Mandy Miller
Mandy Miller | |
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Born |
Carmen Isabella Miller 23 July 1944 Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England, UK |
Mandy Miller (born Carmen Isabella Miller, 23 July 1944) is an English child actress who made a number of films in the 1950s and is probably best remembered for her recording of the song "Nellie the Elephant".
Early life
She was christened Carmen but called Mandy by her family. Her career tended to involve serious acting roles rather than comedy, even in her first small part in The Man in the White Suit, where she was a sad-faced little girl who helped Alec Guinness escape his pursuers. She was a natural actress and put in a much praised performance in her second film, another Ealing production, Mandy (1952), playing a deaf child whose parents (played by Terence Morgan and Phyllis Calvert) did not know how to cope with bringing her up.
She was also convincing in the next film, Background (1953), along with the other two child actors in this film about a family breaking up because of an impending divorce. Like Mandy, this was a drama about a well-to-do middle class family; Valerie Hobson played her mother.
She had lighter roles such as in Raising a Riot (1955) starring Kenneth More. Some of her other famous co-stars were Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Godfrey Tearle, Thora Hird, Sam Wanamaker and Joan Carroll, one of the stars of the MGM musical, Meet Me in St. Louis. Miller also made two single records, familiar to British people of a certain age: "Snowflakes" and "Nellie the Elephant".
She also appeared in television dramas, making films until she was 18.
Personal life
At the age of 18, Miller moved to New York to become an au pair. In 1965, she married Christopher Davey, an architect, and had three children (two girls and a boy). She lives in retirement in England.
She is the aunt of actress Amanda Pays.
Filmography
- Compact (1962) TV series
- Sunday's Child (1959) TV series
- The Snorkel (1958)
- The Feminine Touch (1956)
- Child in the House (1956)
- Dance, Little Lady (1954)
- Raising a Riot (1955)
- The Secret (1955)
- Adventure in the Hopfields[1] (1954)
- Background (1953)
- Mandy (1952)
- The Man in the White Suit (1951)
References
- ↑ "Lost Asher film returns home" (web). BBC News. 8 March 2002. Retrieved 13 February 2009.