Beloved TV Star and Popular Singer Has Passed Away at 96

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An actress and singer who was a staple on television screens during the 1950s, Peggy King has sadly passed away.

King’s publicist, Alan Eicher, confirmed to Variety that the TV personality and recording artist passed on Sunday, October 25 following a battle with Alzheimer’s at the Saunders House Assisted Living facility in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. She was 96 years old.

‘Pretty Perky Peggy King’

From 1954 until 1957, King was a regular on “The George Gobel Show,” serving as the resident vocalist on the weekly variety show, which was NBC’s No. 1 series at the time.

In his introductions of her musical numbers, host George Gobel nicknamed her “Pretty Perky Peggy King,” with that moniker following her for the remainder of her showbiz career.

Her role on the show resulted in a 1955 Emmy nomination, for best female singer. She returned to the Emmys in 1958, this time not as nominee but as the broadcast’s co-host.

Her popularity was evident when she was invited to perform at the 1955 Academy Awards, where she sang “Count Your Blessings” from the classic Christmas movie “White Christmas,” which was nominated for Best Original Song.

A Singing Sensation

King got her start singing on radio in Cleveland. Prior to joining “The George Gobel Show,” she sang a memorable radio jingle for Hunt’s Tomato Sauce and became a regular on singer Mel Torme’s radio show.

In 1952, King was signed to a contract with MGM. Her film career, however, proved to be short-lived. She is briefly seen as a singer in Vincente Minnelli’s “The Bad and the Beautiful” (in addition to appearing on the film’s soundtrack), and also appears as a vocalist in the 1955 comedy “Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy.”

Her television work was far more extensive. As a singer, she appeared on Bob Hope’s “Chevy Show,” Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand,” “The Steve Allen Show,” “The 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 also dabbled in acting, and appeared in guest-starring roles in TV series including “Maverick” and “Dragnet,” in addition to starring in the 1957 thriller “Zero Hour!”

She combined her acting and singing skills when she co-starred with Tab Hunter in the 1958 television musical “Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates.”

She landed a record deal with Columbia Records, signed to a long-term deal by the label’s legendary head of A&R Mitch Miller. King went on to record two albums for the label, “Wish Upon a Star” and “Girl Meets Boy.” She also landed several singles in the Billboard Hot 100, with “Learnin’ to Love” peaking at No. 61 in 1955.

In 1960, King became one of the first entertainers to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Five decades later, she was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame in 2010.

King regularly performed in Philadelphia, New York and Los Angeles well into the 2010s; her final album, “Songs a la King,” was released in 2016.

Television Changed Her Life

In an interview with Broadcast Pioneers, King recalled that she landed her career-making role on Gobel’s variety show because of her diminutive height.

As King recalled, she caught Gobel’s attention when he saw her on a local show “where I was a sort of singing Vanna White. And he saw me and he said, ‘Her.’ They never looked at anybody else,” she said.

“He’s very small, you know, he wears very big, whatever they’re called, lifts [in his shoes],” King added. “When he saw that I was tiny — I’m five-two — he was just the happiest man alive. It worked out really well.”

The exposure she received on the show, she recalled, changed her life immediately. “Within two weeks, I couldn’t walk down the street,” she marveled.