Peggy Wood
Encyclopedia
Peggy Wood was an American actress of stage, film and television.
. Wood spent nearly fifty years on the stage, beginning in the chorus and becoming known as a Broadway
singer and star. She made her stage debut in 1910, as part of the chorus for Naughty Marietta
. In 1917, she appeared in Maytime
, in which she introduced the song "Will You Remember". She starred in several other musicals before playing the role of Portia in a 1928 production of The Merchant of Venice
. From the late 1920s thru the 1930s, Wood had lead roles in musicals staged in London
and New York
.
She was a member of the Algonquin Round Table
.
's Blithe Spirit
, in which she portrayed Ruth Condomine, whose husband is tormented by the ghost of his deceased first wife.
Wood did not star in many films. Her few film appearances include co-starring opposite Will Rogers
in Handy Andy
. She also appeared in the film Jalna. She made a cameo in the 1937 film A Star is Born
, playing a movie studio receptionist who advises Janet Gaynor
to go back home. Other films included "Call It a Day" with Olivia de Havilland
, "The Housekeeper's Daughter" with Joan Bennett
, "The Bride Wore Boots" with Barbara Stanwyck
, "Magnificent Doll" with Ginger Rogers
and "Dream Girl" with Betty Hutton
.
From 1949 to 1957, she played matriarch "Mama" Marta Hansen in the popular CBS
television series Mama, based on the Broadway play and film I Remember Mama
. When General Foods
cancelled the program, there was so much protest that CBS brought it back on Sunday afternoon, this time as a filmed series. As the network did not have all the legal clearances that were needed, the show was put into syndication, where it was a huge success. It total, there were 26 of these episodes that were filmed. Following "Mama", Wood was also seen in episodes of Zane Grey Theater and an episode of The Nurses
which co-starred Ruth Gates, who played her sister Jenny on Mama.
She then co-starred with comedienne Imogene Coca
in the Broadway play, The Girls in 509, which had a moderate run. In October 1963, she and Ruth Gates appeared in a one-act play, Opening Night, which played in off-Broadway. Wood portrayed Fanny Ellis, a once famous star who prepares for a performance; the play lasted 47 performances.
production The Story of Ruth
in a co-starring role, as what she referred to in her own book as a "blonde, blue-eyed Jewess".
Her final screen appearance was as the gentle, wise Mother Abbess in the The Sound Of Music
(1965), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress. She was thrilled to be in the movie although she knew that she could no longer sing "Climb Ev'ry Mountain". She was dubbed (for singing) by Margery McKay. In her autobiography, Marni Nixon, who appeared in the film as Sister Sophia, said Peggy especially liked McKay's singing voice as she sounded like Peggy did in her younger days.
In 1969 Wood joined the cast of the ABC-TV
soap, One Life to Live
as Dr. Kate Nolan and had a recurring role until the end of the year.
Her first autobiography, How Young You Look, was published by Farrar and Rinehart in 1941. An update, Arts and Flowers, appeared in 1963. She also wrote a biography of actor John Drew, Jr., as well as a novel called The Star Wagon and was a co-author of a play called Miss Quis.
Wood received numerous awards for her theatrical work and for a while was president of American National Theatre and Academy (ANTA).
, following a stroke. She was 86 years old.
Early career
She was born Mary Margaret Wood in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Eugene Wood, a journalist, and Mary Gardner, a telegraph operator. She was a direct descendant of Daniel BooneDaniel Boone
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
. Wood spent nearly fifty years on the stage, beginning in the chorus and becoming known as a Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
singer and star. She made her stage debut in 1910, as part of the chorus for Naughty Marietta
Naughty Marietta (operetta)
Naughty Marietta is an operetta in two acts, with libretto by Rida Johnson Young and music by Victor Herbert. Set in New Orleans in 1780, it tells how Captain Richard Warrington is commissioned to unmask and capture a notorious French pirate calling himself "Bras Priqué" – and how he is helped and...
. In 1917, she appeared in Maytime
Maytime (musical)
Maytime is a musical with music by Sigmund Romberg and lyrics and book by Rida Johnson Young, and with additional lyrics by Cyrus Wood. The musical is based on the 1913 German operetta Wie einst im Mai, composed by Walter Kollo, with words by Rudolf Bernauer and Rudolf Schanzer. Maytime introduced...
, in which she introduced the song "Will You Remember". She starred in several other musicals before playing the role of Portia in a 1928 production of The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
. From the late 1920s thru the 1930s, Wood had lead roles in musicals staged 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...
and New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
She was a member of the Algonquin Round Table
Algonquin Round Table
The Algonquin Round Table was a celebrated group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929...
.
Later career
In 1941, she starred in the New York premiere of Noël CowardNoël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's Blithe Spirit
Blithe Spirit (play)
Blithe Spirit is a comic play written by Noël Coward which takes its title from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "To a Skylark" . The play concerns socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati, to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to...
, in which she portrayed Ruth Condomine, whose husband is tormented by the ghost of his deceased first wife.
Wood did not star in many films. Her few film appearances include co-starring opposite Will Rogers
Will Rogers
William "Will" Penn Adair Rogers was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the world's best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s....
in Handy Andy
Handy Andy
Handy Andy may refer to:* Handy Andy, a book by Samuel Lover* Handy Andy , a brand of children's carpentry tools* Andy Kane, a carpenter in the BBC DIY TV show Changing Rooms...
. She also appeared in the film Jalna. She made a cameo in the 1937 film A Star is Born
A Star Is Born (1937 film)
A Star Is Born is a 1937 Technicolor romantic drama film produced by David O. Selznick and directed by William A. Wellman, with a script by Wellman, Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell. It stars Janet Gaynor as an aspiring Hollywood actress, and Fredric March as an aging movie star who...
, playing a movie studio receptionist who advises Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor was an American actress and painter.One of the most popular actresses of the silent film era, in 1928 Gaynor became the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in three films: Seventh Heaven , Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Street Angel...
to go back home. Other films included "Call It a Day" with Olivia de Havilland
Olivia de Havilland
Olivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland...
, "The Housekeeper's Daughter" with Joan Bennett
Joan Bennett
Joan Geraldine Bennett was an American stage, film and television actress. Besides acting on the stage, Bennett appeared in more than 70 motion pictures from the era of silent movies well into the sound era...
, "The Bride Wore Boots" with Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
, "Magnificent Doll" with Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
and "Dream Girl" with Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedienne and singer.-Early life:Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg, daughter of a railroad foreman, Percy E. Thornburg and his wife, the former Mabel Lum . While she was very young, her father abandoned the family for...
.
From 1949 to 1957, she played matriarch "Mama" Marta Hansen in the popular CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
television series Mama, based on the Broadway play and film I Remember Mama
I Remember Mama
I Remember Mama is a play by John Van Druten. Based on the fictionalized memoir Mama's Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes, it focuses on the Hanson family, a loving family of Norwegian immigrants living on Steiner Street in San Francisco in the 1910s.Produced by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein...
. When General Foods
General Foods
General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the USA by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The name General Foods was adopted in 1929, after several corporate acquisitions...
cancelled the program, there was so much protest that CBS brought it back on Sunday afternoon, this time as a filmed series. As the network did not have all the legal clearances that were needed, the show was put into syndication, where it was a huge success. It total, there were 26 of these episodes that were filmed. Following "Mama", Wood was also seen in episodes of Zane Grey Theater and an episode of The Nurses
The Nurses
The Nurses is a soap opera that aired on ABC from September 27, 1965 to March 31, 1967. The show was a continuation of a serialized primetime drama which aired on CBS originally called The Nurses when it premiered in 1962, later called The Doctors and the Nurses.The setting was Alden General...
which co-starred Ruth Gates, who played her sister Jenny on Mama.
She then co-starred with comedienne Imogene Coca
Imogene Coca
Imogene Fernandez de Coca was an American comic actress best known for her role opposite Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows....
in the Broadway play, The Girls in 509, which had a moderate run. In October 1963, she and Ruth Gates appeared in a one-act play, Opening Night, which played in off-Broadway. Wood portrayed Fanny Ellis, a once famous star who prepares for a performance; the play lasted 47 performances.
Last appearances
She returned to movies in the 1960 CinemaScopeCinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
production The Story of Ruth
The Story of Ruth
The Story of Ruth is a 1960 American biblical drama film directed by Henry Koster, based on the Biblical account of Ruth. The title role is portrayed by Jewish actress Elana Eden, with Stuart Whitman as Boaz, Peggy Wood as Naomi, and Tom Tryon as Mahlon....
in a co-starring role, as what she referred to in her own book as a "blonde, blue-eyed Jewess".
Her final screen appearance was as the gentle, wise Mother Abbess in the The Sound Of Music
The Sound of Music (film)
Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical...
(1965), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress. She was thrilled to be in the movie although she knew that she could no longer sing "Climb Ev'ry Mountain". She was dubbed (for singing) by Margery McKay. In her autobiography, Marni Nixon, who appeared in the film as Sister Sophia, said Peggy especially liked McKay's singing voice as she sounded like Peggy did in her younger days.
In 1969 Wood joined the cast of the ABC-TV
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
soap, One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
as Dr. Kate Nolan and had a recurring role until the end of the year.
Her first autobiography, How Young You Look, was published by Farrar and Rinehart in 1941. An update, Arts and Flowers, appeared in 1963. She also wrote a biography of actor John Drew, Jr., as well as a novel called The Star Wagon and was a co-author of a play called Miss Quis.
Wood received numerous awards for her theatrical work and for a while was president of American National Theatre and Academy (ANTA).
Personal life
Wood was married and widowed twice. Her first husband, poet/writer John V.A. Weaver, died at age 44. She gave birth to their son, David, in 1924. Her second husband, in 1946 William H. Walling, was an executive in the printing business who died in 1973. They were married for 27 years.Death
Wood died on March 18, 1978 in Stamford, ConnecticutStamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
, following a stroke. She was 86 years old.
External links
- Peggy Wood portrait gallery at NY Public Library Billy Rose Collection
- 1916 portrait(Univ. of Washington, Sayre collection)