Peggy Ryan, Acting - KorPlix:Korean Person Archives

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Peggy Ryan
Acting

Peggy Ryan
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1924-08-28,Long Beach, California, USA
Gender
Female
Biography
A vastly talented musical performer, Peggy Ryan found stardom dancing alongside partner Donald O'Connor as Universal's answer to Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. Paired up in many a low-budget WWII-era musical, she was best known for her dancing feet, but she was no slouch in the singing department and her buoyant personality added plenty of zest to the escapist fare she appeared in. Christened Margaret O'Rene Ryan, Peggy was, as they say, born in a trunk in 1924 to a pair of vaudeville dancers ("The Merry Dancing Ryans") and, by age two, the pint-sized scene-stealer was already selling her heart out on stage alongside her parents. No glamor girl, Peggy had a very plaintive face, prominent nose and gangly figure, similar to a Virginia Weidler, so she was wise enough to play it up for laughs. Discovered by George Murphy, the young girl earned a part in Universal's enjoyable tune fest Top of the Town(1937), where the little Irish charmer managed to steal a dance alongside Murphy. Other movies beckoned, sometimes in teary dramas such as The Women Men Marry (1937) and The Grapes of Wrath (1940). With the movie What's Cookin'? (1942), she teamed with O'Connor for the first time. The two were a sensation and sparked many musical programmers with their clowning, mugging, intricate dance steps, and indefatigable style. The jitterbugging twosome romped through Private Buckaroo (1942), Give Out, Sisters(1942), Get Hep to Love (1942), Top Man (1943), The Merry Monahans (1944), Chip Off the Old Block (1944) and Bowery to Broadway (1944) during their peak. During this period she married James Cross and had a son, James Michael Cross, who later died in a 1987 car accident. Peggy began to freelance in post-war years and found employment with other studios. She was paired up with dancer Ray McDonald for the films Shamrock Hill (1949) and All Ashore (1953) and began seeing him off screen as well. They eventually married, had a child named Kerry, and toured together across the U.S. in a nightclub act for a few years until their marriage folded. She decided to retire from films following her third marriage to Hawaiian announcer/emcee/columnist Eddie Sherman. She choreographed book shows here and there ("The Music Man", "Funny Girl"), but basically settled down in Hawaii. In later years, she came out of semi-retirement to appear in a small recurring part as the Governor of Hawaii's secretary, Millie, on TV's popular Hawaii Five-O (1968) in 1968. She remained a sporadic presence throughout the run of the show. After teaching tap dancing for decades on the sly, Peggy moved to Las Vegas with her family. A trouper to the end, she formed a group of middle-aged dancers called "The TNT's" and performed in and about town. In 2003, she suffered her first mini-stroke, dying a year later in what was reported to be complications from multiple strokes on October 30, 2004.

Filmography

Follow the Boys

5.2

Follow the Boys
1944-05-05

Here Come the Co-eds

5.6

Here Come the Co-eds
1945-02-02

That's the Spirit

4

That's the Spirit
1945-06-01

6

All Ashore
1953-03-03

Get Hep to Love

4

Get Hep to Love
1942-10-02

Miss Annie Rooney

6.4

Miss Annie Rooney
1942-05-29

Patrick the Great

4

Patrick the Great
1945-05-04

Babes on Swing Street

0

Babes on Swing Street
1944-10-27

2.2

Mister Big
1943-05-28

The Merry Monahans

5.5

The Merry Monahans
1944-09-15

0

Top Man
1943-09-17

The Flying Irishman

4.6

The Flying Irishman
1939-04-07

0

Girls' Town
1942-03-06

Chip Off the Old Block

4

Chip Off the Old Block
1944-02-01

Pleasure Palace

6

Pleasure Palace
1980-10-22

The Grapes of Wrath

7.835

The Grapes of Wrath
1940-03-15

This Is the Life

5

This Is the Life
1944-06-01

The Women Men Marry

5.5

The Women Men Marry
1937-09-10

What's Cookin'?

5.5

What's Cookin'?
1942-02-20

Billy Rose's Casa Mañana Revue

8

Billy Rose's Casa Mañana Revue
1938-04-26

When Johnny Comes Marching Home

4

When Johnny Comes Marching Home
1942-12-24

Private Buckaroo

4.9

Private Buckaroo
1942-06-12

Bowery to Broadway

0

Bowery to Broadway
1944-11-03

There's a Girl in My Heart

0

There's a Girl in My Heart
1949-12-19

The Wedding of Jack and Jill

0

The Wedding of Jack and Jill
1930-04-30

Top of the Town

5.2

Top of the Town
1937-04-17

Men in Her Diary

0

Men in Her Diary
1945-09-14

4

Sailor's Lady
1940-07-05

1

Shamrock Hill
1949-02-01

On Stage Everybody

0

On Stage Everybody
1945-07-13

She Married a Cop

5

She Married a Cop
1939-07-11

6.7

Simon & Simon
1981-11-24

7.1

Hawaii Five-O
1968-09-20