Peggy Shannon

American actress and Ziegfeld Girl Peggy Shannon (1907-1941) was promoted as 'the New Clara Bow' but her Hollywood career was soon over and she moved to Broadway. A serious drinking problem finished her career and she ended her life at only 34.


Spanish postcard by Dümmatzen, no. 11. Photo: Fox.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 555.

The new Clara Bow

Peggy Shannon was born Winona Sammon in 1907, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Her parents were Edward Ham Sammon and Nannie M. Martin. She had a younger sister, Carol. She attended Catholic school where she became friends with child actress Madge Evans.

While visiting her aunt in New York sixteen-year-old Peggy was discovered by producer Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. He hired her as a chorus girl in 'Ziegfeld Follies of 1923'. Peggy married actor Alan Davis in 1926. The following year, she starred on Broadway in Earl Carrol's 'What Anne Brought Home' production.

In 1931 she was offered a contract at Paramount Studios. Only two days after she arrived in Hollywood, Paramount's Bud Schulberg gave Peggy a leading role in The Secret Call (Stuart Walker, 1931) opposite Richard Arlen. The role was originally intended for Clara Bow, but when "the It Girl" suffered a nervous breakdown Peggy with her beautiful face and red hair, was promoted as "the new Clara Bow".

Although Peggy Shannon also starred in the films This Reckless Age (Frank Tuttle, 1932) alongside Charles 'Buddy' Rogers and Hotel Continental (Christy Cabanne, 1932), her career never really took off. Shannon sometimes worked 16-hour days (from 10 a.m. to 4 a.m. the next day) while shooting a film, and when shooting wrapped, rushed to begin another film. She occasionally worked on two separate films in one day.

Through films and publicity, Shannon became known as a fashion plate, wearing styles three months before they became popular. In 1932, she signed a new contract at Fox and became known as difficult and temperamental on the set and was rumoured to have had a drinking problem. In 1934, Shannon's contract was not renewed and she returned to New York City.


Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem, no. 374. Photo: Fox-Film.

That red-headed girl

Peggy Shannon appeared in the Broadway play 'Page Miss Glory' (1934) as the girlfriend of a then-unknown Jimmy Stewart. She was fired from the play 'The Light Behind The Shadow' (1935). A press release claimed a tooth infection, though rumours claimed it was her drinking.

Peggy returned to Hollywood for the B-movie Youth on Parole (Phil Rosen, 1937). She found it harder to conceal her drinking. Fewer film roles were offered, and her drinking worsened. Her final films were Cafe Hostess (Sidney Salkow, 1940) starring Ann Dvorak and the Western Triple Justice (David Howard, 1940) with George O'Brien.

She divorced Alan Davis in 1940 and married cameraman Albert G. Roberts. After a fishing trip in 1941, her second husband and a fellow studio worker found Shannon slumped over the kitchen table in their North Hollywood apartment. She was dead, with her head down on her arms, a cigarette in her mouth, and an empty glass in her hand.

The actress had died from a heart attack at the young age of thirty-four. Her autopsy revealed that she had a serious liver ailment caused by her alcoholism. 19 days after Shannon's death, Roberts fatally shot himself right in the same chair in which she died. His suicide note read "I am very much in love with my wife, Peggy Shannon. In this spot she died, so in reverence to her, you will find me in the same spot."

Peggy Shannon is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California. The epitaph on her tombstone says "That Red-Headed Girl, Peggy Shannon".


British postcard by Film Weekly, London.


Vintage postcard, no. 23. Photo: Fox-Film.

Sources: Elisabeth Ann (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.