Career
Her singing, acting, and dancing skills were noticed by song-and-dance actor George Murphy, who helped her get a role in 1937"s Top of the Town. She continued working in small roles until 1942, when she had a solo number in the feature film. The Gloria Jean-Donald O"Connor-Peggy Ryan team were a great hit with audiences and exhibitors, and the three teens made five features together.
Her screen character in these films was usually brash, wisecracking, and boy-crazy.
In 1944, Ryan advanced to more elaborate productions, in support of Jack Oakie and Abbott and Costello. She returned to the screen with dancer Ray McDonald for 1949"s There"s a Girl in My Heart and Shamrock Hill, and 1953"s All Ashore.
They wed in 1953 and toured together in a nightclub act before being divorced in 1957. Her third marriage, in 1958, was to Hawaii columnist Eddie Sherman, following which she left movies for choreography and semi-retirement.
On television, she played a recurring role as secretary Jenny Sherman in Hawaii Five-O from 1969-1976.
In later years she trained Las Vegas showgirls in tap dancing. Her last public performance, at her 80th birthday party, was a hilarious song-and-dance routine for her former Universal studio colleagues. She continued to teach tap until two days before her death at the age of 80 from the effects of two strokes.