PEGGY STEWART
June 5th, 1923 --

Above: Prolific Western heroine Peggy Stewart, in a photo taken sometime during her long tenure at Republic Pictures.

One of the best horsewomen in movies, pert, pretty, athletic Peggy Stewart probably made more Westerns than any other actress. She could act, too, as she showed in many of her B-westerns at Republic, where her forte became playing hot-headed and rambunctious heroines, a type of part that was more challenging to an actress than the usual leading lady role. Her four serials (which I'm about to cover, never fear) were all Western cliffhangers, two for Republic, and two for Columbia.

You would think that someone who could ride like Peggy would be from a Western state, but Stewart was born in Florida and raised in Georgia. Riding is bigger than you would think in the South, though, and Peggy rode competitively in many local contests, starting at age seven. Age seven was also when she realized that she wanted to become an actress, after seeing the film LITTLE WOMEN. When, at age twelve, her mother took her to California for an uncle's wedding, she asked to stay the summer with her Californian grandmother so she could attend dramatic school. It was character actor Henry O'Neill who got her into films--he lived in the same apartment building as Peggy's grandmother, and recommended Stewart to Paramount Pictures, who were looking for a teenaged actress with riding ability to play Joel McCrea's daughter in WELLS FARGO (Paramount, 1937),-- and it was Peggy's first husband, cowboy star Don "Red" Barry, who got Stewart a Term Player contract at Republic. And, until she left in 1947, Peggy would work exclusively at the "Thrill Factory."

Above: Al Ferguson has the drop on Peggy in this lobby card for her second Republic serial, SON OF ZORRO (Republic, 1947).

Her first serial was THE PHANTOM RIDER (Republic, 1946). She played Doris Shannon, a teacher at an Indian Reservation school who aided Dr. Jim Sterling (Robert Kent), in his fight against a gang of outlaws (led by Kenne Duncan) targeting the reservation and the nearby ranchers. Sterling advises the Indians to form a police force to combat the outlaws, but medicine man Ceta (Tom London), in league with the badmen, blocks this plan, so Jim assumes the identity of the Phantom Rider, a legendary Indian hero-deity, to get the Indians on his side and destroy the outlaw gang. Doris and old prospector Nugget (Hal Taliaferro) are the only ones who know Jim's identity. Things are complicated by the fact that Fred Carson (LeRoy Mason), the Indian Agent, is really an impostor and the leader of the badmen. As the masked hero's confidante, Peggy played a major part in the plot, but she didn't get many chances to show off her riding ability--her usual means of transportation in the serial was a buckboard. Nevertheless, PHANTOM RIDER was a good serial and featured a good role for Peggy, and Republic decided that there was no reason why their favorite B-western heroine shouldn't be utilized in serials, too.

Above: The Indian-masked Phantom Rider (Robert Kent), gun in hand, rescues Doris Shannon (Peggy Stewart) in this scene from THE PHANTOM RIDER (Republic, 1946).

Peggy's second serial was SON OF ZORRO (Republic, 1947). As postmistress Kate Wells, Peggy was once again the confidante and trusty aid of a masked avenger--this time the legendary Zorro. George Turner (a good actor who didn't rise as high as he should have; his biggest non-serial role was as Jim Corbett in the Allan Lane B-western VIGILANTES OF BOOMTOWN, which coincidentally co-starred Peggy) played Jeff Stewart, a distant descendant of the original Zorro, who returned from the Civil War to find his hometown and the surrounding area under the thumb of crooked politicians and their outlaw henchmen. Jeff first tries to combat the corruption by legal means, but with the judge (Ernie Adams) and the sheriff (Ed Cassidy) both on the take, he assumes the guise of Zorro to fight the badmen on their own terms--outside the law. Stanley Price, almost always a bad guy, got a good guy role for a change as Jeff's faithful servant Pancho, and the serials' greatest villain actor, Roy Barcroft, was Boyd, the leader of the outlaws. Peggy got plenty of riding scenes in this second serial, spending as much time in the saddle as any other cast member.

Above: George Turner and Peggy Stewart in SON OF ZORRO (Republic, 1947).

Above: Peggy Stewart and George Turner are featured prominently on the left sideof this title card for SON OF ZORRO (Republic, 1947). Roy Barcroft and two henchmen crouch in the rocks in the bottom right hand corner of the card.

As already mentioned, Stewart left Republic in 1947; she wanted to break out of the Western mold. However, in 1948, she wound up at Columbia as the heroine in--another Western serial. TEX GRANGER, which starred Robert Kellard as Tex, a popular character from Action Comics. As Helen Kent, she helped Granger clean up the crime-ridden town of Three Buttes, which was being torn apart by three rival outlaw factions. Tex used the guise of the Mystery Rider to combat the badmen, so for the third and last time, Peggy was heroine to a masked hero. This time, however, she had no idea that “mild-mannered” Tex was “The Mystery Rider”, and she frequently got exasperated with the hero until she learned the truth.

Above: Robert Kellard and Peggy Stewart in TEX GRANGER (Columbia, 1947).

Stewart's final serial was CODY OF THE PONY EXPRESS (Columbia, 1949). She played Linda Graham, the daughter of Pony Express station owner Ezra Graham (William Fawcett), and helped young Bill Cody (Dickie Moore) and undercover Army agent Jim Archer (Jock Mahoney, in his first starring role after doing stuntman duties in Columbia's B-westerns) fight an outlaw gang secretly led by lawyer Mort Black (George J. Lewis, in his final serial). Despite her attempt to get out of Westerns, Peggy finished up her cliffhanger career in the saddle.

Above, from left to right: Helena Dare, Jock Mahoney, Tom London, and Peggy Stewart (all on the ground) assist a wounded cowboy. William Fawcett is on the right in the wagon. This scene is from CODY OF THE PONY EXPRESS (Columbia, 1950).

Peggy left films in the early fifties, unable to break typecasting as a Western heroine. She was a casting agent for a while, than returned to acting in the late fifties, appearing mostly on TV in such shows as THE TWILIGHT ZONE (the episode, "The Shelter", which I've been lucky enough to see) and GUNSMOKE (back in the saddle again!). A great-grandmother now, she still rides and she still makes occasional acting appearances, appearing on shows such as SEINFIELD. She looks back fondly on her days at Republic: "I so loved doing the Westerns......when I say family, it [the Republic crew and stock company] literally was because we worked six days a week...they went through whatever problems you had and helped you to solve them. You lived together, literally."

It's nice to know you enjoyed your work as much as we did, Peggy. You and your "family" gave us a lot of fun and excitement that we'll never forget.