"Multi-Talent" Peggy Ryan leaves us
by Fred T. Beeman

Las Vegas’ Sunrise Hospital informed us that former child star Peggy Ryan, the gangly hoofer who partnered with Donald O'Connor as Universal’s “answer” to Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland, has died (at age 80) from “stroke complications,” confirmed by her friend, Dottie Fusch. She passed away on Saturday, October 30, 2004.

Ms. Ryan was “born in the trunk” of two vaudevillians as Margaret O'Rene Ryan, on August 28, 1924, in Long Beach, California, and depending on which source you wish to believe, began her stage career at age 2 or 3, with her first movie role being “Jill” in, “The Wedding of Jack and Jill” (1930), at around age 6. She’d make seven more movies before her 18th birthday, including an uncredited appearance opposite Jane Darwell in 1940’s, “The Grapes of Wrath.”

Her reputation as a tap-dancing wunderkind (in over a score of movie musicals) will probably be her greatest legacy, along with the eternal gratitude of many women whose careers she helped start, as in her later years she taught tap dancing and produced revues in Las Vegas, doing so up until a few days before entering the hospital.

In the tradition of fellow performers Stan Laurel, Mae West and Tony Bennett, her residence address and home number were listed in the pages of the Las Vegas telephone directory, and she enjoyed chatting with her fans when they called.

She’ll also be remembered for appearing in TV’s longest-running police drama, "Hawaii Five-O," as “Jenny Sherman,” the secretary to Jack Lord's “Steve McGarrett,” from 1969-76. In real life, her last of three husbands was Hawaii newspaper reporter/columnist, Eddie Sherman.

Ms. Ryan is survived by her daughter, Kerry English; a son, Sean Sherman; and five grandchildren. We extend our condolences to all of them, as well as her legion of fans and friends.