Samantha Davis (née Burroughs, 30 January 1971 – 24 March 2024) was a British actress and co-founder of the charity Little People U.K. She worked on films such as ''

Labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the ...

'' and ''Willow'', where she met her husband

Warwick Davis Warwick Ashley Davis (born 3 February 1970) is an English actor. He played the title character in ''Willow'' (1988) and the ''Leprechaun'' film series (1993–2003), several characters in the ''Star Wars'' film series (1983–2019), most nota ...

. Her father was actor

Peter Burroughs Peter Burroughs (born 27 January 1947) is a British television and film actor and the director of Willow Management. He is the father-in-law of actor and TV presenter Warwick Davis. Early career Burroughs initially ran a shop in his village at ...

Personal life and death

She was born with

achondroplasia Achondroplasia is a genetic disorder with an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance whose primary feature is dwarfism. In those with the condition, the arms and legs are short, while the torso is typically of normal length. Those affected ha ...

, a hereditary genetic condition that results in

dwarfism Dwarfism is a condition wherein an organism is exceptionally small, and mostly occurs in the animal kingdom. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dw ...

. As a teenager she began to work as an extra on movie sets with her father Peter Burroughs. It was while working on the film ''Willow'' that she met her husband Warwick Davis though he already knew her from the set of ''

'' which they had both worked on a few years prior. In 1988, the same year they met on ''Willow'', the two were in a play together at the Cambridge Arts Center and began dating. They dated for three years and were married in 1991. Their first child together died shortly after birth due to complications from inheriting both the genetic conditions that cause dwarfism from each parent (

and

SED sed ("stream editor") is a Unix utility that parses and transforms text, using a simple, compact programming language. It was developed from 1973 to 1974 by Lee E. McMahon of Bell Labs, and is available today for most operating systems. sed w ...

). The couple went on to have two other children together, Annabelle and Harrison, who like their parents have both acted in film and television and like their father have

Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita (abbreviated to SED more often than SDC) is a rare disorder of bone growth that results in dwarfism, characteristic skeletal abnormalities, and occasionally problems with vision and hearing. The name of the ...

, a genetic condition that causes dwarfism. In 2019, Davis faced a life-threatening case of sepsis due to complications from surgery and received treatment in hospital. She died of illness in 2024.

Career

Davis appeared as an extra in many films, mostly uncredited. She worked on the film ''Labyrinth'' with her father Peter Bourroughs and she had a uncredited role as a Nelwyn villager in ''Willlow''. A role she reprised (again uncredited) in the revival TV series for Disney+. She also appeared as a goblin in ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2'' and in the educational BBC show ''Through the Dragon's Eye'' in 1989.

Charity work

Samantha Davis co-founded Little People UK in 2012 with husband Warwick Davis. The purpose of the charity was to help people with dwarfism in the United Kingdom. It connects people with dwarfism to each other through events as well to educational and medical resources. One component is an annual convention where hundreds of people with dwarfism meet up. The charity often helps children with dwarfism feel less isolated, connect with people and gain more self-confidence.

Filmography

*''

'' (1986) *''

Willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist ...

'' (1988) *''

Leprechaun 2 ''Leprechaun 2'' (also known as ''One Wedding and Lots of Funerals'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1994 American fantasy comedy horror film directed by Rodman Flender and written by Turi Meyer and Al Septien. The sequel to Mark Jones' ''Leprecha ...

'' (1994) *'' Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2'' (2011)

TV

*''Honky Sausages'' (1999) 1 episode *'' Through the Dragon's Eye'' (1989) 3 episodes *''

'' (2022) (uncredited)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Samantha 1971 births 2024 deaths 21st-century British actresses Dwarfism 20th-century British actresses