Angela Cartwright

Intro

Angela Cartwright belongs to three very different screen families: Linda Williams in The Danny Thomas Show, Brigitta von Trapp in The Sound of Music, and Penny Robinson in Lost in Space. Together, those parts connect the domestic situation comedy, the large-scale film musical and television science fiction of the 1950s and 1960s. Her career also extends beyond those familiar childhood images into photography, mixed-media art and books. The photographs collected here show both the young performer within television ensembles and an adult artist revisiting the film that made Brigitta familiar to generations of viewers.

Career snapshot

Born in Altrincham, Cheshire, England, Cartwright moved with her family to Los Angeles as a child. Her official biography describes early work as a fashion model and a film debut as Paul Newman's daughter in Somebody Up There Likes Me. Something of Value followed before her long association with Danny Thomas. These early assignments placed her in both feature films and television before The Sound of Music. They also made her an experienced young screen performer by the time she joined the von Trapp children, rather than a newcomer discovered solely for that musical.

The entry point

On The Danny Thomas Show, Cartwright played Linda Williams. The family comedy offered a continuing character and repeated work opposite established adult performers. A CBS photograph dated October 21, 1957, shows her with Thomas, and the Paley Center's record of the January 6, 1958 Bob Hope installment credits her as Linda alongside Thomas's Danny, Marjorie Lord's Kathy and Rusty Hamer's Rusty. Hope plays himself, and Mary Wickes appears as Liz O'Neill. That episode illustrates the program's combination of a regular household and visiting stars, with Cartwright contributing to scenes built around familiar family relationships and comic interruptions.

Screen identity and style

Robert Wise's 1965 film The Sound of Music cast Cartwright as Brigitta, one of the seven children around Julie Andrews's Maria and Christopher Plummer's Captain von Trapp. AFI identifies the other children as Liesl, Louisa, Friedrich, Kurt, Marta and Gretl, played by Charmian Carr, Heather Menzies, Nicholas Hammond, Duane Chase, Debbie Turner and Kym Karath. The film adapted Rodgers and Hammerstein's stage musical with a screenplay by Ernest Lehman. Brigitta is therefore one distinct part of a carefully arranged family ensemble, and Cartwright's work belongs to the interaction among the children as well as their relationship with the adult leads.

Collaborations and patterns

Later in 1965, Cartwright began playing Penny Robinson in Lost in Space. Irwin Allen's series moved the family setting away from the household sitcom and into an adventure built around space travel. The Paley Center's January 1966 record for the first part of The Keeper lists Guy Williams and June Lockhart as John and Maureen Robinson, Marta Kristen as Judy, Bill Mumy as Will and Cartwright as Penny. Mark Goddard is Don West, Jonathan Harris is Dr. Smith, and Michael Rennie plays the visiting Keeper. The gallery preserves a premiere publicity view of the travelers in suspended animation and a separate photograph of Cartwright with Mumy.

Era reflection

The two Lost in Space photographs record different promotional moments. The wide premiere image, dated August 27, 1965, places Cartwright at the far left of the group; the closer photograph with Mumy carries an April 7, 1966 news-agency stamp. These dates describe the archived photographs, not an inferred episode title. Cartwright's later portrait at a November 2005 Sound of Music press event offers another perspective: the adult performer participating in the film's continuing public life. Rodgers & Hammerstein's account of a later television interview likewise documents her discussing the experience of making the musical and its unexpected reach.

Legacy and rediscovery

Cartwright developed a parallel creative practice through photography and altered imagery, including the book Mixed Emulsions and collaborative art publications. She also worked on The Sound of Music Family Scrapbook with her fellow film siblings and on Lost (and Found) in Space with Bill Mumy. Her studio presents art, photographic work and these publications as connected parts of her career. That combination gives her legacy more than a nostalgic frame: she has helped preserve the experiences of two enduring screen ensembles while continuing to make images of her own.

Selected screen roles

• The Danny Thomas Show: Linda Williams — 1957–1964
• The Sound of Music: Brigitta von Trapp — 1965
• Lost in Space: Penny Robinson — 1965–1968

A career in pictures

Four distinct photographs connect Cartwright’s family television work, science-fiction ensemble and later Sound of Music public appearance.

The Sound of Music press event (2005)

Angela Cartwright

Photographed by Tenebrae at Tavern on the Green on November 10, 2005.

With Danny Thomas (1957)

Linda Williams

Cartwright is at left with Danny Thomas in CBS publicity dated October 21, 1957.

Lost in Space premiere publicity (1965)

Penny Robinson

Cartwright is at far left. The wide scene shows the travelers in suspended animation; CBS publicity dated August 27, 1965.

Lost in Space with Bill Mumy (1966)

Penny Robinson

Cartwright is at left and Bill Mumy at right. CBS publicity carries an April 7, 1966 news-agency stamp.

Rewatch notes

• She played Brigitta in The Sound of Music and Penny Robinson in the original Lost in Space series.
• Her later creative work includes photography, altered imagery and collaborative books.