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Muriel Angelus (née Findlay; 10 March 1912 – 26 June 2004) was an English stage, musical theatre, and film actress.
Muriel Angelus | |
|---|---|
 Screenshot of Muriel Angelus from the original trailer for the film The Great McGinty. | |
| Born | Muriel E S M Findlay 10 March 1912 Lambeth, South London, England |
| Died | 26 June 2004 (aged 92) Harrisonburg, Virginia, U.S. |
| Years active | 1928–1946 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 1[1] |
Early life
editThe daughter of a chemist, young Muriel was educated at the Ursuline Convent in London.[2] At age 12, she acted in a production of Henry VIII.[3] She went on to sing in music halls and to dance in a West End production of The Vagabond King (1927).[4]
Film career
editShe entered films toward the end of the silent era with The Ringer (1928), the first of three movie versions of the Edgar Wallace play. Her second film, Sailor Don't Care (1928) was important only in that she met her first husband, Scots-born actor John Stuart on the set; her role was excised from the film.[4]
In her first sound picture, Night Birds (1930), she got to sing a number but most of her films did not use her musical talents. The sweet-natured actress who played both ingenues and 'other woman' roles co-starred with husband Stuart in No Exit (1930), Eve's Fall (1930) and Hindle Wakes (1931), and appeared with British star Monty Banks in some of his film farces, including My Wife's Family (1931) and So You Won't Talk (1935). She appeared in the British serial Lloyd of the C.I.D..[3]
She portrayed Adriana in the original Broadway production of The Boys From Syracuse (1938), and Marie Sauvinet in the Broadway production of Sunny River (1941).[5] In turn, she received a contract with Paramount Pictures, but never became a star and is largely remembered solely by the acting buffs and nostalgists. Her last known film role was in The Great McGinty (1940). She revived her Broadway career and had a great success in the musical comedy, Early to Bed (1943).[6] Her final performance came in 1946,[citation needed] after her marriage to Paul Lavalle. In 1959, she resisted the efforts of Richard Rodgers to secure her for the part of the Mother Abbess in the first Broadway production of The Sound of Music. Interviewed in 1996, she said it had been a mistake for her to leave England. "I was caught up in the glamour, but once in Hollywood I was nothing more than a tiny craft battling in an ocean beside much weightier ships."[4]
Death
editMuriel Angelus died at a nursing home in Harrisonburg, Virginia, aged 92, survived by her daughter (Suzanne Lavalle Bothamley) from her second marriage.[1] She was cremated and her ashes returned to her surviving daughter.[7]
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 | Sailors Don't Care | Bit part | (scenes deleted) |
| 1928 | The Ringer | Mary Lenley | |
| 1928 | The Infamous Lady | The Girl | |
| 1929 | Mascots | Annie, Draftswoman | |
| 1930 | Eve's Fall | Eve Warren | Short |
| 1930 | No Exit | Ann Ansell | |
| 1930 | Night Birds | Dolly Mooreland | |
| 1930 | Red Aces | Ena Burslem | |
| 1931 | Let's Love and Laugh | The Bride Who Was | |
| 1931 | The Wife's Family | Peggy Gay | |
| 1931 | Hindle Wakes | Beatrice Farrar | |
| 1932 | Detective Lloyd | Sybil Craig | |
| 1932 | Blind Spot | Marilyn Janney | |
| 1932 | Don't Be a Dummy | Lady Diana Summers | |
| 1935 | So You Won't Talk | Katrina | |
| 1939 | The Light That Failed | Maisie | |
| 1940 | The Way of All Flesh | Mary Brown | |
| 1940 | Safari | Fay Thorne | [8] |
| 1940 | The Great McGinty | Catherine McGinty | (final film role) |
References
edit- ^ a b "Muriel Angelus". Independent.co.uk. 6 September 2004. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
- ^ Lathrop, Monroe (13 May 1940). "One Rejected, She's Now in High Favor". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Missouri, St. Louis. p. 20. Retrieved 17 September 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Kirkley, Donald (11 October 1942). "The Theater". The Baltimore Sun. Maryland, Baltimore. p. 6 -Section 1. Retrieved 15 September 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c 'Muriel Angelus, actress in films and stage musicals', in Daily Telegraph. 20 September 2004.
- ^ "Muriel Angelus profile". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on 17 September 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
- ^ Internet Broadway Database. Early to Bed, Broadhurst Theatre, (17 June 1943 - 13 May 1944).
- ^ Wilson, Scott (19 August 2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. ISBN 9781476625997.
- ^ Churchill, Douglas W. (16 September 1939). "NEWS OF THE SCREEN; Tullio Carminati, Muriel Angelus Added to 'Safari' at Paramount--'Parents on Trial' at Globe Today". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
External links
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