Right from the get-go, Angela Cartwright started off her career in the entertainment industry with momentum. She was only five years old when she showed up on the Danny Thomas Show. She would stick with that sitcom for seven whole seasons before being cast in perhaps her most notable film The Sound Of Music.
But her career didn’t fizzle out after that highlight. She would go on to play the part of Penny Robinson on the classic science fiction series Lost in Space. Even though the show had a brief three-season run, it would continue on with cult-classic status for decades to come.
We’re going to take an inside look at her life both on-screen and beyond. There’s likely a lot that you didn’t know about Cartwright that you probably should. She was a fantastic actress that overcame the perils of child stardom and made something of her life.
Even in those formative youthful years in the limelight, she exceeded the expectations of network executives and producers by being true to herself and giving her best.
Facts Verse Presents: This is Angela Cartwright After Her Acting Career
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Cartwright sang her own songs on ‘The Sound of Music’
It’s relatively common practice -especially for musicals- to have one actor to play a role on-screen and to have another vocalist sing their on-screen musical bits separately. Very few people have the ability to perform well on screen and also deliver on the vocals. Young Angela however had a beautiful voice and didn’t need anybody to stand in for her. The hills truly were alive with the sound of her music.
Angela was born in England
Even though she is most well known for her work in American film and television, it might surprise you to learn that she was born in the United Kingdom in Cheshire. Her family however would move to the united states shortly after her birth. She actually landed her first acting gig at the age of three in the Paul Newman flick ‘Somebody Up There Likes Me’.
She went on to become a professional photographer
Despite doing some guest star roles in the 70s and 80s and making cameos in the Lost in Space reboots in 1998 and 2018, she mostly has taken some distance from the entertainment industry after her string of successful roles when she was younger.
She now enjoys pursuing her life passion of being a professional photographer. She’s quite talented and acclaimed to boot. Her work is on display at her gallery in Studio City, California.
Besides photography, she also is an avid scrapbooker. It’s rather refreshing to see her enjoying her hobbies and passions rather than chasing the stardom like many actors do for all of their lives. She’s been successfully tackling other things besides acting that bring her happiness and a sense of satisfaction for the last 30 years.
She made a cameo appearance in the 1998 ‘Lost In Space’ film
Even though she’s been snapping photos and mod-podgeing scrapbooks in the years since her glory years on-screen, she still has made a couple of surprise appearances on screen. In the 1998 Lost in Space remake, she played the small role of Reporter #2. Next time you watch that movie, try and spot her. We’ll give you a hint, you can find her in the first quarter of the film. Now you have homework…you’re welcome.
Cartwright is still friends with the original ‘Lost in Space’ cast
Fortunately, there are no rifts between the costars of Lost in Space. In fact, they are staying in touch regularly and view each other rather positively. Just last year at Comic-Con in San Diego, Marta Kristen, Bill Mumy, and Mark Goddard and Cartwright reunited for a rather cordial Question and Answer segment. It was really good seeing them all together again after all of these years. Their energy still meshed well with each other. Some co-stars can’t stand to even look at each other by the end of a show but they all looked genuinely thrilled to see each other again.
Bill Mumy and Cartwright released a book together
Speaking of still being friends, Bill Mumy and Angela just compiled and published a pictorial publication called Lost (and Found) in Space in 2016 which highlighted never-released pictures hand-selected from the two actors to pay homage to the TV series that spring-boarded their careers. Stick around to hear about how they have worked together even more since then.
Angela even tried out singing as a career
Before the Sound of Music years, she would even give the music industry a try. In 1959, she released a 12 track album entitled Angela Cartwright Sings which was comprised mainly of children’s songs. Just a year prior, she put out two singles on 45s. The first was ‘My First Romance’ and the second was “Merry-Go-Round’. The album failed to chart but it did at least highlight her astounding voice and talent. So that’s a plus.
She published a Bi-annual journal from 2007 to 2014
We already talked about how Bill Mumy and her published the pictorial Lost in Space memoir but in addition to that work, she has published a bi-annual 60 glossy paged journal that explores her art and photography and features the works of others. The publication is called Pasticcio quart and was first published in 2007. There are currently 5 issues.
In 2018, she reunited with Bill Mumy yet again and published a co-authored novel entitled On Purpose. Those two must be pretty close because they’ve done quite a bit with work with each other in recent years. Good for them.
She absolutely adored The Beatles
But to be fair, who doesn’t love the Beatles? When Beatlemania and the British Invasion took the world by storm, Cartwright wasn’t spared from the craze. During the filming of the Sound of Music, Angela would be constantly singing their songs all throughout the set. Apparently it was such a regularly occurring thing that it started to seriously annoy the rest of the cast. But really, how could you be annoyed at the Beatles?
She was a cast member of The Danny Thomas Show reboot Make Room For Granddaddy
Remember how she got her start on TV with the help of Danny Thomas? Well, that show was originally titled Make Room for Daddy for its first 3 seasons before it was retitled. When they tried to pump back life into the show in 1970 however the new ‘Granddaddy’ show wouldn’t gain any traction and would ultimately fail to make it to season 2.
You can go back to Bavaria with Cartwright in 2021
That’s right , you can go see those hills that were once filled with the sound of music with Angela Cartwright as your own personal guide. In 2019, she re-visited Bavaria and began making plans for an exclusive tour that she will be hosting in 2021 for those lucky enough to book in advance.
The 9-day Tour of Austria and Bavaria will take you through all the locations used for filming the iconic film, it’ll include an autograph session and exclusive never-before-heard details about the filming of the movie through the voice of Angela Cartwright herself.
Let’s just hope that the COVID-19 pandemic doesn’t end up canceling this trip. Keep your fingers crossed. The trip is conducted by the company Craftours and sets out on November 27, 2021. You can be apart of that voyage for just under $4,000.
Well, that wraps up our look at the life of Angela Cartwright, an actress that started off young in an industry that more times than not strips children of their childhoods and makes them rather resentful of the whole thing. Angela however looks back on her time on-screen fondly. That’s evident by her willingness to reconnect with her former castmates, make cameo appearances on reboots, and even guide tours to the iconic locations of her most beloved films.
Now we want to hear from you. What do you think was her best role? Are you a fan of Brigitta von Trapp from The Sound Of Music or will you always remember her as Penny Robinson in Lost in Space? Let us know in the comments. You could even share one of your favorite scenes that Angela was a part of.
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