Janet Munro
Born
Janet Neilson Horsburgh

(1934-09-28)28 September 1934
Blackpool, England
Died6 December 1972(1972-12-06) (aged 38)
London, England
Resting placeGolders Green Crematorium
OccupationActress
Years active1957–1972
Known forSwiss Family Robinson
Darby O'Gill and the Little People
Life for Ruth
Third Man on the Mountain
The Day the Earth Caught Fire
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1956; div. 1959)​
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1963; div. 1971)​
    Children2
    Parent(s)Alex Munro
    Phyllis Robertshaw

    Janet Munro (born Janet Neilson Horsburgh; 28 September 1934 – 6 December 1972) was a British actress. She won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the film Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959) and received a BAFTA Film Award nomination for her performance in the film Life for Ruth (1962).

    Munro starred in three Disney films: Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959), Third Man on the Mountain (1959) and Swiss Family Robinson (1960). Other film credits were roles in The Trollenberg Terror (1958) and The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961).

    Munro married the actor Tony Wright, and then the actor Ian Hendry. She died of a heart attack aged just 38.

    Biography

    Early life

    Born Janet Neilson Horsburgh in Blackpool, Lancashire in 1934, she was the daughter of Scottish comedian Alex Munro (real name Alexander Neilson Horsburgh) and his wife, Phyllis Robertshaw. She used her father's stage name professionally.[1]

    Munro grew up on the road with her father, often appearing with him on stage. Her mother died when Janet was seven and she was brought up by her father at first. She later recalled "during the war he was head of entertainment for the RAF and I went along with him wherever he happened to be. We entertained the troops. I wore kilts and sang. My voice was even smaller than I was but the boys didn't seem to mind – I was a bit of baggage from home."[2]

    She moved to the village of Embsay at age ten to live with her aunt and uncle for a time. When her father remarried she was brought up by him and her stepmother. After leaving school she worked in a shoe shop but her goal was to become an actress.[3] "I never had any doubt as to what I wanted to be", she said later.[2]

    Early appearances

    Munro's father wanted her to join him on his act but she desired to become a legitimate actress. She got a job at a repertory company as a student messenger and "learned as I went along, playing bits, and by the time I was 17 I was stage manager for the company."[2] She worked in towns like Preston, Oldham and Hull and her wage at the time was around £8 a week.[3]

    Munro appeared in a BBC TV adaptation of I Capture the Castle (1954), playing the lead part of Rose.

    She had a small part in the Gordon Harker comedy Small Hotel (1957) and started appearing regularly on British TV shows such as ITV Television Playhouse ("One of Us", "Pickup Girl", "Lace on Her Petticoat") and Armchair Theatre ("Trial by Candlelight", "The Deaf Heart").[4]

    Munro could be seen in ingenue parts in the feature films The Trollenberg Terror (1958), a horror film, and The Young and the Guilty (1958), a melodrama written by Ted Willis. She appeared on stage in Daughters of Desire[5] and was chosen "Miss English Television of 1958".

    Disney

    Munro's big break came in March 1958 when cast as the female lead in Disney's Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959). Although the film was shot in Hollywood it was cast out of London. Disney saw her in "Pick Up Girl" and she was screen tested over a two-day period. Disney liked her so much he signed her to a five-year contract.[2][6]

    Disney immediately used her again as the female lead in Third Man on the Mountain (1959) opposite James MacArthur. Contemporary reports compared her with June Allyson.[7]

    Munro made her US television debut when she played the romantic lead in a TV adaptation of Berkeley Square (1959) for Hallmark Hall of Fame. She was directed by George Schaefer and appeared opposite John Kerr. One review said she did "beautiful work."[8]

    Munro returned to England to play Tommy Steele's love interest in Tommy the Toreador (1959), then made a third film for Disney, Swiss Family Robinson (1960), again romancing MacArthur. It was shot in the West Indies over five months.

    Munro was going to be in Bon Voyage for Disney with Karl Malden but it was not made for another few years, with Deborah Walley in the role announced for Munro.[9] Instead she appeared in The Horsemasters (1961) for him, shot in England for American television, and released theatrically in some markets.

    Munro returned to US television with Time Remembered (1961) for Hallmark Hall of Fame.[10]

    British films

    Munro was the female lead in the science fiction film The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), one of her best remembered parts.[11]

    She had the female lead role in Life for Ruth (1962), directed by Basil Dearden, which earned her a BAFTA nomination for Best Female Actor.[12]

    She returned to Armchair Theatre ("Girl in a Bird Cage", "Afternoon of a Nymph" with Ian Hendry whom she was to marry) and was top billed in a film for the first time with Bitter Harvest (1963), but it was not a success.[13]

    Munro was the female lead in Hide and Seek (1964) with Ian Carmichael and A Jolly Bad Fellow (1964) with Leo McKern, one of her alumni from The Day the Earth Caught Fire. She had a cameo in Daylight Robbery (1964).

    Return to acting

    Munro was inactive in her profession for a few years in order to concentrate on raising a family but returned to acting after her second marriage to Ian Hendry ended in 1968.[14]

    She appeared in episodes of Vendetta ("The Running Man"), and Thirty-Minute Theatre ("Turn Off If You Know the Ending") and had a support part in Sebastian (1968).[15]

    Munro travelled to New York to star in a TV adaptation of The Admirable Crichton (1968).[16] She had a cameo in Cry Wolf (1969).

    Munro was in ITV Playhouse ("Premiere: Flower Dew"),[17] and had the lead in a series, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1969). Reviewing the latter, The Guardian called her "a revelation. She is no longer the B picture girl next door. She is a woman and her acting has power and experience of life."[18]

    Her last roles were in Play for Today ("The Piano"), and in several episodes of the TV series Adam Smith. In July 1971 she appeared on stage in Look – No Hands.[19]

    Personal life

    Munro was married to actor Tony Wright from 1956 until 1959. She married Ian Hendry in 1963; the couple had two children, Sally and Corrie. They lived in a house on Pharaoh's Island.

    Val Guest, who directed Munro in The Day the Earth Caught Fire, later said "Janet's life was a disaster... [she] didn't become an alcoholic until she met Ian. She tried too hard to keep up with him."[20]

    Munro and Hendry were divorced in December 1971. Hendry offered no contest to the charge that the marriage had broken down due to Hendry's "unreasonable behaviour".[21]

    Death

    Munro died aged 38 on 6 December 1972 on her way to hospital after collapsing at her home in Tufnell Park.[22][23] Her death was ruled due to a heart attack caused by chronic ischaemic heart disease.[24] She was cremated and interred at the Golders Green Crematorium.[25]

    Filmography

    Film
    Year Title Role Notes
    1957 Small Hotel Effie
    1958 The Trollenberg Terror Anne Pilgrim Alternative title: The Crawling Eye (U.S. theatrical release)
    The Young and the Guilty Sue Connor
    1959 Darby O'Gill and the Little People Katie O'Gill With Sean Connery
    Third Man on the Mountain Lizbeth Hempel
    Tommy the Toreador Amanda
    1960 Swiss Family Robinson Roberta 'Bertie'
    1961 The Day the Earth Caught Fire Jeannie Craig
    1962 Life for Ruth Pat Harris Alternative title: Walk in the Shadow
    1963 Bitter Harvest Jennie Jones
    1964 Hide and Seek Maggie
    A Jolly Bad Fellow Delia Brooks
    Daylight Robbery
    1968 Sebastian Carol Fancy
    Cry Wolf Polly
    Television
    Year Title Role Notes
    1957 ITV Television Playhouse Elizabeth Collins 1 episode
    1958–1962 Armchair Theatre Anne
    Elaine    		 4 episodes, including Afternoon of a Nymph
    1957–1968 Hallmark Hall of Fame Helen Pettigrew
    Amanda
    Tweeny    		 3 episodes
    1967 Thirty-Minute Theatre Carol 1 episode
    1968–1969 The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Helen Graham 4 episodes
    1971 Play for Today Mabel 1 episode
    1972 Adam Smith Elizabeth Crichton 5 episodes, (final appearance)

    Awards and nominations

    Year Award Category Nominated work Result
    1960 17th Golden Globe Awards Most Promising Newcomer – Female Won
    1963 16th British Academy Film Awards Best British Actress Nominated

    References

    1. ↑ Hershman, Gabriel (2013). Send in the Clowns – The Yo Yo Life of Ian Hendry. lulu.com. p. 60. ISBN 978-1291270976.
    2. 1 2 3 4 Hopper, H. (13 July 1958). "You'll love janet munro!". Chicago Daily Tribune. ProQuest 182125751.
    3. 1 2 White, Clive (17 October 2009). "Too-short life of star who captivated Walt Disney". Craven History.
    4. ↑ Jennings, Betty (19 March 1960). "EVERYTHING HAPPENS TO ME". Picture Show. London. pp. 7–8.
    5. ↑ Gardner, Raymond (28 March 1970). "The Kash register". The Guardian. p. 8.
    6. ↑ Jennings, B. (19 March 1960). "EVERYTHING HAPPENS TO ME". Picture show. pp. 7–8. ProQuest 1880298630.
    7. ↑ Hopper, H. (29 April 1958). "Walt disney discovery, janet munro, to be star". Chicago Daily Tribune. ProQuest 182172561.
    8. ↑ Smith, Cecil. (9 February 1959). "THE TV SCENE: Wisdom Shines in Darkest Hours". Los Angeles Times. p. A10.
    9. ↑ A.H. WEILER. (25 December 1960). "GREAT EXPECTATIONS". The New York Times. ProQuest 115084507.
    10. ↑ Hopper, H. (20 August 1960). "Walt disney will film romantic teen comedy". Chicago Daily Tribune. ProQuest 182536538.
    11. ↑ "Movie gossip". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 28, no. 51. 24 May 1961. p. 19. Retrieved 28 January 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
    12. ↑ "18 FILMS COMPETE FOR BRITISH TITLE". The New York Times. 4 February 1963. ProQuest 116512767.
    13. ↑ "Bitter Harvest". Western Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 2 April 1965. p. 5. Retrieved 28 January 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
    14. ↑ "Television News". Chicago Tribune. 28 April 1968. p. s22.
    15. ↑ Adler, R. (25 January 1968). "Sebastian' arrives". The New York Times. ProQuest 118244553.
    16. ↑ "Television news". Chicago Tribune. 28 April 1968. ProQuest 175700255.
    17. ↑ "BRIEFING: The week's television". The Observer. 29 September 1968. p. 22.
    18. ↑ Dewhurst, Keith (30 December 1968). "The tenant of Wildfell Hall". The Guardian. p. 6.
    19. ↑ "The Spectator's Arts Round-up". The Spectator. Vol. 227, no. 7464. London. 17 July 1971. p. 108.
    20. ↑ Swires, Steve (February 1991). "Inferno Maker". Starlog. No. 163. p. 57.
    21. ↑ "Hendry divorce". The Guardian. 11 December 1971. p. 7.
    22. ↑ "Actress dies". The Guardian. 7 December 1972. p. 1.
    23. ↑ "Obituary". Variety. 13 December 1972. p. 63.
    24. ↑ "Death". The Canberra Times. Vol. 47, no. 13, 301. 8 December 1972. p. 5. Retrieved 28 January 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
    25. ↑ "JANET MUNRO DEAD; SCREEN ACTRESS, 38". The New York Times. 7 December 1972. p. 40.
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