- “You know, I have the strangest feeling I've seen that ship before...a long time ago, when I was very young.”
- ―George Darling
George Darling is Mary's husband and Wendy, John, and Michael's father in Disney's 1953 animated feature film, Peter Pan.
Background
George lives in London with his family. He is referred to as Father by Wendy, John, and Michael and "George, dear" by Mary.
Personality
George's personality is at first, loud, practical, and angry. He is noticeably involved with Wendy, John, and Michael albeit in a very strict manner. His anger toward his sons is not entirely without justification, as they had defaced his shirt front by drawing a treasure map on it and used his golden cufflinks in one of their nursery games both without his permission. His anger at Wendy, on the other hand, is because she is about to mature into a woman and become a proper lady, and it can be surmised that etiquette at the time provided that ladies shouldn't speak of childish things like Peter Pan when they are in public situations. Despite his strict demeanor, he admits that he eventually does not mean what he says in the end, and decides to allows Wendy to stay in the nursery again.
Appearances
Peter Pan
George is a very practical man who doesn't believe in childish stuff such as Peter Pan and Neverland, despite once believing in all of it when he was very young himself. During the night in which most of the film takes place, he and Mary are getting ready to go to a party, and he can't find his golden cufflinks, because without them he won't be able to go to the party and "never show his face in the office again" (a line taken from the original Barrie novel). He accidentally hit his head on the drawer in the process.
George goes into the nursery and asks where his cufflinks are, and finds his shirt front and finds that it has a treasure map drawn on it with chalk. When John and Michael explain that it is from Wendy's stories about Peter Pan, he becomes angry, calling Peter Pan "absolute poppycock" as well as mispronouncing his name-calling him "Peter Pirate." and demands that Wendy should have a room of her own because she's growing up and declares that it's her last night in the nursery. When he began to storm out the room he accidentally trips over Nana. Both fall but the rest of the family only comforts Nana. George is shocked and a little jealous and this causes Nana to be put in her dog house. Michael begs George not to do so, but he angrily refuses and drags Nana all the way out, while Michael is holding onto her tail, but he is forced to let go by Mary and he sadly waves at Nana. She is heartbroken as she never sleeps in her dog house. George feels sympathy for her while roping her up because he believes that she is a dog, not a nursemaid, and that Wendy, John, and Michael aren't puppies but people, and need to grow up eventually. When George and Mary leave for the party, Mary asks if Wendy, John, and Michael will be okay without Nana, because Wendy mentioned about capturing Peter Pan's shadow the previous night at the window. George calls the whole thing garbage and tells Mary that she's as bad as they are and that it's no wonder that Wendy is getting crazy ideas.
George isn't seen throughout the film until the end when he and Mary are returning home from the party, and he brings Nana back in. He also has changed his mind about Wendy and decides to let her stay in the nursery after all (confirming his wife's earlier remark that he was only upset about not finding his cuff links). When he and Mary get into there, they find Wendy asleep on the window seat, but she soon wakes up and tells them about their adventures in Neverland with Peter Pan and the Lost Boys and fighting off Captain Hook to which George has heard enough and turns away to go to bed until he looks out the window. As the film closes, he watches a cloud shaped like the Jolly Roger along with Wendy, Mary, and Nana, and recognizes it from his childhood. He starts to understand once again that some fantasies may be real after all.
Return to Never Land
George doesn't appear in the sequel isn't mentioned by any one of the characters (including Wendy). He has either passed away prior or has moved to a new home, as Wendy's family now lives in the Darling House.
Once Upon a Time
George and the rest of the Darling family appear in the second season of the ABC fairy tale drama. He is portrayed by Andrew Airlie. He retains the personality he has in the film - a stern, no-nonsense, practical man who wants Wendy, John, and Michael to grow up. However, he looks radically different than in the movie; instead of heavyset, he is very slim and has whiter-looking hair.
Gallery
Trivia
- George and Captain Hook share the same voice actor, Hans Conried, which follows the theatrical tradition that they are played by the same actor.
- The fact that George both sounds like and resembles Captain Hook might have been Wendy subconsciously associating his antagonism toward her and her stories with Captain Hook's vendetta against Peter Pan, assuming that she dreamed the whole adventure up.
- However, Return to Never Land confirms that it was not a dream.
- The fact that George recognizes the shape of the cloud in the form of a ship from his childhood suggests that he once had an adventure with Peter Pan when he was a child. This is further suggested by the film's opening narration, stating "All this has happened before..."
- Although George doesn't appear in Tinker Bell, he is mentioned by Wendy in the teaser trailer of the movie, stating, "Father says that fairies really do exist. As long as we believe."
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