Muriel Angelus

Muriel Angelus, born Muriel Findlay on 10 March 1912, was an English actress whose career spanned stage, musical theatre, and film across both Britain and the United States. She died on 26 June 2004 at a nursing home in Harrisonburg, Virginia, at the age of 92, survived by her daughter Suzanne Lavalle Bothamley from her second marriage. Her ashes were returned to her surviving daughter.

The daughter of a chemist, Angelus was educated at the Ursuline Convent in London. She began performing at a young age, appearing in a production of Henry VIII at age 12. Her early career included singing in music halls and dancing in a West End production of The Vagabond King in 1927.

Angelus entered films near the close of the silent era, making her screen debut in The Ringer (1928), the first of three film adaptations of the Edgar Wallace play. That same year she appeared in Sailor Don't Care (1928), on the set of which she met Scots-born actor John Stuart, who became her first husband, though her role was ultimately cut from the film. Her first sound picture, Night Birds (1930), gave her the opportunity to perform a musical number. She subsequently co-starred with Stuart in No Exit (1930), Eve's Fall (1930), and Hindle Wakes (1931), and appeared alongside British comedian Monty Banks in My Wife's Family (1931) and So You Won't Talk (1935). She also appeared in the British serial Lloyd of the C.I.D. A contract with Paramount Pictures followed, though she did not achieve major stardom in Hollywood. Her last known film role was in The Great McGinty (1940).

Angelus appeared on Broadway between 1938 and 1943. She originated the role of Adriana in the 1938 Broadway production of The Boys from Syracuse, and later played Marie Sauvinet in Sunny River in 1941. Her most prominent Broadway success came with the musical comedy Early to Bed in 1943. In 1959, Richard Rodgers sought her for the role of the Mother Abbess in the original Broadway production of The Sound of Music, an offer she declined. Her final stage performance came in 1946, following her marriage to Paul Lavalle. In a 1996 interview, Angelus reflected that leaving England had been a mistake, describing her Hollywood experience as that of a small vessel overwhelmed by far larger ones.