| The
Writeup: The daughter of a stage comedian, it seemed
that Janet would be an actress from day one. Her first feature
film was Small Hotel (1957) and she appeared in The Young
and the Guilty (1958) and The Crawling Eye (1958) before catching
the eye of Walt Disney and landing a contract with his studio.
She subsequently appeared in Disney films Darby O'Gill and
the Little People (1959), Third Man on the Mountain (1959),
and Swiss Family Robinson (1960), cementing her status as
a family friendly actress. After she left Disney she appeared
in films like The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), Hide and
Seek (1963), They All Died Laughing (1964) and Daylight Robbery
(1964). Unfortunaltey, Janet was best by personal problems,
developing a server alcohol addiction. She also experienced
two miscarriages in the 60s, deepening her alcohol problems.
Between 1964 and 1968 she made no films, finally appearing
in Sebastian (1968) and Cry Wolf (1968). The latter would
be the last feature film she ever made. Her last project was
the 1970 TV show The Piano, which only lasted a handful of
episodes. She passed away in 1972 due to acute myocarditis. |
