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Margaret Kerry in You Can Fly!: The Making of Walt Disney's Masterpiece 'Peter Pan' (1998)

Biography

Margaret Kerry

Overview

  • Born
    May 11, 1929 · Springfield, Illinois, USA
  • Died
    June 11, 2026 · Wilmington North Carolina, USA (Lung cancer)
  • Birth name
    Margaret McCarty
  • Nicknames
    • Peg
    • Peggy
  • Height
    5′ 2″ (1.57 m)

Biography

  • Starting work at the age of four, Margaret was originally named Peggy Lynch until she landed the part of the teenage daughter of Eddie Cantor and Joan Davis in the comedy-musical "If You Knew Susie." Thirteen years before, director Gordon Douglas had cast her as a dancer and actor in "The Little Rascals." Now, he assigned her a spectacular dance number staged by Nick Castle and Charlie O'Curran titled "My Brooklyn Love Song." Mr. Cantor, searching for weeks for a new stage name for his "winsome daughter" decided on Margaret Kerry. The new name came just in time for the movie's credits.

    While working on the movie, Margaret graduated high school with honors. Years later, she returned to Los Angeles City College and graduated cum laude. Leaving RKO, she headed for Fox to handle assistant dance director duties on the super musical "I'll Get By," starring June Haver, John Payne, Gloria DeHaven and Dennis Day.

    After performing in dozens of TV shows, Margaret starred as co-host/performer in "Teleteen Reporter" on Channel 13 in Los Angeles, which ran for over two years. At ABC-TV, she was featured in the musical "Let There Be Stars" and in Art Baker's "Stop, Look and Listen." "The Charlie Ruggles Show," one of the first network television family sitcoms, cast Margaret as the eldest daughter, Sharon. America watched her grow up over the years on their television sets. The final episode was her wedding and honeymoon -- a major media event.

    Walt Disney was searching for a nimble mime/dancer/actor to be filmed performing live-action work for the tiny Tinker Bell in the animated feature "Peter Pan." Margaret won the role and became the reference model for the three-inch sprite. Famed animator Marc Davis drew Tinker Bell's antics based on Margaret's acting. She also performed the voice of the red-headed mermaid in the movie.

    A successful voice-over career ensued, using Margaret's skills in 21 different dialects and 48 various character voices in over 600 animated shows. She is the voice of Spinner and Paddlefoot and the females in the famous vintage "Clutch Cargo" animated series. "Captain Fathom" and "Space Angel" followed. Margaret can also be seen in many of the hilarious live-action segments that open and close the 139 episodes of "The New Three Stooges," as well as be heard in the animated portion voicing all the kids, females, and various odd characters.

    Margaret later produced her own radio show called "What's Up Weekly" at KKLA 99.5 -- the most listened-to Christian talk radio station in the world. In 1993 she became the station's Community Services Director, and she also headed up the Southern California Buyers Network, a program linking 100+ sponsors to over 200 non-profit organizations, allowing the group to earn money for charities.

    Margaret continues to be in demand as a keynote and motivational speaker, communications trainer, storyteller and humorist. A certified seminar leader by the American Seminar Leaders Association, she is also co-author and facilitator of the FUNdamentals of Speaking Seminars.
    - IMDb mini biography by: Margaret Kerry

Family

  • Spouses
      Robert Boeke(February 14, 2020 - May 24, 2026) (his death)
      John H. Willcox(August 16, 1987 - December 22, 1999) (his death)
      Dick Brown(October 6, 1951 - June 1, 1984) (divorced, 3 children)
  • Children
      Eric Norquist
      Ellen Seibel
      Chris Genter

Trivia

  • Was the model for Tinker Bell, not Marilyn Monroe as widely rumored.
  • Kerry was originally born as Margaret McCarty, the fourth child and only daughter of John Riley McCarty III (1904-1981) and Mary Eleanor Henderson (1905-1933); when her mother died in childbirth in 1933, Kerry was adopted by Frederick Goodrich Robb (1882-1954) and Grace Mable Lynch (1882-1955).
  • Kerry as a teenager played the role of "Sharon" in the first network sitcom, The Ruggles, on ABC-TV. The show's farewell episode at the end of its three-year run featured Sharon's wedding and honeymoon.
  • She worked under her real name as a dancer and actor in three of the Our Gang comedy shorts.
  • In 2019, Kerry self-published a booklet "They All Look Alike To Me" with short stories detailing her having prosopagnosia, also known as "face blindness".

Quotes

  • [on her Tinkerbell character]: She had a ballet dancer's walk. Her hands and the things that she does, is like ballet. Cause I'm a dancer. And that's one of the reasons that Marilyn Monroe could not have done that part, even if Twentieth Century Fox would've let her. But she was not a dancer. And it got around that Tinkerbell was based on Marilyn, but she wasn't. It was little old me.

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