Veronica Cartwright (born 20 April 1949) is a British-born American
actress who has worked mainly in US film and television in a career
spanning six decades. As a child actress, she appeared in supporting
roles in The Children's Hour and The Birds. She is best known for her
roles in the 1970s science fiction films Invasion of the Body
Snatchers and Alien, for which she won a Saturn Award for Best
Supporting Actress. In the 1980s, she appeared in The Right Stuff and
The Witches of Eastwick. In the 1990s, she received three Emmy
nominations as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her
roles on the television series ER and The X-Files.Cartwright was born
in Bristol and grew up in Los Angeles, having emigrated to the US
shortly after the birth of her younger sister, actress Angela
Cartwright. In 1958, her career as a child actress began with a role
in In Love and War. Among her early appearances were repeated roles in
the television series Leave It to Beaver (as Beaver's classmates
Violet Rutherford and, later, Peggy MacIntosh) and episodes of One
Step Beyond "The Haunting" (1960) and The Twilight Zone "I Sing the
Body Electric" (1962). In 1963, she guest starred twice in NBC's
medical drama about psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour, in the episodes
"The Silence of Good Men" and "My Name is Judith, I'm Lost, You See".
Cartwright appeared in the films The Children's Hour (1961) and Alfred
Hitchcock's The Birds (1963), which were both highly successful. In
The Birds, she was cast along with her television father from Leave It
to Beaver, Richard Deacon, although the two were not on screen
together. She played daughter Jemima Boone in the first two seasons of
NBC's Daniel Boone from 1964 until 1966, with co-stars Fess Parker,
Patricia Blair, Darby Hinton, Ed Ames and Dallas McKennon. She won a
regional Emmy Award for the television movie Tell Me Not in Mournful
Numbers (1964). Cartwright achieved success with Invasion of the Body
Snatchers (1978) and Alien (1979), the latter performance winning her
a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. She was originally cast as
Alien's heroine Ellen Ripley, but director Ridley Scott switched her
role with Sigourney Weaver's just prior to shooting the film.
actress who has worked mainly in US film and television in a career
spanning six decades. As a child actress, she appeared in supporting
roles in The Children's Hour and The Birds. She is best known for her
roles in the 1970s science fiction films Invasion of the Body
Snatchers and Alien, for which she won a Saturn Award for Best
Supporting Actress. In the 1980s, she appeared in The Right Stuff and
The Witches of Eastwick. In the 1990s, she received three Emmy
nominations as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her
roles on the television series ER and The X-Files.Cartwright was born
in Bristol and grew up in Los Angeles, having emigrated to the US
shortly after the birth of her younger sister, actress Angela
Cartwright. In 1958, her career as a child actress began with a role
in In Love and War. Among her early appearances were repeated roles in
the television series Leave It to Beaver (as Beaver's classmates
Violet Rutherford and, later, Peggy MacIntosh) and episodes of One
Step Beyond "The Haunting" (1960) and The Twilight Zone "I Sing the
Body Electric" (1962). In 1963, she guest starred twice in NBC's
medical drama about psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour, in the episodes
"The Silence of Good Men" and "My Name is Judith, I'm Lost, You See".
Cartwright appeared in the films The Children's Hour (1961) and Alfred
Hitchcock's The Birds (1963), which were both highly successful. In
The Birds, she was cast along with her television father from Leave It
to Beaver, Richard Deacon, although the two were not on screen
together. She played daughter Jemima Boone in the first two seasons of
NBC's Daniel Boone from 1964 until 1966, with co-stars Fess Parker,
Patricia Blair, Darby Hinton, Ed Ames and Dallas McKennon. She won a
regional Emmy Award for the television movie Tell Me Not in Mournful
Numbers (1964). Cartwright achieved success with Invasion of the Body
Snatchers (1978) and Alien (1979), the latter performance winning her
a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. She was originally cast as
Alien's heroine Ellen Ripley, but director Ridley Scott switched her
role with Sigourney Weaver's just prior to shooting the film.
Share this
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
Join us for free and get valuable content delivered right through your inbox.