Janet Munro
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).[4] Munro appeared in a BBC TV adaptation of I Capture the Castle (1954), playing the lead part of Rose.She skillfully conveys the difficult characterization of a youthful femme on the downward path after falling for a plausible type who offers marriage.[6] 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").[1] 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.[11] 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).[13] 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.[1] Munro was the female lead in the science-fiction film The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), one of her best-remembered parts.[22] She returned to Armchair Theatre ("Girl in a Bird Cage", "Afternoon of a Nymph" with Ian Hendry whom she was to marry[23]) and was top billed in a film for the first time with Bitter Harvest (1963), but it was not a success.[25] 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).Munro was in ITV Playhouse ("Premiere: Flower Dew"),[28] and had the lead in a series, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1969).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.