Peggy King, Singer and Stage and Screen Actress, Dies at 96

Singer and actress Peggy King, who was a major TV and recording star in the 1950's and who continued to record and perform until recently, has died at 96 after a long battle with Alzheimer's, it was announced by her publicist Alan Eicher. She had been residing at the Saunders House Assisted Living facility in Wynnyewood, PA, outside Philadelphia, where she had been a longtime resident. Terry Gross, host of NPR's “Fresh Air,” has said, “Peggy King is one of the foremost interpreters of American music. She should be declared a national treasure."

King was famous as a regular on the “George Gobel Show” from1954-1957, where Gobel nicknamed her “Pretty, Perky Peggy King,” a name that stuck for the rest of her career. She was a nominated for an Emmy in 1955 as Best Female Singer, and was named Best New Singer of 1955-1956 by bothDownbeat Magazine and Billboard. She later performed “Count Your Blessings” on the Academy Awards in 1955 and co-hosted the Emmy Awards in 1958.

Her numerous other TV appearances include the Bob Hope Show,American Bandstand, the Steve Allen Show, Kraft Music Hall with Milton Berle, What's My Line, the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, the Perry Como Show, the Garry Moore Show, and the Jack Benny Program. She had dramatic roles on “Maverick” and“Dragnet,” among others.

She was signed to an MGM contract in 1952, which led to a cameo in Vincente Minnelli's classic “The Bad and the Beautiful,” in which she sang “Don't Blame Me,” which can be heard on the soundtrack album. She also appeared in the cult comedy “Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy.”

Mitch Miller signed her to a long-term contract withColumbia Records, under which she made two best-selling albums, “Wish Upon aStar” and “Girl Meets Boy.” A string of hit singles included the standard “Make Yourself Comfortable.” Composer Arthur Hamilton famously wrote “Cry Me a River” for her, but Miller wouldn't let her record it because he said, “No singer of mine will ever sing a song that has the word “plebian” in it.” It became a hit for Julie London on another label, but King sang it in appearances for the rest of her career.

She starred opposite Tab Hunter in the TV musical “Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates,” in which she had to ice skate along with Hunter and champion Dick Button, and which was recorded by Dot Records. She also starred with Joel Grey, Celeste Holm and Cyril Ritchard in a TV musical version of “Jack and Beanstalk.

She had a dramatic role as a stewardess in the 1957 thriller “Zero Hour!” with Dana Andrews and Linda Darnell, which is said to have inspired the satirical “Airplane.”

Her many other albums include “Lazy Afternoon” for ImperialRecords, “Peggy” on Candlelite Records, and both “Oh, What a Memory We Made Tonight” and “Peggy King Sings Jerome Kern” for the Stash label. Her last-released recording was the album “Songs a la King” on Fresh Sound Records in 2016. She performed regularly in the Philadelphia area, played 54 Below in New York in 2013 and the Catalina Jazz Club in Los Angeles as late as 2014. She has sung with the Philadelphia Orchestra and helped write and perform the theme for NFL's “The Men Who Played the Game.”

King was born on Feb. 16, 1930 to Floyd Henry King and Margaret Finan in Greensburg, PA. She graduated from Ravenna High School and sang on radio in Cleveland, before joining the big bands of Charlie Spivak, Ray Anthony and Ralph Flanagan.

Her first TV exposure was as a regular on the Mel Torme Show for CBS, and she also had a successful commercial singing a popular jingle forHunt's Tomato Sauce.
In 2010, she was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame and was among the very first celebrities to receive a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame.

King was married three times, first to musician Knobby Lee, who she met while singing with the Ralph Flanagan band. Following a two-year engagement to AndrePrevin and a short-lived marriage to publicist Bill Kirkpatrick, she married Samuel Rudofker, chairman and president of After Dark formal wear, which lasted until his passing in 1994.
She is survived by her daughter Suzy Rudofker and son-in-law Dwain Goforth.

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