She was
born Janet Neilson Horsburgh in
Blackpool, Lancashire, England on
September 28th 1934
…the same day as Brigitte
Bardot came into the world in
France. However, Janet
Munro’s screen persona was
quite different – she was
known primarily as a rosy cheeked
and plucky Disney heroine (the
FIRST actress signed to an
exclusive 5-picture deal by Walt
himself in 1959).
Prior to
the Disney connection she made
the B&W sci-fi click ‘The
Crawling Eye’ (with
the shitty British title of
‘The Trollenberg
Terror’ –
UGH!) in 1958 with Forrest
Tucker. In this movie U.N.
investigator (Tucker) travels to
the Alps to checkout a
radioactive “cosmic”
cloud creeping across the
mountaintop in the Swiss town of
Trollenberg. And lo and behold
this cloud is hiding a whole
lotta creepy little aliens. Janet
is one of the best things in this
low budget and FX challenged
(though still entertaining) movie
– she is a telepathic
tourist named Anne Pilgrim who
can “communicate” with
the cloud and it’s lil’
inhabitants.
Her
Disney films began with ‘Darby
O’Gill and the Little People’
(1959) costarring a young Sean
Connery – who SINGS in his
film debut! The film didn’t
do well at the time of its
release – the Irish dialect
is sometimes hard to decipher and
it was deemed “too
frightening” for the core
Disney audience (oh yeah, I love
that!). In case you haven’t
seen it --- this is one kick-ass
little fantasy film. The FX are
superb for 1959. And Munro is
luminous and magnificent as Katie
O’Gill! This weird little
gem also contains all sorts of
creepy Irish folklore worked into
the plot. The cast also includes
Albert Sharpe, Jimmy O’Dea,
Kieron Moore, and Estelle
Winwood.
Her other
Disney classic was ‘Swiss
Family Robinson’
(1960) filmed in Tobago. Who can
forget her as Roberta (Bertie)
alongside screen veterans John
Mills, Dorothy McGuire, Sessue
Hayakawa, Tommy Kirk, and James
MacArthur in this Panovision bit
of pre-Survivor coolness? Who
didn’t want to be
shipwrecked after seeing this one
--- though the thought of being
shipwrecked with my family
caused some understandable
nightmares.
Janet
followed this up with another
solid sci-fi effort, playing
Jeannie Craig (hey, did that piss
off 40s actress Jeanne Craig!) in
‘The Day the Earth
Caught Fire’
opposite Leo McKern. This one is
about a series of atomic
explosions, which start the earth
on a spiraling course towards the
sun…yikes! It’s a cool
concept -- well written and
executed. This one is also
noteworthy for having (a then
unknown) Michael Caine as a
traffic cop!
Janet’s
additional films include ‘Life
for Ruth’ (1962)
for which she was nominated for a
1963 BAFTA (think the Brit
Oscars) as best actress, ‘Hide
and Seek’ (1963),
‘Bitter Harvest’
(1963) as (get this!) Jennie
Jones, ‘The Tenant
of Whitefield Hall’
(1968) based on the Bronte
classic, ‘Daylight
Robbery (1964), ‘Third
Man on the Mountain’
(1959), ‘Cry Wolf (1968), ‘The
Horsemasters’
(1961), ‘A Jolly Bad
Fellow’ (1964), and
her final performance as Carol
Fancy (another awesome character
name) a fading alcoholic pop star
in ‘Sebastian’
(1968).
In addition
to her 1963 BAFTA nomination
(BTW: She lost to Leslie Caron
for ‘The L-Shaped
Room’) Janet had
some solid screen accolades and
successes – she won the
Golden Globe Award in 1959 as
Best Female Newcomer – tying
with Tuesday Weld, Stella
Stevens, and Angie Dickinson ---
the four nosing out the sadly
excluded Diane Baker and Yvette
Mimieux. In 1961 she was the TOP
earning British film actress. She
was even Miss Television of 1958.
However, things weren’t
quite so winning for Janet off
screen.
Her private
life was apparently quite unhappy
– two failed marriages (to
actors Tony Wright and Ian
Hendry), two miscarriages,
alcoholism, assorted medical
problems, and depression…
She collapsed and subsequently
died on December 6th 1972 at the age of 38 from a
heart inflammation (chronic
ischemic heart disease/acute
myocarditis) at her home in Lady
Margaret Road, Kentish Town,
North London. It was a sad
end to a wonderful screen
presence. It was widely rumored
at the time (due to incorrect
newspaper reportage) that she
choked to death while drinking
tea. |
