Janet Munro

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.{{cite book |last=Hershman |first=Gabriel |date=2013 |title=Send in the Clowns – The Yo Yo Life of Ian Hendry |publisher=lulu.com |page=60 |isbn=978-1291270976}}

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."

She moved to the village of Embsay at age 10 to live with her aunt and uncle for a time. After her father remarried she was brought up by her stepmother and him. She left school and worked in a shoe shop, but her goal was to become an actress.{{cite web|url=http://www.cravenherald.co.uk/nostalgia/nostalgia_history/4681919.Too_short_life_of_star_who_captiva/|website=Craven History|date=17 October 2009|title=Too-short life of star who captivated Walt Disney|first=Clive|last= White}} "I never had any doubt as to what I wanted to be", she said later.{{Cite news|author=Hopper, H.|date=13 July 1958|title=You'll love janet munro!|work=Chicago Daily Tribune|id={{ProQuest|182125751}}}}

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." She worked in towns such as Preston, Oldham and Hull and her wage at the time was around £8 a week.

Munro appeared in a BBC TV adaptation of I Capture the Castle (1954), playing the lead part of Rose. In August 1956, she appeared on stage in a play Daughter of Desire. Variety wrote Munro was "cast as a respectable girl trapped into prostitution. She skillfully conveys the difficult characterization of a youthful femme on the downward path after falling for a plausible type who offers marriage."{{cite magazine|title=Daughter of Desire|magazine=Variety|url=https://archive.org/details/variety203-1956-08/page/n194/mode/1up?|date=15 August 1956|page=67}} She says she screen tested for The Rank Organisation but they turned her down for being "too individual".{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1959-12-Vol-53-No-11/page/56/mode/1up|title=Confessions of a "used bride"|first=Janet|last=Munro|page=56|magazine=Modern Screen|date=December 1959}}

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").{{Cite news|title=EVERYTHING HAPPENS TO ME|author=Jennings, Betty|work=Picture Show|location= London|date=19 March 1960|pages=7–8}} 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. {{cite news|title=The Kash register|author=Gardner, Raymond|work=The Guardian|date=28 March 1970|page=8}}{{cite news|newspaper=Manchester Evening News|date=21 June 1958|page=5|title=Play comes out of the can}} According to Filmink she alternated between playing "good girls" and "girls gone bad". She was chosen "Miss English Television of 1958". Despite the efforts of her agent, though, no British studio or producer would put her under long-term contract.{{cite news|newspaper=Liverpool Echo|date=14 March 1958|page=6|title=Disney orchids for Miss Munro}} "You're an awful long time playing character parts so cash in on juveniles while you can," she said.{{cite news|newspaper=Evening Telegraph|date=17 February 1958|page=11|title=TV's "doctrine" for Munro}}

Munro's big break came in March 1958, when she was 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.{{Cite news|author=Jennings, B.|date=19 March 1960|title=EVERYTHING HAPPENS TO ME|work=Picture show|pages=7–8|id={{ProQuest|1880298630}}}} It was non-exclusive, enabling her to make British films.

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.{{Cite news|author=Hopper, H.|title=Walt disney discovery, janet munro, to be star|date=29 April 1958|work=Chicago Daily Tribune|id={{ProQuest|182172561}}}}

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".{{Cite news|title=THE TV SCENE: Wisdom Shines in Darkest Hours|author=Smith, Cecil.|date=9 February 1959|work=Los Angeles Times|page=A10}} Variety said she made an "impressive bow".{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|url=https://archive.org/details/variety213-1959-02/page/n112/mode/1up?|date=11 February 1959|title=Berkeley Square|page=33}}

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.{{Cite news|title=GREAT EXPECTATIONS|author=A.H. WEILER.|date=25 December 1960|work=The New York Times|id={{ProQuest|115084507}}}} 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.{{Cite news|author=Hopper, H.|title=Walt disney will film romantic teen comedy.|date=20 August 1960|work=Chicago Daily Tribune|id={{ProQuest|182536538}}}} Variety praised her performance.{{cite magazine|title=Time Remembered|magazine=Variety|url=https://archive.org/details/variety221-1961-02/page/n222/mode/1up?|date=15 February 1961|page=35}} Stanley Baker and she were announced to star in an adaptation of the book Marry at Leisure, but it was not made.{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/variety220-1960-11/page/n68/mode/1up?|magazine=Variety|title=Rosemont-Widney team maps|date=9 November 1960|page=5}} Munro's contract with Disney ended early - Munro claimed it was her decision, although it reportedly was Disney's decision, especially after the studio made a star of Hayley Mills. "It may simply have been mutual," wrote Filmink.

Munro was the female lead in the science-fiction film The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), one of her best-remembered parts.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46939848 |title=Movie gossip |newspaper=The Australian Women's Weekly |volume=28 |issue=51 |date=24 May 1961 |access-date=28 January 2018 |page=19 |via=National Library of Australia}} She made it after her contract with Disney ended.{{cite news|newspaper=Evening Standard|date=24 April 1961|page=20|title=Miss Munro comes back from Disneyland}}

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.{{Cite news|title=18 FILMS COMPETE FOR BRITISH TITLE. |date=4 February 1963|work=The New York Times|id={{ProQuest|116512767}}}}

She returned to Armchair Theatre ("Girl in a Bird Cage", "Afternoon of a Nymph" with Ian Hendry whom she was to marry{{cite magazine|title=Armchair Theatre|magazine=Variety|url=https://archive.org/details/variety-1962-10/page/n190/mode/1up?|date=17 October 1962|page=37}}) and was top billed in a film for the first time with Bitter Harvest (1963), but it was not a success.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article142044759 |title=Bitter Harvest |newspaper=Western Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=2 April 1965 |access-date=28 January 2018 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}

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 fellow actors from The Day the Earth Caught Fire. She had a cameo in Daylight Robbery (1964).

Munro was inactive in her profession for a few years to concentrate on raising a family.{{Cite news|title=Television News|date=28 April 1968|work=Chicago Tribune|page=s22}} She appeared in episodes of Vendetta ("The Running Man"), and Thirty-Minute Theatre ("Turn Off If You Know the Ending"), and had a supporting part in Sebastian (1968).{{Cite news|author=Adler, R. |date=25 January 1968|title=Sebastian' arrives|work=The New York Times|id={{ProQuest|118244553}}}}

Munro travelled to New York City to star in a TV adaptation of The Admirable Crichton (1968).{{cite news|title=Television news|date=28 April 1968|work=Chicago Tribune|id={{ProQuest|175700255}}}} She had a cameo in Cry Wolf (1969).

Munro was in ITV Playhouse ("Premiere: Flower Dew"),{{Cite news|title=BRIEFING: The week's television|date=29 September 1968|work=The Observer|page=22}} 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."{{cite news|title=The tenant of Wildfell Hall|last=Dewhurst|first= Keith|newspaper= The Guardian |date=30 December 1968|page= 6}}

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.{{Cite news|title=The Spectator's Arts Round-up|work=The Spectator|location=London|volume=227|issue=7464|date=17 July 1971|page=108}}

Munro married actor Tony Wright in January 1957.{{cite magazine|title=Marriages|magazine=Variety|url=https://archive.org/details/variety205-1957-01/page/73/mode/1up?|date=16 January 1957|page=74}}{{cite magazine|date=14 March 2025|access-date=14 March 2025|magazine=Filmink|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|title=The Weird Non-Stardom of Tony Wright|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/the-weird-non-stardom-of-tony-wright/}} She says she was given away at her wedding by Earl St. John of Rank, and they honeymooned in France, where Wright was making a film. According to Munro, Wright did not like her working and was jealous of her success; she left him after getting the contract with Disney.{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1959-12-Vol-53-No-11/page/56/mode/1up|title=Confessions of a "used bride"|first=Janet|last=Munro|page=56|magazine=Modern Screen|date=December 1959}} Wright was granted a divorce in 1960, claiming Munro had committed adultery with Gerry O'Hara.{{cite news|newspaper=Daily Mirror|date=12 May 1960|page=13|title=Tony Wright gets decree}}

Munro 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."{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-163

|first=Steve|last=Swires|magazine=Starlog|title=Inferno Maker|page=[https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-163/page/n56 57]|issue=163|date=February 1991}}

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".{{Cite news|title=Hendry divorce|work=The Guardian|date=11 December 1971|page=7}}

Munro died aged 38 on 6 December 1972 on her way to hospital after collapsing at her home in Tufnell Park.{{Cite news|title=Actress dies|date=7 December 1972|newspaper=The Guardian|page=1}}{{Cite magazine|title=Obituary|magazine=Variety|date=13 December 1972|page=63}} Her death was ruled due to a heart attack caused by chronic ischaemic heart disease.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110624466 |title=Death |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=47|issue=13,301 |date=8 December 1972 |access-date=28 January 2018 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}} She was cremated and interred at the Golders Green Crematorium.{{Cite news|title=JANET MUNRO DEAD; SCREEN ACTRESS, 38|date=7 December 1972|newspaper=The New York Times|page=40}}

• Daughter of Desire (1956)
• Cinderella (1971) - pantomime
• Look No Hands! by Lesley Storm (1971) - directed by Peter Cotes

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• {{IMDb name|0613130}}

{{Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year Actress}}

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Category:1934 births

Category:1972 deaths

Category:English film actresses

Category:English television actresses

Category:Actresses from Blackpool

Category:English people of Scottish descent

Category:Golders Green Crematorium

Category:20th-century English actresses

Category:New Star of the Year (Actress) Golden Globe winners