Peggy Cummins

Peggy Cummins was a Welsh-Irish actress born on December 18, 1925 in Prestatyn, Wales. Cummins was the daughter of newspaper editor Franklin Bland Fuller and actress Margaret Cummins, and great-granddaughter of the Irish architect, actor, and novelist James Franklin Fuller. Born in Wales as her parents took shelter from a storm on their return home to Ireland, Cummins was educated in Dublin, and learned dance at the Abbey School of Ballet. When she was 12, actor Peter Brock introduced her to the Dublin Gate Theatre. That same year, Cummins acted in a London production of children revue "Let's Pretend," which premiered on her 13th birthday. She continued to perform on stage in productions such as "Junior Miss" and "Alice in Wonderland" throughout the 1940s, but Cummins landed her film debut with a small part in the now lost British film "Dr. O'Dowd" (1940). She would appear in supporting roles for the next few years, but acted in her biggest film yet with "English Without Tears" (1944). The next year, she was discovered by Fox mogul Darryl F. Zanuck and brought to Hollywood, where she was chosen, among many girls, to play the titular character in "Forever Amber" (1947). However, some time through shooting (the exact amount of time Cummins was on set is disputed), she was replaced by Linda Darnell because Cummins looked too young. She was then given the lead role in "Moss Rose" (1947), her first Hollywood production but a financial disappointment. After being given supporting roles in other middling films, Cummins returned to Europe to appear in "That Dangerous Age" (1950). Shortly thereafter, though, she returned to Hollywood to star in her most widely recognized film, in a cult classic sense: "Gun Crazy" (1950). Directed by Joseph H. Lewis, a cult figure in his own right, "Gun Crazy" followed the Bonnie-and-Clyde-esque exploits of Annie Laurie Starr (Cummins) and Bart Tare (John Dall). The femme fatale role would be her most enduring, but unfortunately, "Gun Crazy" was Cummins' last American film and the start of her major roles in minor films or minor roles in slightly more than minor films. In 1950, she returned to London and married William Herbert Derek Dunnett. The two were married until his death in 2000, and the couple had a son and daughter, born in 1954 and 1962, respectively. Her return to Britain was heralded by the lead role in "My Daughter Joy" (1950), which nevertheless did not set the box office on fire. Cummins continued to play supporting roles throughout the 1950s, but she landed another (eventual) cult success when she starred in Jacques Tourneur's horror film "Night of the Demon" (1957). Comedy "In the Doghouse" (1961) would ultimately be her last film, but Cummins turned toward television briefly at the end of her acting career. She made her TV debut in an episode of the medical procedural "The Human Jungle" (ITV, 1963-65) in 1964, and made her final acting performance in an episode of "Summer Comedy Hour" (1965) the next year. Cummins was active in charity after her retirement from acting, especially with the Stars Organization for Spastics beginning in the 1970s. She died at age 92 on December 29, 2017 from a stroke.