Peggy Cummins
Encyclopedia
Peggy Cummins is a retired Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 actress. Cummins is best known for her performance in Joseph H. Lewis
Joseph H. Lewis
Joseph H. Lewis was an American B-movie film director whose stylish flourishes came to be appreciated by auteur theory-espousing film critics in the years following his retirement in 1966...

' Gun Crazy
Gun Crazy
Gun Crazy is a 1950 film noir feature film starring Peggy Cummins and John Dall in a story about the crime-spree of a gun-toting husband and wife. The film was directed by Joseph H. Lewis, and produced by Frank King and Maurice King...

(1949), playing a trigger happy
Trigger Happy
Trigger Happy may refer to:* Trigger Happy , a book by Steven Poole* Trigger Happy or Mad Dog Time, a 1996 film* Triggerhappy , a fictional character* Trigger Happy TV, a British television show...

 femme fatale
Femme fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...

 who robs banks with her lover (played by John Dall
John Dall
John Dall was an American actor.Primarily a stage actor, he is best remembered today for two film roles; the cool-minded intellectual killer in Alfred Hitchcock's film Rope, and the trigger-happy lead in the 1950 noir Gun Crazy.He first came to fame as the young prodigy who comes alive under the...

).

Early life

She was born Augusta Margaret Diane Fuller in Prestatyn
Prestatyn
Prestatyn is a seaside resort, town and community in Denbighshire, North Wales. It is located on the Irish Sea coast, to the east of Rhyl. At the 2001 Census, Prestatyn had a population of 18,496.-Prehistory:...

, Denbighshire
Denbighshire
Denbighshire is a county in north-east Wales. It is named after the historic county of Denbighshire, but has substantially different borders. Denbighshire has the distinction of being the oldest inhabited part of Wales. Pontnewydd Palaeolithic site has remains of Neanderthals from 225,000 years...

, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. She was born in Wales—but that particular locale was but an accident. Her Irish parents happened to be there and a storm kept them from returning to their home in Dublin. Peggy lived most of her early life in Dublin where she was educated and later in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. Her mother was the actress Margaret Cummins (Margaret Mary Treacy Fuller Cummins, 1889–1973) who played a small but effective role of Anna the maid in the film Smart Woman (1948). She also played Emily in the Margaret Ferguson film The Sign of the Ram.

In 1938 actor Peter Brock noticed Peggy Cummins at a Dublin tram stop and introduced her to Dublin's Gate Theatre
Gate Theatre
The Gate Theatre, in Dublin, was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál Mac Liammóir, initially using the Abbey Theatre's Peacock studio theatre space to stage important works by European and American dramatists...

 Company. She then appeared on the London stage in the title role of Alice In Wonderland and in the title role of Junior Miss at age 12 at the Saville Theatre.

Film career

Cummins made her film debut at 15 in the British production directed by Herbert Mason, Dr. O'Dowd
Dr. O'Dowd
Dr. O'Dowd is a 1940 British drama film directed by Herbert Mason and starring Shaun Glenville, Peggy Cummins, Felix Aylmer and Irene Handl. The film is currently missing from the BFI National Archive, and is listed as one of the British Film Institute's "75 Most Wanted" lost films.-Cast:* Shaun...

(1940). Her first major film was English Without Tears (1944) with Michael Wilding
Michael Wilding (actor)
-Early life:Born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England, Wilding was a successful commercial artist when he joined the art department of a London film studio in 1933. He soon embarked on an acting career.-Career:...

 and Lilli Palmer
Lilli Palmer
Lilli Palmer , born Lilli Marie Peiser, was a German actress. She won the Volpi Cup, the Deutscher Filmpreis three times, and was nominated twice for a Golden Globe Award.-Life and career:...

, directed by Harold French and released in the USA as Her Man Gilbey.

In 1945, Peggy Cummins was brought to Hollywood by Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...

, head of 20th Century-Fox, to play Amber in Kathleen Winsor
Kathleen Winsor
Kathleen Winsor was an American author, best known for the romance novel Forever Amber.-Biography:Winsor was born October 16, 1919 in Olivia, Minnesota but raised in Berkeley, California. At the age of 18, Winsor made a list of her goals for life. Among those was her hope to write a best-selling...

's Forever Amber
Forever Amber (film)
Forever Amber is a 1947 film directed by Otto Preminger and starring Linda Darnell and Cornel Wilde. It was based on the book of the same name. It also starred Richard Greene, George Sanders, Glenn Langan, Richard Haydn, Dolores Hart, and Jessica Tandy...

. She was soon replaced by Linda Darnell
Linda Darnell
Linda Darnell was an American film actress.Darnell was a model as a child, and progressed to theater and film acting as an adolescent. At the encouragement of her mother, she made her first film in 1939, and appeared in supporting roles in big budget films for 20th Century Fox throughout the 1940s...

 because she was "too young". She went on to make six films in Hollywood, including Gun Crazy
Gun Crazy
Gun Crazy is a 1950 film noir feature film starring Peggy Cummins and John Dall in a story about the crime-spree of a gun-toting husband and wife. The film was directed by Joseph H. Lewis, and produced by Frank King and Maurice King...

with John Dall
John Dall
John Dall was an American actor.Primarily a stage actor, he is best remembered today for two film roles; the cool-minded intellectual killer in Alfred Hitchcock's film Rope, and the trigger-happy lead in the 1950 noir Gun Crazy.He first came to fame as the young prodigy who comes alive under the...

 (1949). During a brief stay in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 in 1948 while filming That Dangerous Age (1949) (also titled "If This Be Sin" and directed by Gregory Ratoff
Gregory Ratoff
Gregory Ratoff was a Russian-born American film director, actor and producer. His most famous role as an actor was as producer Max Fabian who feuds with star Margo Channing in All About Eve ....

) with Myrna Loy
Myrna Loy
Myrna Loy was an American actress. Trained as a dancer, she devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. Originally typecast in exotic roles, often as a vamp or a woman of Asian descent, her career prospects improved following her portrayal of Nora Charles...

 and Roger Livesey
Roger Livesey
Roger Livesey was a British stage and film actor. He is most often remembered for the three Powell & Pressburger films in which he starred: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, I Know Where I'm Going! and A Matter of Life and Death...

, Cummins took voice lessons to prepare for a possible Hollywood musical.

She returned to London in 1950 to marry and work in British films. In 1952 she starred in Who Goes There!
Who Goes There!
Who Goes There! is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring Nigel Patrick, Valerie Hobson and George Cole. The film depicts the farcical activities of the various inhabitants of a Grace and Favour house near St. James Palace in Central London...

and in 1953 she appeared in Meet Mr. Lucifer
Meet Mr. Lucifer
Meet Mr. Lucifer is a black and white British comedy satire film released in 1953 starring Stanley Holloway. Filmed at Ealing Studios, London, The film is based on the play Beggar My Neighbour by Arnold Ridley -Plot:When Mr Pedelty leaves his firm, he is given a...

an Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since...

 comedy. She later starred alongside Dana Andrews
Dana Andrews
Dana Andrews was an American film actor. He was one of Hollywood's major stars of the 1940s, and continued acting, though generally in less prestigious roles, into the 1980s.-Early life:...

 in the horror film Night of the Demon
Night of the Demon
Night of the Demon is a 1957 British horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins and Niall MacGinnis. An adaptation of the M. R...

(1957), directed by Jacques Tourneur
Jacques Tourneur
Jacques Tourneur was a French-American film director.-Life:Born in Paris, France, he was the son of film director Maurice Tourneur. At age 10, Jacques moved to the United States with his father. He started a career in cinema while still attending high school as an extra and later as a script clerk...

 and Hell Drivers
Hell Drivers (film)
Hell Drivers is a 1957 British film directed by Cy Endfield starring Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, Peggy Cummins, Patrick McGoohan and Sean Connery, produced by the Rank Organisation and Aqua Film Productions.-Plot:...

(also 1957) which also featured Stanley Baker
Stanley Baker
Sir Stanley Baker was a Welsh actor and film producer.-Early career:William Stanley Baker was born in Ferndale, Rhondda Valley, Wales. In the mid-1930s his parents moved to London, where Baker spent most of his formative years...

, Patrick McGoohan
Patrick McGoohan
Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born actor, raised in Ireland and England, with an extensive stage and film career, most notably in the 1960s television series Danger Man , and The Prisoner, which he co-created...

 and Herbert Lom
Herbert Lom
Herbert Lom is a Czech film actor, best known for his role as former Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in the Pink Panther movie series.-Life and career:...

.

Cummins's last film, in 1961, was Darcy Conyers's In the Doghouse alongside Leslie Phillips
Leslie Phillips
Leslie Samuel Phillips, CBE is an English actor with a highly recognisable upper class accent. Originally known for his work as a comedy actor, Phillips subsequently made the transition to character roles.-Early life:...

.

Gun Crazy

In 1998, Gun Crazy (1950) was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Michael Adams wrote in Movieline in August 2009 that the film was "directed by B-movie specialist Joseph H. Lewis
Joseph H. Lewis
Joseph H. Lewis was an American B-movie film director whose stylish flourishes came to be appreciated by auteur theory-espousing film critics in the years following his retirement in 1966...

 from a script co-written by MacKinlay Kantor
MacKinlay Kantor
MacKinlay Kantor , born Benjamin McKinlay Kantor, was an American journalist, novelist and screenwriter. He wrote more than 30 novels, several based on the American Civil War, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1956 for his 1955 novel Andersonville, about the Confederate prisoner of war camp...

 and blacklisted Dalton Trumbo
Dalton Trumbo
James Dalton Trumbo was an American screenwriter and novelist, and one of the Hollywood Ten, a group of film professionals who refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 during the committee's investigation of Communist influences in the motion picture industry...

, 'fronted' by his friend Millard Kaufman, Gun Crazy was made for a measly $400,000 in 30 days in 1949. Despite the limitations, the results were pure pop poetry and years ahead of its time." Movieline found Cummins in 2009 and she was still going strong. "It was a great part," she said of Laurie Starr. "It was a brilliant story from a brilliant writer. We had a very good director and a great cameraman. I think John Dall and myself were in those days quite well-suited in the parts we had." The film played at the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...

 in London in February 2009. At the screening, Peggy Cummins viewed the film with an audience for the first time in six decades.

Night of the Demon

On 14 June 2006 she appeared as guest of honour at a special screening of Night of the Demon in Borehamwood
Borehamwood
-Film industry:Since the 1920s, the town has been home to several film studios and many shots of its streets are included in final cuts of 20th century British films. This earned it the nickname of the "British Hollywood"...

, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, hosted by the Elstree Film & Television Heritage Group. At the screening, she answered questions from the audience before viewing the film for the very first time. She said she had never worked with her co-star Dana Andrews
Dana Andrews
Dana Andrews was an American film actor. He was one of Hollywood's major stars of the 1940s, and continued acting, though generally in less prestigious roles, into the 1980s.-Early life:...

 before, though she knew and liked him; they remained friends for the rest of his life.
On 29 September 2010 Peggy Cummins introduced the 1953 film Street Corner as part of the Capital Tales Event at BFI-Southbank London hosted by Curator Jo Botting. She played Bridget Foster in the film written by Muriel and Sydney Box and directed by Muriel Box.

Personal life

Peggy Cummins had several suitors in Hollywood. She briefly dated Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...

. She also dated the future American president John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

 for a short while. Huntington Hartford
Huntington Hartford
George Huntington Hartford II was an American businessman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and art collector. The heir to the A&P supermarket fortune, he owned Paradise Island in the Bahamas, and had numerous other business and real estate interests over his lifetime including the Oil Shale Corporation...

 also pursued her.

In 1954, she became the First Honorary Commander of the 582d Air Resupply Squadron at RAF Molesworth
RAF Molesworth
RAF Molesworth is a Royal Air Force station located near Molesworth, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom with a history dating back to 1917.Its runway and flight line facilities were closed in 1973 and demolished to support ground-launched cruise missile operations in the early 1980s...

, England to be designated by the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 Squadron.

She was married to Derek Dunnett (William Herbert Derek Dunnett) from 1950 until his death in 2000; and had two children with him, a boy, 1954, and a girl, 1962. Her husband Derek, from a wealthy family in the seed business, was born in Epsom
Epsom
Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England. Small parts of Epsom are in the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. The town is located south-south-west of Charing Cross, within the Greater London Urban Area. The town lies on the chalk downland of Epsom Downs.-History:Epsom lies...

, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

, England, 9 February 1921. He died in East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...

, England in July 2000.

Peggy Cummins' film career ended in 1961 and she lived in retirement in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, England. During the 1970s Cummins was very active in a national charity, Stars Organisation for Spastics, raising money and chairing the management committee of a holiday centre for children with disabilities in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

. She now lives in London.

Selected filmography

  • Dr. O'Dowd
    Dr. O'Dowd
    Dr. O'Dowd is a 1940 British drama film directed by Herbert Mason and starring Shaun Glenville, Peggy Cummins, Felix Aylmer and Irene Handl. The film is currently missing from the BFI National Archive, and is listed as one of the British Film Institute's "75 Most Wanted" lost films.-Cast:* Shaun...

    (1940)
  • Welcome, Mr. Washington
    Welcome, Mr. Washington
    Welcome, Mr. Washington is a 1944 British drama film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Barbara Mullen, Donald Stewart, Peggy Cummins, Martita Hunt and Herbert Lomas. Two sisters are left almost peniless by their father's sudden death, and are forced to lease their estate as an airbase to...

    (1944)
  • The Late George Apley
    The Late George Apley (film)
    The Late George Apley is a 1947 film about a stuffy, upper-class Bostonian who is forced to adjust to a changing world. It starred Ronald Colman in the title role and was based on John P. Marquand's novel of the same name and the subsequent play by Marquand and George S...

    (1947)
  • Escape
    Escape (1948 film)
    Escape is a 1948 British-American thriller film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. It follows a RAF Second World War veteran who goes to prison and then escapes and meets a woman who persuades him to surrender...

    (1948)
  • Green Grass of Wyoming
    Green Grass of Wyoming
    Green Grass of Wyoming is a 1948 film starring Peggy Cummins and Charles Coburn. The film is based on the third book in the popular, "My Friend Flicka" trilogy, written by Mary O'Hara...

    (1948)
  • Gun Crazy
    Gun Crazy
    Gun Crazy is a 1950 film noir feature film starring Peggy Cummins and John Dall in a story about the crime-spree of a gun-toting husband and wife. The film was directed by Joseph H. Lewis, and produced by Frank King and Maurice King...

    (1950)
  • My Daughter Joy
    My Daughter Joy
    My Daughter Joy is a 1950 British drama film directed by Gregory Ratoff and starring Edward G. Robinson, Peggy Cummins and Richard Greene. A millionaire spoils his only daughter, but has a strained relationship with his wife.-Cast:...

    (1950)
  • Who Goes There!
    Who Goes There!
    Who Goes There! is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring Nigel Patrick, Valerie Hobson and George Cole. The film depicts the farcical activities of the various inhabitants of a Grace and Favour house near St. James Palace in Central London...

    (1952)
  • Street Corner
    Street Corner (1953 film)
    Street Corner is a 1953 British drama film. It was written by Muriel and Sydney Box and directed by Muriel. It was marketed as Both Sides of the Law in the United States. While not quite a documentary, the film depicts the daily routine of women in the police force from three different angles...

    (1953)
  • Meet Mr. Lucifer
    Meet Mr. Lucifer
    Meet Mr. Lucifer is a black and white British comedy satire film released in 1953 starring Stanley Holloway. Filmed at Ealing Studios, London, The film is based on the play Beggar My Neighbour by Arnold Ridley -Plot:When Mr Pedelty leaves his firm, he is given a...

    (1953)
  • The Love Lottery
    The Love Lottery
    The Love Lottery is a 1954 Ealing Studios comedy film, directed by Charles Crichton and starring David Niven as a celluloid heart-throb taking part in a "love lottery".-Cast:* David Niven as Rex Allerton* Peggy Cummins as Sally...

    (1954)
  • To Dorothy a Son
    To Dorothy a Son
    To Dorothy a Son is a 1954 British comedy film directed by Muriel Box and starring Shelley Winters, John Gregson and Peggy Cummins. It is also known as Cash on Delivery. It is based on a play by Roger MacDougall...

    (1954)
  • The March Hare
    The March Hare (film)
    The March Hare is a 1956 British comedy film directed by George More O'Ferrall and starring Peggy Cummins, Terence Morgan, Martita Hunt and Cyril Cusack. The film follows the efforts in Ireland to turn a seemingly useless racing horse into a Derby-winner. It was based on a novel by T. H...

    (1956)
  • Carry on Admiral
    Carry on Admiral
    Carry on Admiral is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Val Guest and featuring David Tomlinson, Ronald Shiner and Joan Sims. It was not part of the Carry On series, which it predates, though it is similar in tone and style to the earliest films in the series...

    (1957)
  • Hell Drivers
    Hell Drivers (film)
    Hell Drivers is a 1957 British film directed by Cy Endfield starring Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, Peggy Cummins, Patrick McGoohan and Sean Connery, produced by the Rank Organisation and Aqua Film Productions.-Plot:...

    (1957)
  • Night of the Demon
    Night of the Demon
    Night of the Demon is a 1957 British horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins and Niall MacGinnis. An adaptation of the M. R...

    (1957)
  • The Captain's Table
    The Captain's Table
    The Captain's Table is a 1959 British comedy film directed by Jack Lee from a novel by Richard Gordon. It starred John Gregson, Donald Sinden, Peggy Cummins, Maurice Denham, Joan Sims, John Le Mesurier and June Jago...

    (1959)
  • Your Money or Your Wife
    Your Money or Your Wife
    Your Money or Your Wife is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Anthony Simmons and starring Donald Sinden, Peggy Cummins and Richard Wattis.-Cast:* Donald Sinden - Pelham Butterworth* Peggy Cummins - Gay Butterworth* Richard Wattis - Hubert Fry...

    (1960)
  • Dentist in the Chair
    Dentist in the Chair
    Dentist in the Chair is a 1960 British comedy film, directed by Don Chaffey and starring Bob Monkhouse, Ronnie Stevens, Eric Barker and Vincent Ball. The screenplay was written by Val Guest, based on a novel by Matthew Finch...

    (1960)

External links

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