever After starring Drew Barrymore and Anjelica Huston. The film has a historical-fiction spin thanks to a Renaissance-era setting and Leonardo da Vinci as the helpful fairy godmother figure.

On her 2001 album, Britney, Britney Spears recorded a song called "Cinderella":

Here I am, so try to forgive me
I don't believe in fairy tales
Here we are with nothing but honesty
I've had enough, I'm not gonna stay

I'm sorry for running away like this
And I'm sorry I've already made my wish
Ah, but Cinderella's got to go

Anne Hathaway stars as Ella (alongside adorable Hugh Dancy) in Ella Enchanted, the 2004 film interpretation of a book by Gail Carson Levine.

In 2004's A Cinderella Story, Hilary Duff stars as Sam, a teenager who doesn't get along with her stepmom and hopes to start a relationship with a guy she met on the Internet — Austin, played by Chad Michael Murray.

Celebrities have been posing as Disney characters over the years in Annie Leibovitz's Disney Dream Portrait series, and in 2007 Scarlett Johansson stepped into Cinderella's glass slippers for this beautiful photo.

All the fairy-tale characters make cameos in ABC's Once Upon a Time show, and in 2011, Cinderella (played by Jessy Schram) was introduced in the fourth episode of the first season. She makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin, unknowingly promising him her first-born child, which alludes to the original fairy tale of Rumpelstiltskin.

Kristen Wiig was hilarious as a drunk, train-wreck version of Cinderella in the 2012 Saturday Night Live skit "Real Housewives of Disney." I especially liked her relationship advice: "Never marry a guy who's really into shoes."

At just 21 years old, Keke Palmer made history when she stepped into the glass slippers, becoming the first African American woman to play Cinderella on Broadway. She spoke to POPSUGAR Beauty about it:

"I can't say it was a role that I always knew I would play. It did come as a surprise to me when it ended up being my first role on Broadway. I hoped for the opportunity to be on Broadway, but I never imagined it would be Cinderella."

A big-screen version of the musical Into the Woods is set to be out Christmas 2014, starring Anna Kendrick as Cinderella and Chris Pine as her prince. See more photos from the film here.

Downton Abbey's cousin Rose, actress Lily James, stars in Kenneth Branagh's live-action version of Cinderella alongside Game of Thrones actor Richard Madden as Prince Charming. The Disney film — which also stars Helena Bonham Carter as the fairy godmother (amazing) and Cate Blanchett as the evil stepmother — comes out this week.