Peggy O'Neill

Peggy O'Neill was born Barbara Jeanne O'Neill in San Francisco, California. At eighteen, she won a beauty contest and moved to Hollywood, where she met producer Charles Rogers, who helped her get a screen test. She was given a starring role in the 1944 comedy Song Of The Open Road. Columnist Louella Parsons called her "Hollywood's newest Cinderella." During the summer of 1944, Peggy went on a bond-selling tour of Texas with Adele Mera and Gale Storm. She also had small parts in It's A Pleasure and The Hoodlum Saint.

Peggy impulsively married Army officer Lloyd Miner on January 16, 1945. They separated shortly after the wedding, and Peggy moved in with her mother. In the spring of 1945, she was offered a long-term contract with Paramount. She started a serious romance with screenwriter Albert Mannheimer. On April 12, 1945, Peggy had an argument with Albert. That evening, she committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills. She was only twenty-one years old. Peggy was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles. Her life was short, but her brief career left a mark in Hollywood's golden era.