April 27, 1923: Birth of Duluth actress Peggy Knudsen

On this day in Duluth in 1923, Margaret “Peggy”Ann Knudsen was born to firefighter Conrad Knudsen and his wife Lulu. According to biographer David Ouse, after graduating Stanbrook Hall [a high school associated with Monastery of St. Scholastic] in 1941, Knudsen’s recently widowed mother moved the family to Chicago. Peggy soon landed a leading role in Woman in White, a popular daytime radio program. In 1942, she was hired to replace Jo Ann Sayers in the starring role of My Sister Eileen on Broadway. After completing the season in that role, she moved to Hollywood and signed a contract with Warner Brothers. She appeared in Never Say Goodbye (1946); Humoresque (1946); The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart (1946); Stallion Road (1947); My Wild Irish Rose (1947); Unchained (1955); and Good Morning, Miss Dove (1955). In the 1950s and early 1960s, she made numerous TV appearances in such shows as Your Show Time, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Perry Mason, Bat Masterson, and Ozzie and Harriet. She died in Encino, California, on July 11, 1980. Read more about Peggy Knudsen here.

Peggy Knudsen during her Hollywood years in the 1940s. The Duluth native starred along Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in The Big Sleep.(Image: Public Domain)