by Mark Brinkerhoff
Veronica Cartwright in a 2020 documentary "LIfe After The Navigator" exploring one of her 80s films
Happy 4/20, which happens to be the birthday—same day/month/year—of both Jessica Lange and one Veronica Cartwright, the British-born former child star and current character actor extraordinaire.
When did you first clock the extraordinary Veronica Cartwright on screen? Though she mainly does TV guest spots (and the occasional direct-to-VOD titles) nowadays, I can say that she made an immediate impression for me in the mid-‘80s, starting with The Right Stuff (1983), Flight of the Navigator (1986), and most notably The Witches of Eastwick (1987)...
Veronica Cartwright in "The Witches of Eastwick"
In that horror comedy (which we've celebrated before at TFE) she blew the doors off George Miller’s fantastic adaptation of John Updike’s supernatural novel. Among a fully stacked ensemble of top-of-their-game players, Cartwright emerged as the film’s MVP, delivering a truly unsettling —yet somehow grounding— performance that has aged marvelously well.
As a child of the ‘80s/‘90s, I had to work my way back in time to experience and appreciate Cartwright’s talent from the very beginning of her impressive career. In The Children’s Hour (1961), she was effectively dubious as the conspiratorial Rosalie Wells in William Wyler’s then-groundbreaking coded drama. Two years later, she gave another standout performance in a sea of fellow child actors in Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal The Birds (1963). During this period, memorable guest roles in classic TV shows (like Leave It to Beaver and The Twilight Zone) gave way to a decade or so of journeyman acting as she came into adulthood.
Veronica Cartwright in "Alien" which returns to movie theaters for its 45th anniversary next weekend
By the mid-‘70s, Cartwright appeared to come into her own with solid work in Joan Micklin Silver’s Bernice Bobs Her Hair (1976), Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), and Ridley Scott’s sci-fi masterpiece Alien (1979). It could be said that Cartwright had become a veritable “scream queen” by that point, but she always deliver so much more than just that.
From the ‘60s through the ‘80s to the ‘00s, Cartwright managed to give one stunning performance after another, whether in blockbusters, mini-series (like Robert Atman’s avant-garde Tanner ’88) or recurring roles on acclaimed TV shows (such as Six Feet Under and The X-Files, not to mention her brilliant episode of Will & Grace). And yet, there is always an underlying impression that Hollywood, maverick directors like Altman, Miller and Scott notwithstanding, didn’t know entirely what to make of—or how to capitalize on—her.
But despite the industry’s lack of imagination, Cartwright is to be celebrated for her enduring talent and legacy of fine performances on screens big and small. It’s not often, after all, that we can talk contemporaneously of a working actor who has been a fixture of American film and television for 65 years.
Veronica Cartwright in "The Children's Hour", her feature film debut
Let’s hope then that there’s more iconic work in store for Cartwright as she enters the twilight of her very long, illustrious career.