Dancer, actress Ryan dies at 80

Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004 | 9:46 a.m.

Peggy Ryan just could not stop dancing.

A few months before her 80th birthday, the former child star who lit up the screen with Donald O'Connor in 15 films was still hoofing it as the leader of a 30-member Las Vegas dance troupe consisting of women age 50 and older.

"I don't know what I'd do if I didn't keep dancing," Ryan told the Sun in a June 24 story. "Life begins when I put these tap shoes on."

Life ended for her Saturday at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center. She was 80. The Associated Press reported the cause of death as complications from two strokes.

Services for the Las Vegas resident of more than 20 years will be 10 a.m. Saturday at Christ the King Catholic Church, 4925 S. Torrey Pines Drive.

Between 1930 and 1980 Margaret "Peggy" O'Rene Ryan made 32 films, mostly musicals. She also appeared for eight seasons on the TV crime drama "Hawaii Five-0."

At the time of her death she operated a dance studio on East Sahara Avenue. She had also appeared this past summer at the Nicholas Horn Theatre in "Viva Las Divas," a jazz, tap and comedic revue honoring middle-aged women.

Born Aug. 28, 1924, in Los Angeles, Ryan debuted at age 4 in her parents' vaudeville act, "The Merry Dancing Ryans." Two years later, she made her film debut in "The Wedding of Jack and Jill." At age 13, she had the uncredited role of a hungry girl in the dramatic film "The Grapes of Wrath."

Ryan also appeared in the Broadway musical "Meet the People," before doing a string of film musicals. Nineteen of Ryan's movies were made during World War II, including "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" in 1942 and "This Is the Life" in 1944, both with O'Connor, who died in 2003 at age 78.

O'Connor and Ryan, who shared the same birthday -- she was a year older -- also appeared in "Mister Big" in 1943 and "Chip Off the Old Block,""The Merry Monahans" and "Bowery to Broadway," all in 1944.

They also were a popular duet on USO tours and played themselves in the 1944 entertaining-the-troops film "Follow the Boys."

Ryan's other films include "Miss Annie Rooney" in 1942 and "Here Come the Coeds" in 1945. Her last starring role in a movie was as Gay Night in "All Ashore" with Mickey Rooney in 1953, though 27 years later she had the small part of an elderly woman in the made-for-TV movie "The Pleasure Palace."

In 1948, Ryan danced on the premieres of Ed Sullivan's "Toast of the Town" and Milton Berle's "Texaco Star Theatre" TV shows.

From 1969 to 1976, Ryan played Jenny Sherman, secretary to Jack Lord's Steve McGarrett on "Hawaii Five-O."

She moved to Las Vegas in the early 1980s and started teaching dance.

In a recent interview with Sun columnist Susan Snyder, Ryan said age is just a state of mind.

"I was saying to the girls (dancers) the other night that I don't feel 80," Ryan said in Snyder's column that was published Aug. 21. "Age is nothing. It's all in your head. ... Why not put on a high-cut leotard and false eyelashes and go out on stage? Stick out your boobs and finish big."

She is survived by a daughter, Kerry English; an adopted son, Sean Sherman; and five grandchildren. She was preceded in death by a son, James "Spike" Cross.