AS SEEN ON TV: MRS. DANVERS

MRS. DANVERS

CREATED BY:

Daphne Du Maurier

PORTRAYED BY:

Anna Massey

AS SEEN IN:

"Rebecca"

TV DIMENSION:

Alternate Toobworld

STATUS:

Multiversal

(Literary Universe, Cineverse, TV Universe or "Televerse")

From Wikipedia:

Mrs. Danvers is the main antagonist of Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel Rebecca. She is the housekeeper of Manderley, a stately manor belonging to wealthy Maximillian "Maxim" de Winter, where he once lived with his openly unfaithful wife Rebecca. Rebecca died in a boating accident the previous year and Mr. de Winter, who has been traveling, has brought home a new bride. Mrs. Danvers (whose first name is never given) remains rigidly faithful to Rebecca's memory, insisting that the house be kept just as it was when Rebecca lived there. She continually brow beats the new Mrs. De Winter whenever the young woman attempts to make any sort of change to the house.

Danvers wants desperately to get rid of the new Mrs. de Winter and tries to break up the marriage. Late in the story she suggests that Mrs. de Winter wear a particular dress to a costume ball. She knows full well that it is a dress that Rebecca wore to the costume ball the year before. It angers Mr. de Winter and when she confronts Mrs. Danvers about her deception (she finds her in Rebecca’s room), Mrs. Danvers attempts to manipulate her into jumping out of the second floor window. The spell is broken when a signal flare is sent up signaling that a ship has run aground.

In the end, having failed to break up the marriage, Mrs. Danvers sets fire to Manderley. She tells the new Mrs. de Winter that she would rather burn the place down than see them happy there. Mrs. de Winter escapes but Mrs. Danvers dies in the fire.

Mrs. Danvers would later be played by several actresses for television adaptations, notably: Dorothy Black in 1947, Nina Foch in 1962, Anna Massey in 1979, Diana Rigg in 1997, and by Mariangela Melato in an Italian language adaptation.

Dorothy Black appears to be The Mrs. Danvers of Earth Prime-Time. And the Mrs. Danvers played by Mariangela Melato would be found in the TV dimension which was a world conquered by Italy, and so Italian would be the dominant language.

BCnU!