Sandra Grabman - Plain Beautiful: The Life of Peggy Ann Garner

The Life of Peggy Ann Garner

by

Sandra Grabman

Foreword by Margaret OBrien

The Life of Peggy Ann Garner

by

Sandra Grabman

Foreword by Margaret OBrien

BearManor Media

2005

Plain Beautiful: The Life of Peggy Ann Garner

2005 Sandra Grabman

Foreword 2005 Margaret OBrien

All Rights Reserved.

Reproduction in whole or in part without the authors permission is strictly forbidden.

Published in the USA by BearManor Media

For information, address:

BearManor Media

1317 Edgewater Dr #110

Orlando FL 32804

bearmanormedia.com

Cover photo by Jeff Howard

Typesetting and layout by John Teehan

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Grabman, Sandra.

Plain beautiful : the life of Peggy Ann Garner/by Sandra

Grabman; foreword by Margaret OBrien

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-59393-017-2

1. Garner, Peggy Ann. 2. Motion picture actors and actresses--United States--Biography. I. Title.

PS2287.G387G73 2005

791.43028092--dc22

2005001837

ISBN978-1-59393-017-2

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to two wonderful people who were instrumental in making it a reality:

To Peggy Anns best friend, Barbara Whiting Smith, who graciously shared many happy and touching memories. Their adult lives went in very different directions, but the two ladies remained close to the end.

And, to my hard-working research assistant, actor/producer Jeff Howard. He put much thought and long hours into helping me get all the information I needed to put this book together. Hes also the one who took the photo you see on the cover. Profuse thanks werent necessary; his admiration for Peggy Ann was all the incentive he needed.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

by Margaret OBrien

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many, many thanks to all the people who have so graciously shared their memories with me or helped in the research of this book:

Information and Assistance:

Elizabeth B. Anthony, B, Ruth Bricker, Kurt Brown, Mary Calvert, Michael Elliott, Celia Foster, Jenna Girard, Klaus D. Haisch, Lelisia Hall, Elaine Hill, Katherine Hersch, Jerome A. Holst, Ed Jenkins, Jo LaJoie, James Laperouse, Nancy Paajanen, Emily Peters, Lizanne Salmi, Ron Schultz, Michael Schwibs, Laurie Slavin, Laura Wagner, Yvonne Whiteley, and Marie Wiorski

Peggys Relatives:

Vince DeVito, Jr., Vince DeVito, Sr., Mary Eckard, Betty Muse Eschliman, letters of Catherine Ann Salmi, Connie Stratton, the estate of Virginia Garner Swainston, and Marilyn Muse Wolf

Contributing Co-Stars and Others in the Entertainment Industry:

Carol Burnett, Del Courtney, Nina Foch, Joan Fontaine, Richard Hayes, Pat Hingle, Earl Holliman, Sybil Jason, Lon McCallister, Rod McKuen, Randal Malone, Rose Marie, Dina Merrill, Dick Moore, Richard Ney, Margaret OBrien, Gregory Peck, Rex Reed, Peter Mark Richman, the memoirs of Albert Salmi, Johnny Sheffield, Elizabeth Taylor, and Barbara Whiting Smith

Research Assistance:

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Michael Escarzaga, Jenna Girard, Mike Needs, Jeff Howard, and Ron Schultz

Finnish Interpreter:

Nancy Paajanen

Publications:

The Akron Beacon Journal, Family Circle, Films in Review, Films of the Golden Age, Inside TV, Life, Miss America, Modern Screen, Motion Picture, Movie Life, Movie News, Movie Stars Parade, Movie Teen, New Dynamo, Photoplay, Picture Goer, Quick, The [Canton] Repository, Rexall, Screen Greats, Screen Guide, Screen Stars, Screenland, Siirtokansan Kalenteri, TV Fan, TV Radio Mirror, and TV Show

Photos:

Philo Barnhart, Mary Eckard, Michael Escarzaga, the estate of Ina Bernstein Sharr, the DeVito family, Florence Doyle, Jim Holman, Jeff Howard, Sybil Jason, Peter Kasimatis, Roddy McDowall/Virginia McDowall, New York Public Library, Margaret OBrien, Mary OHara, Ron Schultz, Johnny Sheffield, Connie Stratton, The Stumpf-Ohmart Collection, the estate of Virginia Swainston, and Laura Wagner

Cover Photo:

Jeff Howard

Fan Contributions (chapbook):

Dottie B., Scott Delcoco, Ann L. Feldmann, Warren F. Hall, Jeff Howard, Louise Parshall, Emily Peters, Ron Schultz, Robert Sivanich, Bruce Steller, Gary R. Thomas, and Jane Ward

Editorial Assistance:

Ben Ohmart

FOREWORD

The first thing that comes to my mind today when I hear Peggy Ann Garners name is what an amazing little actress she was. Her work in such wonderful films as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn will live on forever. This is the kind of rich legacy she left us.

I was fortunate to have worked with Peggy on numerous projects over the years and to have gotten to know her as a dear friend. As children, we didnt have a lot of opportunity to socialize because I was under contract at MGM, and Peggy was at Fox. However, when we would run into each other at a special event or Hollywood function, she would always come over and greet me very warmly. Peggy was the type of girl that, even if you havent seen each other for a while, she remained your friend. She was genuine.

But every now and then, I would catch a glimpse of ita certain look in her eyes. Was it sadness? Loneliness? Yearning? I was never quite sure what was behind that haunting look, but her life story, documented in this book, sheds some light on that. Peggy experienced many sorrows and joys but, throughout them all, she always remained the same sweet, caring lady she had always been. One couldnt ask for a better friend.

She was just plain beautiful.

Margaret OBrien

2004

INTRODUCTION

This biography is centered around the beloved, Oscar-winning child star of the 1940s, Peggy Ann Garner. In order to tell the whole story, however, we must understand two other women in her life as well. The lives of Peggy, her mother, Virginia, and Peggys daughter, Catherine, were intricately interwoven. The strong-willed matriarch at the beginning of their story is the last woman left as it ends. She had taken extreme measures to do what she thought was best, but it had resulted in pain and estrangement.

From letters, documents, and photographs gleaned from Virginia Garner Swainstons estate, we see her side of the story in detail. It looked much different, however, from Peggys perspective, and different still from Catherines.

Peggy Ann Garner has been admired by filmgoers and historians for decades. To the young girl of the 1940s who felt shunted aside in favor of the prettier child, she was a heroine and role model. To adults of that era, she was the daughter they wish they had. Even to cinema lovers who were born too late to see her first-run films in the theaters, she is awesome. Peggy won awards for her work, including a very special Oscar when she was only thirteen.

Even death couldnt separate Peggy from her admirers. Five years after her passing, Hollywood Studio Magazine included in their Bathing Beauty Quiz a photo of the bubbly, teenaged Peggy climbing out of a pool while flashing a joyful smile at her friends. Two years later, Alex Gonzales copyrighted a set of Peggy Ann Garner paperdolls, featuring fashions she had worn in the films of her youth. To this day, her friends are fiercely protective of her memory.