March 7, 1946—Hollywood, Calif.—The Academy Awards:
It was the last days of the child star era in Hollywood. Shirley Temple had ruled the previous decade and saved 20th Century Fox from bankruptcy. The current top moppet stars were Margaret O’Brien and Elizabeth Taylor at MGM. Natalie Wood was a year away from the big time in Miracle on 34th Street.
The Academy used to give special juvenile Oscars to the Outstanding Child Performer of the year. Margaret O’Brien had won the Award the previous year for her splendid performance in Meet Me In St. Louis. In 1945, gorgeous young Elizabeth Taylor had a smash hit in National Velvet and was the favorite to take the award. But the winner was Peggy Ann Garner, who had the starring role in the film version of Betty Smith’s best-seller A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in the epic story of a poor family in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn. Peggy Ann played the young Francie, whose family is beset with numerous problems—poverty, an alcoholic father, an unsentimental mother, a ‘loose living’ aunt. 20th Century Fox bought the book and gave Elia Kazan his first film as a director. The result was a smash hit that received great reviews, made a ton of money and forever established the reputations of its principals.
Character actor James Dunn, as the alcoholic father whom Francie adores, won the 1945 Supporting Actor Academy Award. But the heart and soul of the film then and now is the tremendous performance of Peggy Ann Garner.
The New York Times in its rave stated, “A truly surpassing little actress, Peggy Ann Garner, on whom the camera mostly stays, the producers ably provided a sensitive mirror for the reflection of childish moods and for all the personal comprehension of the pathos of poverty. Little Miss Garner with her plain face and lank hair is Miss Smith’s Francie Nolan to the life.”
Years later, famed director Kazan (On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire) remembered Peggy Ann: “I loved her. She was a marvelous little girl—so filled with longing, with unfulfilled, unrequited and unsatisfied love. There wasn’t anything that Peggy had to do as Francie that I couldn’t awaken, because it was all going on inside of her.”
The year before A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Peggy Ann had played the young Jane in Joan Fontaine/Orson Welles’ Jane Eyre. The first 20 minutes of the film is not only the best part of the entire movie but shows the brilliance of the young actress. (An unbilled Elizabeth Taylor is also with Peggy Ann during the brutal scenesat the hideous Lowood institution.)
Peggy Ann Garner simply broke your heart as the poor tormented Jane Eyre. Earlier, Peggy Ann had played in a number of other outstanding films. After her Academy Award, it looked liked the young girl would go on to a brilliant adult career as a major actress. What happened was probably as tragic as anything poor Jane Eyre ever experienced.
Peggy Ann Garner had the stage mother from hell. After a few minor films at 20th Century Fox, she was let go. Adulthood proved that Peggy Ann was not a glamorous young woman. 20th gave her a comeback film as an adult in Black Widow. But even with co-stars Ginger Rogers and Gene Tierney, the film was a flop. She did some stage work, married three times and had a daughter. All three marriages failed. Peggy Ann Garner died in October, 1984, of cancer. She was almost completely forgotten by the Hollywood that had oncegiven her awards. Peggy Ann Garner’s only child also had a pitiful life, dying at age 38.
Child stars come and go, and very few of them ever make the transition to adult star. Only Elizabeth Taylor and Natalie Wood made the successful leap to become major movie stars and eventual legends. Shirley Temple and Margaret O’Brien retired. Poor Peggy Ann Garner ended up selling cars in Hollywood. And this is where the story gets interesting for me.
In 1971, I had recently moved back to L.A. from San Francisco. One day I read in one of the Whatever Happened To? books that Peggy Ann Garner was working at Speight Buick in Hollywood, selling cars. Without a second thought, I found two great pictures of Peggy Ann Garner from my collection and hopped a bus down Santa Monica Boulevard to see her. I breezed into the dealership and asked if I could see Peggy Ann Garner. They kind of looked at me and then sent me to a tiny office with windows serving as walls.
There was the star herself, looking a bit perplexed that she had a fan on the premises. The next 45 minutes were movie fan heaven for me. She graciously signed my pictures and answered all my questions about her famous early days. She seemed genuinely pleased that anyone remembered her and would try to seek her out. I was entranced by her candor, charm and complete lack of self-importance. The one thing she did say that stuck with me all these years: “I wasn’t pretty like a lot of the others. Beauty is what they wanted.”
I told her in all sincerity that “she had the beauty of talent, and that is something rare and precious.” I am not sure she believed me, but when I left (her bosses were getting a bit agitated), she gave me a hug and thanked me for remembering. Every time I watch A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, I think not only of the great child actress that I am watching but the gracious middle-aged woman who once gave me one of the great movie fan afternoons of my life.