Peggie Castle | |
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Actress Peggie Castle
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Born |
Peggy Blair December 22, 1927 Appalachia, Virginia, U.S. |
Died | August 11, 1973 Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
(aged 45)
Cause of death | Cirrhosis |
Other names | Peggy Castle Peggie Call |
Occupation | Actress |
Spouse(s) |
Revis Call (m. 1945; div. 1950) Robert H. Rains (m. 1951; div. 1954) William McGarry (m. 1955; div. 1969) Arthur Morganstern (m. 1971–73) |
Children | Erin McGarry |
Peggie Castle (December 22, 1927 – August 11, 1973) was an American actress who specialized in playing the "other woman" in B-movies. She was also billed under the names Peggy Castle and Peggie Call.
Castle was born Peggy Blair in Appalachia in Wise County in far southwestern Virginia. She changed her last name from Blair "because there was another actress named Blair at the first studio in which she worked."
Her father, Doyle H. Blair, was at one point "an industrial relations director for a large corporation" and later business manager for Donald O'Connor. She took lessons in drama when she was 8 years old. She attended Mills College for two years.
Castle's first work as an actress came in the soap opera Today's Children. Then a spot on Radio Theatre in 1947 brought her a screen test offer from 20th Century Fox.
Castle was discovered by a talent scout while eating in a restaurant in Beverly Hills. She was signed to a seven-year contract with Universal-International and made her film debut in the 1947 film When a Girl's Beautiful. In 1949, she was named "Miss Cheesecake" by the Southern California Restaurant Association. Later that year, the Junior Chamber of Commerce named Castle "Miss Three Alarm". She later appeared in such films as Payment on Demand (1951), The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951) Invasion U.S.A. (1952), 99 River Street (1953), and Arrivederci Roma (1957).
In the 1950s, Castle moved into television. She appeared in multiple guest roles on Fireside Theater, Cheyenne, 77 Sunset Strip, and The Restless Gun. In 1957 she played defendant Sally Fenner in the Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Negligent Nymph."