Obituaries - March 10, 2000

Anita Dangler; Character Actress in Movies and TV

Anita Dangler, 78, character actress in such films as “The Fisher King” and television series as “The Waltons.” Recently widowed by the death of her actor husband, Michael Prince, Dangler had often worked with him during their nearly five-decade career. The couple toured the world appearing in the play “The Hostage.” Dangler appeared on stage in such plays as “Anything Goes” and “The Bald Soprano.” Often cast as a bag lady, a saleswoman, a neighbor or minor government functionary, she guest-starred in episodes of “Picket Fences,” “ER” and “Rescue 77” as well as several television movies and specials and the soap opera “General Hospital.” Earlier, she was in “The Waltons” and “Barney Miller,” among other television series. Her motion pictures included “For Love of Ivy,” “The Goodbye Girl,” “Hero at Large,” “Honky Tonk Freeway” and “The Fisher King.” In the Los Angeles area, she won critical praise in supporting roles of “The Cherry Orchard” and “Dr. Faustus Lights the Lights” at Ensemble Studio Theatre. On Broadway, she was singled out for special praise as the plump, harried nurse in a 1980 revival of “The Man Who Came to Dinner” at Circle in the Square Theater. “She hasn’t much to do,” one critic wrote, “but she does it in such a funny, stiff-legged, awkward and flustered way you have to roar when she angrily announces she’s quitting to go work in a munitions plant.” On Saturday in Los Angeles of cancer.