Peggy Cummins

Peggy Cummins (born December 18, 1925) is a retired British actress, best known for her role in Joseph H. Lewis' Gun Crazy, playing a trigger-happy femme fatale who robs banks with her lover (played by John Dall).

Career

Peggy Cummins was born Augusta Margaret Diane Fuller in Prestatyn, Denbighshire, Wales. Peggy lived most of her life in Dublin where she was educated and in London. In 1938 actor Peter Brock noticed Peggy at a Dublin tram stop and introduced her to Dublin's Gate Theatre Company. In London she would appear on the London stage in the title role in "Alice In Wonderland," and in 1938 playing the title role in the London company of "Junior Miss." Cummins made her film debut at age 15 in the British production directed by Herbert Mason, "Dr. O'Dowd" (1940). Her first major film debut was in "English Without Tears" (1944) with Michael Wilding Sr. and Lilli Palmer and directed by Harold French. The film was released in the USA as "Her Man Gilbey." Peggy Cummins was brought to Hollywood by Darryl F. Zanuck, head of 20th Century-Fox, in 1945 to play Amber in Kathleen Windsor's "Forever Amber." She was soon replaced because she was "too young" and replaced by Linda Darnell. She went on to make six films in Hollywood, including Gun Crazy with John Dall (1949). During a brief stay in Italy in 1948 while filming "That Dangerous Age" (1949)(also titled "If This Be Sin" and directed by Gregory Ratoff) with Myrna Loy and Roger Livesay, 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 1953 she appeared in Meet Mr. Lucifer an Ealing Studios comedy, and later starred alongside Dana Andrews in Night of the Demon (1957), directed by Jacques Tourneur. Another 1957 film she appeared in was Hell Drivers which also featured Stanley Baker, Patrick McGoohan, and Herbert Lom. Cummins's last film, in 1961, was Darcy Conyers's "In the Doghouse" alongside Leslie Phillips. 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 writes in Movieline in August 2009, that the film was "directed by B-movie specialist Joseph H. Lewis from a script co-written by MacKinlay Kantor and blacklisted Dalton Trumbo, '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 is still going strong. "It was a great part," the Welsh native said of Laurie Starr. "It was a brillant story from a brillant 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 in London in February 2009.

Family

Peggy Cummins briefly dated Howard Hughes. She also dated USA president J.F. Kennedy for a short while. 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, Surrey, England, UK, February 9, 1921, and died in East Sussex, England, UK, in July 2000. Peggy Cummins uses the name Margaret D.A. Dunnett. Her Mother is the actress Margaret Cummins (Margaret Mary Treacy Fuller Cummins) who plays the small but effective role of Anna the maid in the 1948 film "Smart Woman." She also played the role of Emily in the Margaret Ferguson film "The Sign of the Ram."

Peggy Cummins' film career ended in 1961 and she lived in retirement in Hampshire, England. However, she has now relocated to her London flat. 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.

"The Stars and Strips" newspaper of November 3, 1954, reports that Peggy Cummins became the First Honorary Commander of the 582d Air Resupply Squadron at RAF Molesworth, England, UK, to be designated by the United States Air Force Squadron.

Rare public appearance

On June 14, 2006 Peggy Cummins appeared as guest of honour at a special screening of Night of the Demon in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire hosted by the Elstree Film & Television Heritage Group during which she answered questions from the audience before viewing the film for the very first time. Peggy Cummins said she had never worked with Dana Andrews before, though she knew and liked him and they remained friends for the rest of his life. ^[1] With "Gun Crazy" at 60 years in 2009, Peggy Cummins viewed the film with an audience for the first time in six decades.

References

External links

• Peggy Cummins at the Internet Movie Database
• [www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/57/Peggy+Cummins/index.html and ]
• www.movieline.com/2009/08/gun-crazy-at-60-pistol-packing-heroine-peggy-cummi...

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