Margaret Kerry (née Lynch; born May 11, 1929) is an American screen actress, dancer, voice artist, camera double, radio producer, director and host and media personality, best known for her work as a model for

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit ...

, where she served as the inspiration and pantomimed the ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...

'' character of

Tinker Bell Tinker Bell is a fictional character from J. M. Barrie's 1904 play '' Peter Pan'' and its 1911 novelisation ''Peter and Wendy''. She has appeared in a variety of film and television adaptations of the Peter Pan stories, in particular the 1953 ...

Early life

Born as Peggy Lynch, in

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest ...

, she was adopted at three years old and moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. Her first role, at age 4, was as a fairy in the 1935 film ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict a ...

'' directed by

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born theatre and film director, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he is regarded as one of the most pr ...

. She worked under her real name as a dancer and actor in three of the ''

Our Gang ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the ...

'' comedy shorts. Kerry served as a camera double for

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

in film '' National Velvet'' at MGM. She attracted the attention of

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences ...

, who cast her in the role of his teenage

daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between groups ...

in the film ''

If You Knew Susie "If You Knew Susie" is the title of a popular song written by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Meyer. It was published by Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. in 1925. In the largely comic song, a man sings that he knows a certain woman named Susie to be much wilde ...

''. Cantor thought Lynch needed a more theatrical-sounding name to be more noticeable as an actor, so she officially became Margaret Kerry. She graduated from high school with honors while working on the film and would later graduate ''

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' from

Los Angeles City College Los Angeles City College (LACC) is a public community college in East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard on the former campu ...

Career

Television work/voice artistry

Kerry as a teenager played the role of "Sharon" in the first network

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

s, '' The Ruggles'', on ABC-TV. The show's farewell episode at the end of its three-year run featured Sharon's wedding and honeymoon. Kerry also appeared in two episodes of ''

The Andy Griffith Show ''The Andy Griffith Show '' is an American sitcom, situation comedy television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in colo ...

'', and a 1950 episode of '' The Lone Ranger''. A

voiceover Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non- diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations. ...

performer with twenty-one dialects and forty-eight character voices, Kerry provided voices on 52 episodes of the groundbreaking children's television show, '' Clutch Cargo'', including characters "Paddlefoot" and "Spinner". She provided numerous voices and live-action lead-ins for '' The New Three Stooges'' and ''

Space Angel ''Space Angel'' is an animated science fiction television series produced in the United States from early 1962 through 1964. It used the same Synchro-Vox lip technique as ''Clutch Cargo'', the first cartoon produced by the same studio, Cambria ...

'' animated series for

Cambria Productions Cambria Productions was the West Hollywood, California animation production studio most famous for its wide usage of the Syncro-Vox technique of animation developed by Edwin Gillette, who was a co-partner in the studio. Owned by Clark S. Haas, J ...

Work with Disney

Kerry answered an audition call during the planning stages of the animated feature film ''

''. The audition, supervised by animator Marc Davis, required her to

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speakin ...

the motions that would be used as live-action reference for the animation of

. As Tinker Bell was to be non verbal, her movements would be integral, and Davis sought a dancer that could help embody the character. Kerry won the part and spent six months at the Disney Studios on a mostly empty sound stage pantomiming the part. The studios provided props, notably a giant keyhole mounted on a stand as well as a pair of giant scissors, used in the scene where Tinker Bell became trapped in a jewelry box. Kerry also provided the voice and reference movements of the red-haired mermaid in the Neverland lagoon scene.

Radio

Kerry was a producer, writer and host of ''What's Up Weekly - Ministry Loves Company'' on

KKLA-FM KKLA-FM (99.5 MHz, "99.5 KKLA") is a commercial radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California and serving the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by the Salem Media Group and broadcasts a Christian talk and teaching format. The ...

, Los Angeles, from 1992 and 2004, a

Christian radio Christian radio is a Christian media radio format that focus on programming with a Christian message. Many such broadcasters play contemporary Christian music, though many programs include sermons, radio dramas, as well as news and talk program ...

station. Also serving as the station's community services director, she headed an outreach program that connected to more than 200 non-profit service agencies. Kerry is a certified seminar leader by the American Seminar Leaders Association and co-author and facilitator of the FUNdamentals of Speaking Seminars. She continues to meet fans and attends many conventions, events and seminars throughout the country. As a supporter and contributor within the animation community, Kerry served as a board member of

ASIFA-Hollywood ASIFA-Hollywood, an American non-profit organization in Los Angeles, California, United States, is a branch member of the "Association Internationale du Film d'Animation" or "ASIFA" (the International Animated Film Association). Its purpose is to ...

for a number of years.

Books

Kerry published her autobiography in 2016 '' Tinker Bell Talks: Tales of a Pixie Dusted Life'' () with stories and anecdotes from her life and career, and featuring 180 photos and pieces of art. In 2019, Kerry self-published a booklet ''They All Look Alike To Me'' with short stories detailing her having

prosopagnosia Prosopagnosia (from Greek ''prósōpon'', meaning "face", and ''agnōsía'', meaning "non-knowledge"), also called face blindness, ("illChoisser had even begun tpopularizea name for the condition: face blindness.") is a cognitive disorder of f ...

, also known as "face blindness".

Personal life

Kerry reconnected after 70 years with former boyfriend, WWII veteran Robert Boeke, age 94. The two were married on

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, thr ...

, February 14, 2020 in a ceremony at the Little Brown Church in the Valley in

Studio City Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927, ...

, California. Kerry suffers from

and has spoken and written about coping with it.

Awards and honors

On the occasion of her 90th birthday, Kerry was honored with certificates by Los Angeles Mayor

Eric Garcetti Eric Michael Garcetti (born February 4, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles from 2013 until 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected in the 2013 election, and reelected in 2017. A f ...

on behalf of the

City of Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

; the

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the City of Los Angeles in California. The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro temp ...

; and the

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (LACBOS) is the five-member governing body of Los Angeles County, California, United States. History On April 1, 1850 the citizens of Los Angeles elected a three-man Court of Sessions as their firs ...

via 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger. Kerry also received a card from the

First Lady of the United States The first lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is the title held by the hostess of the White House, usually the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never ...

Melania Trump Melania Trump ( ; born Melanija Knavs , Germanized as Melania Knauss ; born April 26, 1970) is a Slovene-American former model and businesswoman who served as First Lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021 as the wife of 45th president Do ...

, who noted Kerry's life as "an important part of the American story and the history of Cinema and Entertainment." On February 15, 2020, Kerry was honored with the

Disneyana Fan Club The Disneyana Fan Club or DFC was founded in 1984 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of Walt Disney's legacy. Its published aim is to provide Disneyana enthusiasts worldwide with news, information, and ev ...

Legends award. On February 16, 2020, Kerry was presented with the

Ward Kimball Ward Walrath Kimball (March 4, 1914 – July 8, 2002) was an American animator employed by Walt Disney Animation Studios. He was part of Walt Disney's main team of animators, known collectively as Disney's Nine Old Men. His films have been honore ...

award by the board of Walt Disney's Carolwood Barn.

Partial filmography

References

External links

*
TinkerBellTalks.com - The Official Margaret Kerry Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerry, Margaret 1929 births Living people 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Los Angeles Walt Disney Animation Studios people American child actresses American film actresses American voice actresses Los Angeles City College alumni Our Gang