Peggy Ryan

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Peggy Ryan (born Margaret O'Rene Ryan on 28 August 1924 in Long Beach, California - died 30 October 2004 in Las Vegas, Nevada) was an American dancer who starred in a series of movie musicals at Universal Studios, tapping and clowning with Donald O'Connor.

Her parents were the vaudeville team "The Merry Dancing Ryans," and Peggy joined them onstage before she was two years old. Her singing, acting, and dancing skills were noticed by George Murphy, who helped her get a role in 1937's Top of the Town. Her first pairing with O'Connor was 1942's What's Cookin'?, and they appeared in films together throughout World War II.

She married James Cross in 1945; they were divorced in 1952.

She left Universal and was paired with dancer Ray McDonald for 1949's There's a Girl in My Heart and Shamrock Hill, and 1953's All Ashore. They wed in 1953 and toured together in a nightclub act before being divorced in 1957.

Her third wedding, in 1958, was to Hawaii columnist Eddie Sherman, following which she left movies for choreography and semi-retirement. She was brought back to the small screen to play a recurring role as secretary Jenny Sherman, in Hawaii Five-O from 1969 to 1976.

In later years she trained Las Vegas showgirls in tap dancing. Her last public performance, at her 80th birthday party, was a hilarious song-and-dance routine for her former Universal studio colleagues. She continued to teach tap until two days before her death from the effects of a stroke.

  • The Wedding of Jack and Jill - 1930
  • Top of the Town - 1937
  • Women Men Marry - 1937
  • Billy Rose's Casa MaƱana Revue - 1938
  • The Flying Irishman - 1939
  • She Married a Cop - 1939
  • The Grapes of Wrath - 1940
  • Sailor's Lady - 1940
  • What's Cookin'? - 1942
  • Girls' Town - 1942
  • Miss Annie Rooney - 1942
  • Private Buckaroo - 1942
  • Give Out, Sisters - 1942
  • Get Hep to Love - 1942
  • When Johnny Comes Marching Home - 1942
  • Mister Big - 1943
  • Top Man - 1943
  • Chip Off the Old Block - 1944
  • This Is the Life - 1944
  • The Merry Monahans - 1944
  • Babes on Swing Street - 1944
  • Bowery to Broadway - 1944
  • Here Come The Co-Eds - 1945
  • Patrick the Great - 1945
  • That's the Spirit - 1945
  • On Stage Everybody - 1945
  • Men in Her Diary - 1945
  • There's a Girl in My Heart - 1949
  • Shamrock Hill - 1949
  • All Ashore - 1953
  • Hawaii Five-O - 1968 (television series)
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