Peggy Ryan
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.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 3.95 |
Birthday | 1924-08-28 |
Place of Birth | Long Beach, California, USA |
Also Known As | Margaret O'Rene Ryan, Margaret Sherman, |
1945
Here Come the Co-eds
5.8/23
Molly, her brother, Slats, and his pal, Oliver, are taxi dancers at the Miramar Ballroom. As a publicity stunt, Slats plants an article about Molly cl...
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Here Come the Co-eds
1944
Follow the Boys
5.2/8
During World War II, all the studios put out "all-star" vehicles which featured virtually every star on the lot--often playing themselves--in musical...
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Follow the Boys
1945
That's the Spirit
4/1
A vaudeville performer returns from the dead to help his wife and daughter, who are being dominated by a greedy banker.
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That's the Spirit
1953
All Ashore
6/1
Three sailors finally get some shore leave, and go in search of fun and girls.
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All Ashore
1942
Get Hep to Love
4/1
Orphan prodigy singer runs away from her oppressive aunt and tricks a rural couple into adopting her.
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Get Hep to Love
1942
Miss Annie Rooney
6.4/7
A poor girl falls for a wealthy young man. He invites her to his gala birthday party, but she doesn't have the right kind of dress to wear, so her fam...
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Miss Annie Rooney
1945
Patrick the Great
4/1
A famous stage actor hopes to land the lead role in a big new Broadway musical, but he's unaware his teenage son has already been given the part.
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Patrick the Great
1944
Babes on Swing Street
0/0
The president of a settlement-house group puts on a benefit variety show.
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Babes on Swing Street
1943
Mister Big
2.2/2
Students at the Davis School of the Theatre are assigned "Antigone" as their class play, but they conspire to do a swing musical instead.
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Mister Big
1944
The Merry Monahans
5.5/4
The film concerns a family vaudeville troupe headed by patriarch Pete Monahan. Because of his love affair with the bottle, Pete manages to get himself...
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The Merry Monahans
1943
Top Man
0/0
In this WW II musical, a young man suddenly finds himself in charge of his family when his father is called to war. To help the flagging spirits of lo...
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Top Man
1939
The Flying Irishman
4.6/5
This is the story of the historic 1938 flight of Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan. Mr. Corrigan starred in this film, which chronicled his infamous flight...
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The Flying Irishman
1942
Girls' Town
0/0
A West Coast version of "Stage Door", set at a Hollywood boarding house for young women hoping for movie careers.
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Girls' Town
1944
Chip Off the Old Block
4/1
The son of a strict Navy officer falls for the daughter of a musical-comedy star.
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Chip Off the Old Block
1940
The Grapes of Wrath
7.855/941
Tom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. He catches up with them on his Uncl...
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The Grapes of Wrath
1944
This Is the Life
5/2
18-year-old Angela, reared in a New England town by her Aunt Betsy, receives an inheritance which she uses to go to New York, ostensibly for voice tra...
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This Is the Life
1942
What's Cookin'?
5.5/2
J. P. Courtney wants to update the music on the radio program he sponsors, but his wife, Agatha Courtney, is the final authority and addicted to the c...
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What's Cookin'?
1937
The Women Men Marry
5.5/1
A newsman with a no-good wife exposes a religious racket with a newswoman who loves him.
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The Women Men Marry
1938
Billy Rose's Casa Mañana Revue
8/2
The scene is set at Billy Rose's Casa Manana Revue, filmed at the Fort Worth Frontier Fiesta (1937), an enormous production created as part of the Tex...
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Billy Rose's Casa Mañana Revue
1942
When Johnny Comes Marching Home
4/1
By popular consensus, Allan Jones' best Universal mini-musical of the 1940s was the timely When Johnny Comes Marching Home. Jones is cast as war hero...
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When Johnny Comes Marching Home
1942
Private Buckaroo
5.4/6
The film tells the story of army recruits following basic training, with the Andrew Sisters attending USO dances. The film is a mixture of comedy and...
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Private Buckaroo
1944
Bowery to Broadway
0/0
Two Bowery vaudevillians find success in producing shows on Broadway, but when one of them suddenly departs to work for a beautiful woman, a feud erup...
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Bowery to Broadway
1949
There's a Girl in My Heart
0/0
A Gay-Nineties musical set in NYC's Bowery and East-Side explores the life of its inhabitants---an Irish policeman and his tap-dancing daughter and mu...
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There's a Girl in My Heart
1937
Top of the Town
5.2/4
In this musical set in swingin' Manhattan, an heiress plans a ballet in the famous Moonbeam ballroom located atop a 100-story skyscraper. Unfortunatel...
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Top of the Town
1945
Men in Her Diary
0/0
Singer/Dancer Peggy Ryan neither sings nor dances in this comedy in which she plays a secretary, whose life has no romance because she devotes all of...
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Men in Her Diary
1940
Sailor's Lady
4/1
Sailor is going to marry his girlfriend when he returns, but she becomes foster mother to baby whose parents are accidentally killed. The baby is acci...
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Sailor's Lady
1945
On Stage Everybody
0/0
Radio's miracle show is on the screen.
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On Stage Everybody
1949
Shamrock Hill
1/1
A young girl holds a special place in her heart for a place called Shamrock HIll, and she tries to stop it from having a television station built on i...
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Shamrock Hill
1939
She Married a Cop
5/2
This comedy is set in New York and centers upon a singing Irish cop who causes quite a sensation among two producers when he sings at the annual Polic...
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She Married a Cop
1980
Pleasure Palace
6/2
Story of a professional gambler, connoisseur, gourmet and sportsman who sets out to help a Las Vegas hotel-casino owner from losing his controlling in...
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Pleasure Palace
1930
The Wedding of Jack and Jill
0/0
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