- “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 the father of the Darling children in Disney's 1953 animated feature film, Peter Pan.
Background
George lives in Edwardian-era London with his family. He is referred to as Father by the children and "George, dear" by his wife.
Personality
George's personality is at first, loud, practical, and angry. He is noticeably involved with his children, albeit in a very strict manner. Mr. Darling's anger toward his sons is not entirely without justification, as they had defaced part of his tuxedo by drawing a treasure map on it and used his golden cuff links 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, George 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
In the movie, George Darling is the husband of Mary Darling, and father of Wendy, John, and Michael Darling. He is a very practical man and doesn't believe in childish stuff such as Peter Pan and Never Land, despite once believing in all of it when he was very young himself. During the night in which most of the film takes place, George and his wife Mary are getting ready to attend a party, and George 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 children's nursery and asks where his cuff links are, and finds his shirt front and finds that it has a map traced on it with chalk. When John and Michael explain that the map is from Wendy's stories about Peter Pan, George 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 George Darling began to storm out the room he accidentally trips over Nana. Both Nana and George 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 the dog house. Michael begs George not to put in the doghouse, but he angrily refuses and drags Nana all the way out, while Michael is holding on to her tail, but he is forced to let go of her by Mary and he sadly waves at Nana. Nana is heartbroken as she never sleeps in the dog house. George feels sympathy for Nana while roping her up because he believes that she is a dog and not a nurse and that the children aren't puppies but people, and need to grow up eventually. When George and Mary leave for the party, Mary asks if the children 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 his wife that she's as bad as the children 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. When George and Mary get into the children's nursery, they find Wendy asleep at the window, but she soon wakes up from dreaming and tells her parents about their adventures in Never Land 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 Captain Hook's pirate ship, along with Wendy and Mary, after George 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 Return to Never Land. He also isn't mentioned by any of the characters (including Wendy), suggesting that he grew old and passed away.
Once Upon a Time
George Darling and the rest of the Darling family appear in the second season of the ABC fairy tale drama, portrayed by Andrew Airlie. He retains the personality he has in the Disney movie - a stern, no-nonsense, practical man who wants his children to grow up. However, he looks radically different than in the Disney version; instead of heavyset, he is very slim and has whiter-looking hair.
Gallery
Trivia
- Mr. Darling and Captain Hook share the same voice actor, both voiced by Hans Conried, which follows the theatrical tradition that Captain Hook and George Darling are played by the same actor.
- The fact that Mr. Darling both sounds like and resembles Captain Hook might have been Wendy subconsciously associating her father's antagonism toward her and her stories with 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 Darling recognizes the shape of the cloud in the form of a ship from his childhood suggest 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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