In a combination birthday salute and Nose-talgia shout out, The Flaming Nose recognizes Angela Cartwright. Born September 9, 1952 in Cheshire England, Angela was a child TV star on two well known series from the 60's; Make Room for Daddy, and Lost in Space. She is perhaps best known for the latter, where she played the sensitive and optimistic Penny Robinson, youngest daughter of the space pioneer family. As the middle child, Penny was often overshadowed by her sexy older sister Judy and intrepid younger brother Will. She was sort of the "Jan Brady" of the space family Robinson, a hapless character archetype popular in the 1960's. She did have one lovely episode on Lost in Space called "My Friend Mr. Nobody", where she befriended an invisible alien that lived in a cave. In the accompanying picture, Angela is at the far left wearing a fetching lime green mini-dress.In real life, Angela is the younger sister of actress Veronica Cartwright, who has a much longer biography in both television and film. Among countless other roles, Veronica starred in the movies "Alien" and "The Right Stuff".
Happy birthday to Angela Cartwright. The Flaming Nose hopes this day is all your own, and you won't have to share it with an older sibling, fictional or otherwise!
Since whoever has the rights to Lost in Space has made sure there is not one speck of it available on YouTube, here's a nice little "Penny Robinson" tribute that a fan has put together.
Angela Cartwright was so poised and elegant as a child, I always thought. Loved her as Penny, of course -- it was great having a young gal as a surrogate for the rest of us who wanted to go into space!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely one of my favorite child actresses ever, and her brilliant sister, too! Great tribute!
No doubt about it, Penny was my "kids in space" role model. And you should hunt down that episode "Mr Nobody" if you don't remember it. I have it on a Lost in Space boxed set. It is extremely touching, and (dare I say it for an Irwin Allen production) rather cerebral. I hope Angela had a great birthday!
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