Miss Agatha Hannigan is the main antagonist of Annie. She is the authoritarian head of the Girls' orphanage, a job she loves, but she hates children, especially Annie. She is portrayed by Kathy Bates.
"Your days are numbered. Get her out of there."
Role in the Film
Miss Hannigan is first only spoken of by Annie, who tells the squabbling girls that if the former wakes up, she'll get sore. She isn't seen until Annie is about to sneak out of the orphanage (just to find her parents). She tells Annie to be thankful that she isn't letting her out. She asks Annie what they say, and she mutters the answer, "I love you, Miss Hannigan". She asks to hear it, and she shouts the answer, only to be called "Rotten orphan". Annie reminds her of the note saying that they'll be coming back for her, but Miss Hannigan reminds her that that was 1922 and this is 1933; thus Annie is an orphan. She wakes up the other orphans and has them clean up the floors and strip the beds for Mr. Bundles. As soon as she gets back, she finds Molly hidden in the laundry basket. As soon as Mr. Bundles enters with clean sheets, he asks to take her out for an ice cream soda, but she refuses because she is saving up for Oliver Warbucks. She sends him out with the dirty laundry. She is not aware that he had (inadvertently) taken Annie out with it until she takes roll call, with each orphan answering, "I love you, Miss Hannigan." It is then that the orphan with the glasses tells her where Annie is. This infuriates her, and she runs off after Mr. Bundles' truck and gets bitten by a dog. When Annie gets returned to the orphanage Miss Hannigan is about to have her clean the floors with a toothbrush when a woman named Grace Farrell enters the room and says that she's the personal secretary to Oliver Warbucks and that Mr. Warbucks has offered to let an orphan spend Christmas with him and she suggests Annie but Miss Hannigan refuses to let Annie go until Grace reveals that she'll let the Board of Orphans know about it and Miss Hannigan lets Annie go. Later on in the movie when Mr. Warbucks decides to adopt Annie Miss Hannigan becomes jealous because Annie is now gonna have everything. When Miss Hannigan's brother Rooster and his girlfriend Lily St. Regis show up at the orphanage they decide that something should be done about Annie and that they'll be on "Easy Street". When Miss Hannigan learns that Mr. Warbucks is offering a reward for $50,000 for the couple who can prove that their Annie's parents Miss Hannigan, Rooster, and Lily come with a plan to get the money and Annie and once they do they will kill Annie and run off with the money on "Easy Street. Miss Hannigan and Rooster act as Annie's parents under the names Ralph and Shirley Mudge and come up with a fake story that they left Annie at the orphanage because they were poor and got a job on a farm in Canada and the farm didn't allow babies and now they had enough money to raise Annie and went looking for her and that Miss Hannigan told them where she is. They also manage to use fake IDs from Lily and part of a heart shape from a necklace and match it to Annie's along with Annie's Birth Certificate October 28th 1922. Mr. Warbucks also tells them about the reward for $50,000 to which they at first denie it but then soon change saying that they could use it to help raise Annie and Mr. Warbucks asks if Annie could spend Christmas with him and Rooster and Miss Hannigan agree and leave unaware of their true identities. The next day Rooster and Miss Hannigan leave Lily with the orphans while they go and pick up Annie and when they arrive they manage to get the check and Annie but just as they're about to leave, Lily and the orphans show up and President Franklin D. Roosevelt who Oliver invited for Christmas reveals Miss Hannigan, Rooster, and Lily's true identities. As Rooster and Lily are being arrested Miss Hannigan tries to say that Rooster made her do the evil scheme and asks Annie to tell the people how much she always loved her but Annie reveals to Miss Hannigan that the one thing that she taught her was "Never tell a lie", much to Miss Hannigan's wrath, and the latter is sent to an asylum.
Trivia
- In this adaption, Miss Hannigan is totally unscrupulous, while in the original Broadway musical and the 1982 film, she is somewhat sympathetic.