Peggy Ann Garner

Peggy Ann Garner

Peggy Ann Garner in Jane Eyre (1943)
Born (1932-02-03)February 3, 1932
Canton, Ohio, US
Died October 16, 1984(1984-10-16) (aged 52)
Woodland Hills, California, US
Cause of death Pancreatic cancer
Occupation Actress, Real estate agent, Fleet car executive
Years active 1938-1984
Spouse(s) Kenyon Foster Brown (1964–div.1968)
Albert Salmi (1956–div.1963)
Richard Hayes (1951–div.1953)
Children Catherine Ann Salmi (1957-1995)

Peggy Ann Garner (February 3, 1932 – October 16, 1984) was an American actress.

As a child actress, Garner had her first film role in 1938. She won the Academy Juvenile Award for her work in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945).[1] Featured roles in such films as Black Widow (1954) did not help to establish her in mature film roles, and although she progressed to theatrical work, she made relatively few acting appearances as an adult.

Early years

James Dunn and Peggy Ann Garner in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)

Born in Canton, Ohio, Garner was the daughter of William H. Garner[2] and Virginia Craig Garner.[3] She was pushed by her mother into the limelight and entered in talent quests while still a child. Her parents divorced February 26, 1947.[3]

Garner was a model for still photographers for two years before she began working in films.[4]

Stage

In 1949, Garner starred in Peg O' My Heart at the Famous Artists Playhouse in Fayetteville, New York.[2] In 1954, she toured with a troupe in several states, performing in The Moon Is Blue.[5]

Film

By 1938, Garner had made her first film appearance, and over the next few years she appeared in several more films, including Jane Eyre (1943) and The Keys of the Kingdom (1944). She reached the height of her success at the age of 13 in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), winning an Academy Juvenile Award largely for this performance. In the same year she showed she could handle comedy by giving a fine performance in Junior Miss (1945).[6]

Like many child performers, Garner was unable to make a successful transition into adult film roles.

Radio and television

In 1950, Garner starred as Esther Smith in the radio comedy Meet Me in St. Louis. The program ran two months on NBC.[7]

Garner was a panelist in two television programs, Leave It to the Girls on ABC and NBC[8] and Who Said That? on NBC. In 1951, she starred in a comedy, Two Girls Named Smith, on ABC.[8]:1121

In the summer of 1960, costarred in The Unfamiliar on Producer's Choice,[9] and she was cast as Julie in the episode "Stopover" of David McLean's NBC western series, Tate. In 1960 and again in 1962, she was cast in the episodes "Once Around the Circuit" and "Build My Gallows Low", respectively, of the ABC series, Adventures in Paradise, with Gardner McKay.

Later years

After Garner's film career ended, she ventured into stage acting and had some success but also worked as a real estate agent and fleet car executive between acting jobs in order to support herself. In 1978, she surprised film audiences after a decade away from any feature film when she appeared as the pregnant aunt of the bride 'Candice Ruteledge' in the critically acclaimed ensemble Robert Altman film, A Wedding (1978). (Garner had worked with Altman before; he directed a 1961 episode of Bonanza, "The Rival", in which she appeared as a girl being courted by Hoss Cartwright.) Her final screen performance was a small part in a 1980 made-for-television feature This Year's Blonde.

Personal life

Garner married singer/game show host Richard Hayes February 22, 1951,[10] and they divorced in 1953. She married the actor Albert Salmi on May 16, 1956, and they divorced on March 13, 1963. (Another source says that Garner and Salmi were married May 18, 1956.)[11] Garner's final marriage was to Kenyon Foster Brown. After a few years, that marriage, too, ended in divorce. Her only child, Catherine Ann Salmi, died in 1995 at the age of 38 from heart disease.

Death

Garner died from pancreatic cancer in 1984 at the age of 52. Garner's mother outlived both her only child and her only grandchild.

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1938 Little Miss Thoroughbred Praying orphan uncredited
1939 Blondie Brings Up Baby Melinda Mason
In Name Only Ellen Eden
1940 Abe Lincoln in Illinois (film) little girl (uncredited) Spirit of the People UK title
1942 The Pied Piper Sheila Cavanaugh
Eagle Squadron Child
1944 The Keys of the Kingdom Nora, as a girl
Jane Eyre Jane Eyre (younger)
1945 Nob Hill Katie Flanagan
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Francie Nolan Won: Academy Juvenile Award
Junior Miss Judy Graves
1946 Home, Sweet Homicide Dinah Carstairs
1947 Daisy Kenyon Rosamund O'Mara
Thunder in the Valley Maggie Moore
1948 The Sign of the Ram Christine St. Aubyn
1949 The Lovable Cheat Julie Mercadet
The Big Cat Doris Cooper
Bomba, the Jungle Boy Pat Harland
1951 Teresa Susan Cass
1954 Black Widow Nancy 'Nanny' Ordway
1965 The Probe (Outer Limits Episode) Amanda Frank
1966 The Cat Susan Kilby
1978 A Wedding Candice Ruteledge
1978 Betrayal Mrs. Carol Stockwood TV Movie - Final film before her death due to pancreatic cancer.

References

  1. ↑ "Peggy Ann Garner". The Official Academy Awards Database. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  2. 1 2 "'Peggy Ann Garner Week' in Syracuse As Teen-Ager Appears in Plays, Films". The Post-Standard (New York, Syracuse). August 1, 1949. p. 16. Retrieved May 6, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 "Parents of Actress Peggy Ann Garner Divorced in L.A.". The San Bernardino County Sun (California, San Bernardino). Associated Press. February 27, 1947. p. 1. Retrieved May 6, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Mara, Margaret (June 17, 1946). "Beauty Alone Doesn't Make Child A Model Photographers Will Like". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (New York, Brooklyn). p. 9. Retrieved May 6, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Saucy Comedy Coming To Va.". The Progress-Index (Virginia, Petersburg). February 28, 1954. p. 20. Retrieved May 6, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "(photo caption)". The Anniston Star (Alabama, Anniston). October 28, 1945. p. 28. Retrieved May 6, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Terrace, Vincent (1999). Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-4513-4. P. 223.
  8. 1 2 Sies, Luther F. (2014). Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-5149-4. P. 591.
  9. ↑ "Top Viewing Today". Independent (California, Long Beach). June 13, 1960. p. 39. Retrieved May 6, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Peggy Ann Garner To Be Married Today". The San Bernardino County Sun (California, San Bernardino). Associated Press. February 22, 1951. p. 1. Retrieved May 6, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Peggy Ann Garner Married To Actor". The Cumberland News (Maryland, Cumberland). May 19, 1956. p. 1. Retrieved May 6, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peggy Ann Garner.

Peggy Ann Garner at Find a Grave

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