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1-6 of 6
- Actress
- Soundtrack
As Disney's lively lass Katie O'Gill, she was the freshness of spring. She could inspire you to dance a jig through a field of flowers. Her entrancing green eyes and catchy spirit had that kind of life-affirming effect. Cute, spunky, almond-eyed British actress Janet Munro was deemed to be an actress from day one as the daughter of Scottish stage and variety-hall comedian Alex Munro (1911-1986) (born Alexander Horsburgh). Janet Neilson Horsburgh was born in Blackpool (near Liverpool), Lancashire, England on September 28, 1934. Her entertainer father adopted the name Munro a few years after she was born. His wife, Janet's mother Phyllis, died when Janet was 8 and she was raised by his second wife, Lilias.
Janet first trained as a teenager in repertory theatre in the Lancashire area, and in the late 1950s she found popularity on British TV, even earning the title of "Miss Television of 1958" from a fan magazine. She also dabbled in films and had prominent roles in the breezy comedy Small Hotel (1957), the drama The Young and the Guilty (1959), and the creepy sci-fi/horror The Crawling Eye (1958) [aka The Trollenberg Terror].
Adaptable to both comedy and drama, the little charmer caught the eye of Walt Disney who saw big things for her, and she was signed to a five-picture deal in 1959. She made four. Appealing to a brand new generation of Britishers and Americans as the scrappy, brunette-banged ingénue of several box-office family films, she brightened up the screen with her performances in Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959), Third Man on the Mountain (1959), and Swiss Family Robinson (1960).
The Golden Globe winner for "most promising newcomer" eventually outgrew Disney and tried to move ahead by altering her wholesome image with some mature, spicier roles, but audiences didn't respond well to this sudden departure. The idea of an adult Janet Munro playing overly-sexy ladies and seriously downtrodden women did not take and her career quickly faltered. Despite a BAFTA nomination for her role in Walk in the Shadow (1962), she began to see life unraveling both personally and professionally right before her eyes.
Janet's marriages to actors Tony Wright and Ian Hendry fell by the wayside and two miscarriages, plus chronic medical ills, only deepened her suffering. Worse yet, she developed an acute alcohol problem. Semi-retired from acting between 1964 and 1968 while married to Hendry in order to raise her children, she found the going difficult when she tried to return full-time.
Ironically, one of Janet's last screen roles showed her at her dramatic best, a boozing pop star in the British film Sebastian (1968). Four years later Janet died under somewhat mysterious circumstances. Reports circulated that she choked to death at a London hotel while drinking tea. The immediate cause of her death was acute myocarditis; the underlying cause was chronic ischemic heart disease. The sun set all too soon on this lovely actress when she was only 38. She was survived by her daughters, Sally and Corrie Hendry.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Lennard Pearce was born on 9 February 1915 in Paddington, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Only Fools and Horses (1981), Only Fools and Horses: Christmas Trees (1982) and Only Fools and Horses: Licensed to Drill (1984). He died on 15 December 1984 in Archway, London, England, UK.- Actress
- Writer
Kate Saunders (born 4 May 1960 in London) was an English writer, actress and journalist. She won the Betty Trask Award and the Costa Children's Book Award and was twice shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.
She was a regular contributor to radio and television, with appearances on the Radio 4 programmes Woman's Hour, Start the Week and Kaleidoscope. She was, with Sandi Toksvig, a guest on the first episode of the long-running news quiz programme Have I Got News for You. The BBC children's series Belfry Witches was based on her series of children's books about two mischief-making witches.
Saunders won the annual Costa Children's Book Award for 'Five Children on the Western Front' (2014), a contribution to the classic fantasy series that E. Nesbit inaugurated in 1902 with 'Five Children and It'. She was a contributor to the authorised Winnie-the-Pooh sequel, 'The Best Bear in All the World'.
Her children's novel, 'The Land of Neverendings', was shortlisted for the 2019 Carnegie Medal, as was Five Children on the Western Front in 2106. She wrote such novels as 'Wild Young Bohemians', and co-authored 'Catholics and Sex' (1992) with Peter Stanford, who was then editor of the Catholic Herald. Saunders and Stanford later presented a television series based on the book on Channel 4.- Director
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Michael Croft, OBE (8 March 1922 - 15 November 1986) was an English actor, schoolteacher and writer, and the founder and director of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. He is also the author of the novel Spare the Rod, based on his own experiences of supply teaching in tough secondary schools, later filmed in 1961 with Max Bygraves.- Jock Scot was born on 21 September 1952 in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. He was married to Helen Montgomery. He died on 13 April 2016 in Archway, London, England, UK.
- Producer
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Philip Bate was born on 26 March 1909 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK. He was a producer and writer, known for Fantastic Garden (1939), The Beggar's Opera (1946) and Spelling Bee (1938). He was married to Yvonne Leigh Pollitt and Sheila Begg. He died on 3 November 1999 in Archway, Islington, London, England, UK'.