Karen Dotrice
Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber in a publicity photo for Mary Poppins
Born	9 November 1955 (1955-11-09) (age 52) Guernsey, Channel Islands

Karen Dotrice (born 9 November 1955) is a British actress known primarily for her role as Jane Banks in Walt Disney's feature film adaptation of the Mary Poppins book series. Matthew Adam Garber ( 25 March 1956 &ndash 13 June 1977) was an English Actor best known for his role as Michael Banks Mary Poppins is a 1964 American Musical film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke and produced by Events 694 - Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims sentencing all Year 1955 ( MCMLV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar) The Bailiwick of Guernsey (Bailliage de Guernesey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy. The Channel Islands ( Norman: Îles d'la Manche, French: Îles Anglo-Normandes or Îles de la Manche) are a group of Islands Events 694 - Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims sentencing all Year 1955 ( MCMLV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar) The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works Walt Disney Pictures refers to several different entities associated with The Walt Disney Company: Walt Disney Pictures, the film banner was established Mary Poppins is a 1964 American Musical film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke and produced by Mary Poppins is a series of children's books written by PL Travers and originally illustrated by Mary Shepard. Dotrice (pronounced /dəˈtriːs/) was born in Guernsey (one of the Channel Islands) to two accomplished stage actors. The Bailiwick of Guernsey (Bailliage de Guernesey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy. The Channel Islands ( Norman: Îles d'la Manche, French: Îles Anglo-Normandes or Îles de la Manche) are a group of Islands In Theatre, the stage (sometimes referred to as the deck in Stagecraft) is a designated space for the Performance of theatrical productions Her career began on stage, expanded into film and television roles, and concluded with a short run as Desdemona in the 1981 pre-Broadway production of Othello. British television broadcasting started in 1936 and now has a collection of free and subscription services over a variety of distribution media through which there are up to 600 channels Desdemona is a fictional character in the tragedy Othello the Moor of Venice (1604 by William Shakespeare. Broadway theater, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located In 1984, Dotrice retired from show business to focus on motherhood; she has three children from two marriages. She was named a Disney Legend in 2004. Established in 1987, the Disney Legends program recognizes men and women who have made an extraordinary and integral contribution to The Walt Disney Company.

Biography

Early life

Born into a theatre family, Dotrice is the daughter of Roy and Kay Dotrice, two Shakespearean actors who met and married while performing in repertory theatre productions in England. Roy Dotrice OBE (born May 26, 1923) is a British Actor known for his Tony Award -winning Broadway performance Katherine Newman Dotrice ( 9 May 1929 - 2 August 2007 in Los Angeles California) was a British Repertory William Shakespeare's plays have the reputation of being among the greatest in the English language and in Western literature. For other meanings of repertory please see Repertory (disambiguation. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland ^[1] She was born in the Channel Islands (where her father was also born). She has two sisters, Michele and Yvette, both of whom are actresses. Michele Dotrice (born September 27 1948 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire) is a British actress best known for her portrayal Yvette Dotrice is an English actress known for her role as Wendy Crisp during the 25-year run of the Television Soap opera Crossroads Her godfather was actor Charles Laughton, who was married to Elsa Lanchester, one of the co-stars of Mary Poppins. Charles Laughton ( 1 July, 1899 &ndash 15 December, 1962) was an English Academy Award -winning stage and Elsa Sullivan Lanchester (born October 28, 1902 - December 26, 1986) was an Oscar -nominated English character

Dotrice was a toddler when her father joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (later the Royal Shakespeare Company) in 1957. The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC is a British Theatre company By age four, she was ready to perform, making her début in an RSC production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertold Brecht. The Caucasian Chalk Circle ( German: Der Kaukasische Kreidekreis) is a 1944 play by Bertolt Brecht. (born; 10 February 1898&ndash14 August 1956 was a German Poet, Playwright, and Theatre director. There, a Disney scout saw Dotrice and brought her to Burbank, California, United States, to meet Walt Disney. Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County California, United States. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Walter Elias Disney (December 5 1901 – December 15 1966 was a multiple Academy Award -winning American Film producer, director, Screenwriter ^[2]

Film

At age eight, Dotrice was hired in 1964 to appear in The Three Lives of Thomasina as a girl whose relationship with her father is mended by the magical reappearance of her cat. The Three Lives of Thomasina ( 1963) is a Walt Disney Productions fantasy Feature film starring Patrick McGoohan, Susan Hampshire While Dotrice was in California, her father stayed in England—where he was portraying King Lear—and Walt Disney personally took care of her family, often hosting them in his Palm Springs home. King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1603 and 1606 and is considered one of his greatest works Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, approximately 111 miles (177 km east of Los Angeles and 136 miles (225 km northeast of Dotrice took quickly to Disney as a father figure, calling him "Uncle Walt". She said the admiration was mutual: "I think he really liked English kids. He was tickled pink by the accent and the etiquette. And when I was being very English and polite, he would look proudly at this little charge who had such good manners. "

Michael and Jane watch the arrival of their new nanny, Mary Poppins

Film historian Leonard Maltin said Dotrice "won over everyone" with her performance in The Three Lives of Thomasina,^[2] and she was signed to play Jane Banks (along with Thomasina co-star Matthew Garber as her brother, Michael) in Mary Poppins. The history of film spans over a hundred years from the latter part of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century. Leonard Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American Film critic and Film Historian. Matthew Adam Garber ( 25 March 1956 &ndash 13 June 1977) was an English Actor best known for his role as Michael Banks Disney's part-live-action, part-animation musical adaptation of the Poppins children's books by P. L. Travers starred David Tomlinson as a workaholic father and Glynis Johns as a suffragette mother who are too busy to spend any time with their children. The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames Pamela Lyndon Travers OBE ( 9 August 1899 &ndash 23 April 1996) was an Australian Novelist, Actress David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson (7 May 1917 – 24 June 2000 was an English film Actor. A workaholic, colloquially is a person who is addicted to work Glynis Johns (born 5 October, 1923) is a British stage and film actress, Dancer, Pianist and Singer (notably Suffragette is a term originally coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for the more radical and Militant members of the Instead, they hire a nanny (Julie Andrews) who takes Jane and Michael on magical adventures designed to teach them—and their parents—about the importance of family. Dame Julie Elizabeth Andrews, DBE (born Julia Elizabeth Wells on October 1 1935) is an award-winning English Actress Poppins was Disney's biggest commercial success at the time^[3] and won five Academy Awards, making its stars world-famous. "The Oscar" redirects here for the film see The Oscar (film. A celebrity is a widely-recognized or famous person who commands a high degree of public and media attention Dotrice and Garber were praised for their natural screen presence; critic Bosley Crowther wrote, "the kids . Film review redirects here for the similar sounding Film revue please visit Revue#Film revues. Francis Bosley Crowther ( July 13, 1905 &ndash March 7, 1981) was a Film critic for The New York Times for . . are just as they should be,"^[4] while author Brian Sibley said, "these charming, delightful young people provided a wonderful centre for the film. Brian Sibley (born July 14, 1949) is an English writer He is author of over 100 hours of radio drama and has written and presented hundreds of radio documentaries "^[5]

Dotrice and Garber paired up again in The Gnome-Mobile (1967) as the grandchildren of a rich lumber mogul who stumble across a gnome forest and help keep the gnomes from dying off. The Gnome-Mobile is a 1967 Disney Musical film, directed by Robert Stevenson. Starring Walter Brennan in a dual role, The Gnome-Mobile failed to perform on a par with Poppins at the box office,^[6] and Dotrice did not make another film appearance as a child. Walter Brennan ( July 25 1894 – September 21 1974) was a three-time Academy Award winning American Actor.

After The Gnome-Mobile, "the kids" no longer kept in contact with each other. In an interview for the 40th Anniversary Edition DVD release of Mary Poppins, Dotrice recalled how she learned of Garber's death (in 1977): "I remember his mum, Margot, calling . . . to let us know that Matthew had died. That was— so unexpected. . . . I wished I had picked up the phone over the years, I wished I had treated him more like a brother; but he's indelibly printed in all of our minds, he's eternal . . . an amazing little soul. "

Dotrice later appeared as Alex Mackenzie in The Thirty-Nine Steps (1978) with Robert Powell and John Mills. The Thirty Nine Steps is a 1978 thriller Film directed by Don Sharp, based on the novel The Thirty-nine Steps by John Robert Powell (born 1 June 1944) is a well-known English television and film Actor, probably most famous for his title role in Sir John Mills CBE (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 1908 &ndash 23 April 2005) was an English The third film based on the John Buchan novel, this was her only feature film as an adult. John Buchan 1st Baron Tweedsmuir GCMG GCVO CH PC ( August 26, 1875 &ndash February 11, 1940 The Thirty-nine Steps is an adventure Novel by the Scottish author (and future Governor General of Canada John Buchan, first published According to All Movie Guide, Dotrice played "an imperiled heroine [who] was an invention of the Hitchcock version; the Buchan story is essentially 'boys only'. The 39 Steps is a 1935 Film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the adventure Novel The Thirty-nine Steps "^[7]

Television

Dotrice appeared as Desirée Clary in the Thames Television miniseries Napoleon and Love. Thames Television was a licencee of the British ITV television network covering London and parts of the surrounding counties A miniseries (also mini-series) in a serial Storytelling medium is a production which tells a story in a pre-planned limited number of episodes The nine-hour, dramatised account of the many loves of Napoleon I of France starred Ian Holm and Tim Curry. Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821 was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the History of Europe. Sir Ian Holm CBE (born 12 September, 1931) is an English award-winning Actor known for his stage work and for many film roles Timothy James Curry (born 19 April 1946 is an English Actor, Singer, Voice actor, and Composer, as well as having a career as a

Dotrice as Lily in
Upstairs, Downstairs

In 1975, she played housemaid Lily Hawkins in six episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs during its fifth and final season. This is a list of characters from the ITV Drama Upstairs Downstairs, that aired from 1970 to 1975 Upstairs Downstairs is a BAFTA and Emmy award-winning British Drama set in a large Townhouse in Edwardian The series—a narrative of the upper-class Bellamy family and their servants in the early twentieth century—was one of the most popular programmes produced by London Weekend Television for ITV. Independent Television (generally known as ITV) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters set up under the Independent It also proved popular when shown in the United States on Masterpiece Theatre, and was "beloved throughout much of the world. Television is one of the major major mass media of the United States. Masterpiece (formerly known as Masterpiece Theatre) is a drama Anthology television series produced by WGBH Boston. "^[8]

Dotrice took on the role of Maria Beadnell in the miniseries Dickens of London (1976), starring her father as Charles Dickens. In 1977, she appeared with Ann-Margret in Joseph Andrews, a German telefilm based on the Henry Fielding novel. Ann-Margret (born April 28 1941 is a Swedish -born American actress singer As the world's third largest economy and with the largest Population in the European Union, Germany today offers a vast diversity of television stations Henry Fielding ( April 22, 1707 &ndash October 8, 1754) was an English Novelist and Dramatist known for his Joseph Andrews, or The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of his Friend Mr

In 1978, Dotrice made her final screen appearance, playing Jenny in the BBC2 Play of the Week, She Fell Among Thieves. Starring Malcolm McDowell and Eileen Atkins, Thieves made its U. Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943 is an English Actor. Dame Eileen June Atkins DBE (born 16 June 1934 is an English Writer and BAFTA and Emmy Award -winning Film, Television S. début on 5 February 1980—the first film screened as part of the PBS Mystery! series. Events 1576 - Henry of Navarre converts to Roman Catholicism in order to ensure his right to the throne of France. Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) The Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) is a Non-profit Public broadcasting Television service with 354 member TV stations in the Mystery! (also written MYSTERY!) is a long-running Anthology television series that debuted in 1980 in the USA, which airs on ^[9]

Later life

In 1981, Dotrice took the role of Desdemona in the Warner Theatre production of Othello opposite James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer. The Warner Theatre is a Theatre in downtown Washington DC, United States James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American Actor of Film and stage well known for his deep basso Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer, CC (born December 13 1929 is a Canadian Theater, Film and Television actor. Reviewers were less than kind; calling her "the only serious let-down" in the cast, David Richards of The Washington Post wrote, "Dotrice is not Desdemona. The Washington Post is the largest and most circulated Newspaper in Washington D She is a Desdemona doll, reciting her lines in a thin, reedy voice and moving through the tragedy with a rare somnolence. " Dianne Wiest took the role in the 1982 Broadway production and received similar reviews. Dianne Wiest (born March 28, 1948) is an American actress. She has enjoyed a successful career on stage television and film and has won ^[10]

Dotrice virtually disappeared from public life following her retirement. She was married to English actor Alex Hyde-White from 1986 to 1992; they have a son, Garrick. Alex Punch Hyde-White (born January 30, 1959) is an English actor In 1994, Dotrice married then-Universal Studios executive Edwin "Ned" Nalle and later gave birth to two children, Isabella and Griffin. Universal Studios (sometimes called Universal Pictures or Universal City Studios) a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is a major Global American

She provided spoken-word adaptations of Disney's The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Pocahontas; in 2001, she lent her voice to a sing-along release of Mary Poppins and was interviewed for the ABC television special, Walt: The Man Behind the Myth; she was, however, done with acting. The Little Mermaid is a 1989 animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation with a pencil test beginning on September 23, 1988 and BATB redirects here If you were looking for Back at the Barnyard which is abbreviated as BATB see here. Pocahontas is the thirty-third Animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. The American Broadcasting Company ( ABC) is an American Television network. "I'll never go back," she told Hello! magazine in 1995, "because you don't have to put on any make-up. Hello! is a weekly magazine specialising in celebrity news and gossip published in Britain. "^[11]

Dotrice was coaxed back into the spotlight twice in 2004: She was named a Disney Legend at a ceremony in Burbank (at which Matthew Garber was honoured posthumously),^[12] and she was interviewed and provided audio commentary for the 40th Anniversary Edition Mary Poppins DVD release. A posthumous recognition is a ceremonial award given after the recipient has died usually in honor of an action associated with their death

Filmography

Feature films

Television

References

External links

• Karen Dotrice at the Internet Movie Database
• Disney Legends profile
• Reel Classics: "Whatever Happened to..."