"Dancers Legends” Donald O'Connor & Peggy Ryan Hand Signed Vintage Card COA

Description: Up for auction "Dancers" Donald O'Connor & Peggy Ryan Hand Signed Vintage Card. This item is authenticated By Todd Mueller Autographs and comes with their certificate of authenticity. ES-7540 Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor (August 28, 1925 – September 27, 2003) was an American dancer, singer and actor. He came to fame in a series of films in which he co-starred with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule. His best-known works came in the film Singin' in the Rain (1952), for which O'Connor was awarded a Golden Globe. He also won a Primetime Emmy Award from four nominations and received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame throughout his career. Though he considered Danville, Illinois, to be his hometown, O'Connor was the 200th child born in St. Elizabeth Hospital in Chicago. Often, both of his parents struggled to remember where and when exactly O'Connor was born, due to the family's extensive travel as a Vaudeville team. Indeed, his parents, Effie Irene (née Crane) and John Edward "Chuck" O'Connor, were vaudeville entertainers; she was a bareback rider and he was a circus strongman and acrobat. His father's family was from Ireland. O'Connor later said, "I was about 13 months old, they tell me, when I first started dancing, and they'd hold me up by the back of my neck and they'd start the music, and I'd dance. You could do that with any kid, only I got paid for it." When O'Connor was only two years old, he and his seven-year-old sister, Arlene, were hit by a car while crossing the street outside a theater in Hartford, Connecticut; Donald survived, but his sister did not. A few weeks later, his father died of a heart attack while dancing on stage in Brockton, Massachusetts. His brother Billy died a decade later from scarlet fever and his eldest sibling Jack died from alcoholism in 1959. His three other siblings died during childbirth. O'Connor said the tragedies "marred my childhood and it's still haunting." O'Connor's mother was extremely possessive of her youngest son due to these traumas, not allowing him to cross the street on his own until he turned 13. Effie also stopped O'Connor from learning hazardous dance routines, and made sure she always knew where he was when he wasn't performing. She was a typical stage mother, often striking him. O'Connor later said regarding Effie, "She wanted me to be as great as I possibly could be. She did her best. O'Connor joined a dance act with his mother and elder brother Jack. They were billed as the O'Connor Family, the Royal Family of Vaudeville. They toured the country doing singing, dancing, comedy, and acting. "Our entire family composed an act", he says. "We really didn't have a choice; if you were in the family you appeared in the act. I loved vaudeville. The live audiences created a certain spontaneity." When they were not touring they stayed with O'Connor's Uncle Bill in Danville, Illinois. O'Connor never went to school. He later said, "I learned two dance routines. I looked like the world's greatest dancer. I did triple wings and everything. But I had never had any formal training. So, when I went into movies and started working with all those great dancers, I had a terrible time. I couldn't pick up routines because I didn't have any formal training. At the age of 15 — from 15 on, I really had to learn to dance. And that's quite old for someone to start dancing real heavy, professionally." O'Connor began performing in movies in 1937, making his debut aged 11 in Melody for Two appearing with his family act. He was also in Columbia's It Can't Last Forever (1937). Margaret O'Rene "Peggy" Ryan (August 28, 1924 – October 30, 2004) was an American dancer and actress, best known for starring in a series of movie musicals at Universal Pictures with Donald O'Connor and Gloria Jean. Ryan joined her parents' vaudeville act, "The Merry Dancing Ryans", before she was 3 years old, and appeared in her first film, Wedding of Jack and Jill (1929) when she was 4. She attended Hollywood Professional School. 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. However, her entry in the book Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America, Volume 1 notes, "[B]y then she was outgrowing the kiddie parts, yet not old enough for the teenage roles." She continued working in small roles until 1942, when she had a solo number in the feature film What's Cookin'?. 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 left Universal in 1945 and married James Cross that same year; they were divorced in 1952. 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 semiretirement. Sherman adopted her two children from her previous marriages. On television, Ryan played a recurring role as secretary Jenny Sherman in Hawaii Five-O from 1969–76. 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.

Price: 199.99 USD

Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

End Time: 2024-12-30T17:11:02.000Z

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