Robby Benson
Beast
Robby Benson was the voice of Beast. He was thirty-three at the time of recording, and with a clean-cut image that seemed the exact opposite of the character to whom he would give voice.
Benson's career accomplishments extend into numerous film-fields - he is credited as an actor, director, producer and writer! Sometimes appearing in credits as Robby Segal, he currently has nearly forty movie/TV titles to his name. Early work for Benson included overdubbing children's voices in foreign films.
Check Robby Benson's current details in his entry on the Internet Movie Database.
Robby Benson: voice of Beast
Belle
Paige O'Hara
Paige O'Hara as Belle
As the voice of Belle, Paige O'Hara was in competition with Jodie Benson (the voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid. O'Hara was preferred for Belle by Howard Ashman, who argued that she had a classical vocal quality that was more suited to the traditional European background of the fairy tale; whereas Jodie Benson's voice was more that of an 'all-American-girl'.
Richard White
Gaston
Richard White's background is in opera and stage singing; he has appeared in the Maury Yeston/Arthur Kopit version of 'Phantom' - taking the title role. He also has acting and editing credits to his name - for more details, see the entry in the Internet Movie Database.
(Grateful thanks to Kristin Cheddar for this info!)
Richard White: Gaston
Cogsworth
David Ogden Stiers
David Ogden Stiers: the tightly-wound Cogsworth
David Ogden Stiers was chosen to portray the archetypal 'stuffy Brit.' that was the heart of Cogsworth's character.
Stiers rose to fame as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III in M*A*S*H; however since his casting in Beauty and the Beast he has been involved in other successful Disney projects.
As an aside, he hosted the 'Work In Progress' feature that was included in the Collectors Edition Boxed Set of Beauty and the Beast.
Jerry Orbach
Lumiere
Another Howard Ashman choice, Jerry Orbach had the 'Maurice Chevalier' voice needed to portray Lumiere's barely suppressed French exuberance!
Orbach has over forty movie and TV appearances to his credit; he has also guested in the US comedy Frasier and appeared alongside fellow BatB voice Angela Lansbury in Murder, She Wrote...
Check the full details on Jerry Orbach at the Internet Movie Database.
Jerry Orbach: the voice of Lumiere
Mrs Potts
Angela Lansbury
Angela Lansbury as Mrs Potts
Angela Lansbury had the perfect voice for the motherly Mrs. Potts. Despite her initial concerns over her ability to handle the key song in the film (the title ballad, Beauty and the Beast, which is central to the Ballroom sequence), she used her considerable radio experience to create her character.
Check Angela Lansbury's biography.
Jesse Corti
Lefou
With numerous TV credits, Jesse Corti made a guest appearance as Jade in an episode of Gargoyles; - 'The Green'.
See Corti's entry on the Internet Movie Database.
Jesse Corti: voice of French buffoon Lefou
Maurice
Rex Everhardt
Rex Everhardt played Belle's father, Maurice
Rex Everhardt appeared as Benjamin Franklin in the Broadway musical '1776' in the late sixties (early seventies?), and in the 1988 Broadway revival of 'Anything Goes' with Patti LuPone.
Grateful thanks to Kristin Cheddar for this info!
Several of the 'voices' in Beauty and the Beast have reappeared in
more recent Disney animated features. David Ogden Stiers portrayed the grasping
and ambitious Governer Ratcliffe in Pocahontas (and, incidentally, his
sidekick Wiggins); plus he played the Archdeacon in The Hunchback of NotreDame.