Heather Angel

Heather Grace Angel (9 February 1909 – 13 December 1986) was a British actress. She was known for providing the voice of Mrs. Darling, Wendy's mother in Peter Pan and Alice's sister in Alice in Wonderland (1951).

Early life Angel was born 9 February 1909 in Oxford, England. She was the daughter of Mary Letitia Stock and Andrea Angel, an Oxford University chemistry lecturer and initially a don at Brasenose College and later at Christ Church. They were married in 1904 and, after the wedding, they moved to Banbury Road. Andrea Angel's maternal grandfather was an Italian refugee, and Andrea was named after his uncle Andrea Rabagliati.

In the 1911 UK Census, the family is shown as living at 17 Banbury Road, Oxford, along with three servants. She was the younger of two sisters.

Andrea Angel was killed in the Silvertown explosion in January 1917, and posthumously awarded the Edward Medal (First Class). In his will, he left his wife £374 and shortly thereafter, his wife moved to London with the two daughters. By 1929, when Heather was 19, she was already appearing with an overseas touring theatre company managed by Charles Bradbury-Ingles. The same record shows that she was living at 20 Queen Anne's Grove, London W4, when she left.

Career

Stage Angel began her stage career at the Old Vic in 1926 and later appeared with touring companies. Her Broadway debut came in December 1937 in Love of Women at the Golden Theatre. She also appeared in The Wookey (1941–42).

Film

Angel appeared in many British films. She made her first screen appearance in City of Song. She later had a leading role in Night in Montmartre (1931), and followed this success with The Hound of the Baskervilles (1932). She then decided to move to Hollywood. She sailed on the Majestic to New York on 21 December 1932 with her mother. She was cast as Kitty Bennet in Pride and Prejudice (1940) and as the maid, Ethel, in Suspicion (1941). Angel was also the leading lady in the first screen version of Raymond Chandler's The High Window, released in 1942 as Time to Kill. She was one of the passengers of Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944).

Angel married Robert B. Sinclair (1905–1970), a film and television director, in 1944. On 4 January 1970, an intruder, Billy McCoy Hunter, broke into their home. When Sinclair attempted to protect Angel, Hunter killed him in her presence, then fled. He was allegedly found with a knife and a pistol when arrested. The incident is believed to have been a failed burglary. Angel had one son with Sinclair in 1947.

Death On 13 December 1986, Angel died of cancer in Los Angeles. She was cremated at Santa Barbara Cemetery.

Recognition Angel has a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to the film industry. Her star is located at 6301 Hollywood Boulevard.

Filmography Year Film Role Director Notes 1931 City of Song Carmela Carmine Gallone A Night in Montmartre Annette Lefevre Leslie S. Hiscott The Hound of the Baskervilles Beryl Stapleton Gareth Gundrey 1932 Frail Women Girl Maurice Elvey uncredited Self Made Lady Sookey (Sue Lee) Roberts George King Mr. Bill the Conqueror Rosemary Lannick Norman Walker After Office Hours Pat Thomas Bentley Men of Steel Ann Ford George King 1933 Pilgrimage Suzanne John Ford Charlie Chan's Greatest Case Carlotte Eagan Hamilton MacFadden Berkeley Square Helen Pettigrew Frank Lloyd Early to Bed Grete Ludwig Berger 1934 Orient Express Coral Musker Paul Martin Murder in Trinidad Joan Cassell Louis King Romance in the Rain Cynthia Brown Stuart Walker Springtime for Henry Miss Smith Frank Tuttle 1935 The Mystery of Edwin Drood Rosa Bud Stuart Walker It Happened in New York Chris Edwards Alan Crosland The Informer Mary McPhillip John Ford The Headline Woman Myrna Van Buren William Nigh The Three Musketeers Constance Rowland V. Lee The Imperfect Lady Evelyn Alden Tim Whelan 1936 The Last of the Mohicans Cora George B. Seitz Daniel Boone Virginia Randolph David Howard The Bold Caballero Lady Isabella Palma Wells Root 1937 Bulldog Drummond Escapes Phyllis Clavering James P. Hogan Western Gold Jeannie Thatcher Howard Bretherton Portia on Trial Elizabeth Manners George Nicholls Jr. The Duke Comes Back Susan Corbin Foster Irving Pichel 1938 Bulldog Drummond in Africa Phyllis Clavering Louis King Army Girl Mrs. Gwen Bradley George Nicholls Jr. Arrest Bulldog Drummond Phyllis Clavering James P. Hogan 1939 Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police Phyllis Clavering James P. Hogan Undercover Doctor Cynthia Weld Louis King Bulldog Drummond's Bride Phyllis Clavering James P. Hogan 1940 Half a Sinner Anne Gladden Al Christie Pride and Prejudice Kitty Bennet Robert Z. Leonard Kitty Foyle Wife in Prologue Sam Wood uncredited 1941 Shadows on the Stairs Sylvia Armitage D. Ross Lederman That Hamilton Woman A Streetgirl Alexander Korda Singapore Woman Frieda Jean Negulesco Suspicion Ethel (Maid) Alfred Hitchcock 1942 The Undying Monster Helga Hammond John Brahm Time to Kill Myrle Davis Herbert I. Leeds 1943 Cry 'Havoc' Andra Richard Thorpe 1944 Lifeboat Mrs. Higley Alfred Hitchcock Three Sisters of the Moors Anne Brontë Short In the Meantime, Darling Mrs. Nelson Otto Preminger 1948 The Saxon Charm Vivian Saxon Claude Binyon 1951 Alice in Wonderland Margaret, Alice's sister Voice 1953 Peter Pan Mrs. Darling Voice 1962 The Premature Burial Kate Carrell Roger Corman 1975 Gone with the West Old Little Moon / Narrator Bernard Girard 1979 Backstairs at the White House Mrs. Wallace