Background

Peggy Wood was born on February 9, 1892, in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States. She was a daughter of Eugene Wood, a journalist and feature writer for the New York World, and Mary (Gardner) Wood, a telegraph operator.

Education

As a girl, Wood studied piano and singing in preparation for a career in grand opera. Upon finishing, in 1909, Manual Training High School (later renamed John Jay High School and now the site of the John Jay Educational Campus) in Brooklyn, she determined, that her singing was not of operatic quality. However, possessed of a lovely trained voice, a tall, slim figure, blue eyes, blond hair and comely features, she decided to seek a role in musical comedy.

In her later years, Wood received several honorary degrees, including a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Hamilton College and Hobart College, as well as a Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Mount Holyoke College and Lake Erie College.

Career

Seeking a role in a musical comedy at the beginning of her career, Peggy managed to obtain an introduction to Arthur Hammerstein and in 1910 landed in the chorus of Victor Herbert's "Naughty Marietta" on Broadway. In 1911, she won the role of Vera Steinway in "The Three Romeos". Other roles in musical comedies in the years 1913-1915 culminated in her second appearance in "Naughty Marietta" in 1916 as the lead. Thus, Wood progressed from chorus girl to star in just over five years. She scored a big hit in 1917 as Ottilie in Sigmund Romberg's "Maytime" and remained with the show for two years.

After further successes, Wood felt ready to step out of comic opera into drama. In 1925, she asked for and got Katharine Cornell's part in the original Broadway production of Candida, when Cornell left the cast.

Wood's interpretation of George Bernard Shaw's heroine encouraged her ambitions as a serious actress. Roles in Shakespeare soon followed. Her 1926 characterization of Lady Percy in "Henry the Fourth, Part One" was described as "having warmth, as well as beauty". In 1928, Peggy played Portia in the George Arliss' production of "The Merchant of Venice", both in New York and on tour.

Besides, it was in 1926 and 1927, that Wood toured with John Drew in the road company of "Trelawny of the Wells". Wood's account of this adventure, which turned out to be Drew's last performance, is lovingly detailed by her in a Saturday Evening Post article, entitled "Splendid Gypsy", published in book form the following year. In the subsequent years, Peggy wrote numerous articles for the Post, as well as for the Ladies Home Journal, Woman's Home Companion, Theater Arts Monthly, Arts and Decoration, Harper's and Collier's, and for many newspapers.

Wood made her London debut in Noël Coward's "Bitter Sweet", which opened at His Majesty's Theatre on July 18, 1929, to rave notices. More Broadway performances preceded her third Shakespearean role, as Katherine in "The Taming of the Shrew", in Berkeley, California, in 1934. On April 7, 1937, Wood opened in the title part of a play she co-wrote with Ward Morehouse, entitled "Miss Quis". This story of an eccentric housekeeper, turned heiress, received lukewarm reviews.

In the spring of 1938, Wood returned to the London stage in another Coward's production, "Operette", and remained there to do "Theatre Royal" the following spring. In John Van Druten's "Old Acquaintance", presented in December of 1940, Wood was praised as having given "the best performance of her career - honest, aware and lucidly projected" for her memorable portrayal of Mildred Drake. Then, once again, Coward supplied a vehicle for Wood's considerable talents. His "Blithe Spirit", in which Wood played Ruth, the perplexed and beleaguered second wife, opened in November 1941.

Until Peggy's memorable performance as the Mother Superior in the 1965 film version of "The Sound of Music", for which she received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress, Wood's film credits were few and far between. However, she was a pioneer in the industry, appearing as early as 1919 in the silent film "Almost a Husband". Her highly successful portrayal of a lovable Norwegian-American matriarch, in the eight-year run of the weekly television series "Mama", began in 1949. For this characterization, she was honored in 1951 by King Haakon of Norway, receiving the Order of St. Olaf.

In general, throughout her career, Wood appeared in more than seventy Broadway plays. Her last performance was with Ethel Barrymore Colt in "A Madrigal" of Shakespeare in Westport, Connecticut, in 1967, but she continued to be active in theater organizations until her death in Stamford, Connecticut.

It's worth noting, that Wood also published several books. Among Wood's works, containing biographical information, are "Actors and People" (1930); "How Young You Look" (1941); and "Arts and Flowers" (1963). Other works, written by Peggy, include "The Flying Prince" (1927); "The Splendid Gypsy: John Drew" (1928); "The Star Wagon" (1936); and her play, "Miss Quis" (1937), co-authored with Ward Morehouse.

Achievements

• Peggy Wood was a notable actress and singer, who performed on stage and television, as well as in films. She gained prominence for her performance as the title character in the CBS television series "Mama" (1949-1957), for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Besides, Wood was also known for her starring role as Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law, in "The Story of Ruth" (1960), and her final screen appearance as Mother Abbess in "The Sound of Music" (1965), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
  
  In 1951, Wood was awarded the Order of St. Olav by King Haakon of Norway.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Actors and People 1930
  • How Young You Look 1941
  • Arts and Flowers 1963
  • The Flying Prince 1927
  • A Splendid Gypsy: John Drew 1928
  • The Star Wagon 1936
  • Miss Quis: A Play in Three Acts 1937

• movie

  • The Story Of Ruth

    (A touching story of the loyalty and friendship between tw...)

    1960
  • A Star Is Born

    (Janet Gaynor portrays Esther Blodgett, a starry-eyed smal...)

    1937
  • The Sound Of Music

    (A woman leaves an Austrian convent to become a governess ...)

    1965
  • The Bride Wore Boots

    (Southern heiress Sally Warren (Barbara Stanwyck) loves ev...)

    1946
  • The Right To Live

    (The wife of an invalid falls in love with his brother in ...)

    1935
  • Magnificent Doll

    (Dolley Payne flirts with Aaron Burr and marries James Mad...)

    1946
  • Dream Girl

    (This movie is about a daydreaming young lady, until she m...)

    1948
  • Jalna

    (In the film, a newlywed has to adjust to her husband's od...)

    1935

• music

  • Climb Ev'ry Mountain
  • Where Are the Songs We Sung?
  • Zigeuner 1929

• TV-series

  • Mama

    ("Mama" is a weekly Maxwell House and Post Cereal-sponsore...)

  • Turtle's Progress

    (Peggy Wood played the role of Mrs. Butterworth in episode...)

    1979

Religion

Wood was a devout Episcopalian.

Politics

Peggy was a participant in the 1919 actors strike, that protested low wages and unfair working conditions for chorus personnel.

Membership

Wood had a lifelong dedication to the Actors' Equity Association, of which she was a founder, in 1913, and subsequently vice-president. She also served on its council from 1919 to 1940. In 1959, Wood assumed the presidency of the American National Theater and Academy (ANTA), the position she held until 1966. Active in the Episcopal Actors' Guild, she also served as its vice-president from 1950 to 1964. Besides, Wood also was a member of the American Theatre Wing.

• founder

  Actors' Equity Association , United States

  1913

• council member

  Actors' Equity Association , United States

  1919 - 1940

• president

  American National Theater and Academy , United States

  1959 - 1966

• vice-president

  Episcopal Actors' Guild , United States

  1950 - 1964

Personality

Wood's parents named her Margaret. However, since there were eight Margarets among the cast she worked with, she adopted Peggy as her stage name.

Connections

On February 14, 1924, Wood married John Van Alstyne Weaver, a poet, novelist and playwright. They had one child - son David. Their happy marriage came to an end in 1938, when John Weaver died of tuberculosis. On October 1, 1946, Peggy married William A. Walling, an executive in the printing business, who died in 1973.

Father:

Eugene Wood

Mother:

Mary (Gardner) Wood

child:

David Weaver

Late Husband:

John Van Alstyne Weaver

Late Husband:

William A. Walling