 Robby Benson as The Beast – A young prince who is transformed into a beast by a beautiful enchantress as punishment for his arrogance . He has the head structure and horns of an American bison , the arms and body of a bear , the ears of a deer , the eyebrows of a gorilla , the jaws , teeth , and mane of a lion , the tusks of a wild boar and the legs and tail of a wolf . Chris Sanders , one of the film 's storyboard artists , drafted the designs for the Beast and came up with designs based on birds , insects , and fish before coming up with something close to the final design . Glen Keane , supervising animator for the Beast , refined the design by going to the zoo and studying the animals on which the Beast was based . Benson commented , " There 's a rage and torment in this character I 've never been asked to use before . " The filmmakers commented that " everybody was big fee @-@ fi @-@ fo @-@ fum and gravelly " while Benson 's voice had the " big voice and the warm , accessible side " and that " you could hear the prince beneath the fur . " 
