Diana Serra Cary (born October 26, 1918), best known as Baby Peggy, was one of the three major American child stars of the Hollywood silent movie era along with Jackie Coogan and Baby Marie. Between 1921 and 1923 she made over 150 shorts for Century Studios. In 1922 she received 1.2 million fan letters and by 1924 she had been dubbed The Million Dollar Baby for her $1.5 million a year salary. Despite her childhood fame and wealth, she found herself poor and working as an extra by the 1930s.
Having an interest in both writing and history since her youth, Cary found a second career as an author and silent film historian in her later years under the name Diana Serra Cary. She is the author of several books and has become an advocate for child actors rights.
Along with Carla Laemmle, Lupita Tovar, and Mickey Rooney, she is one of the last living silent film stars as of 2012. On December 3, 2012, Turner Classic Movies presented the 2011 documentary Baby Peggy: The Elephant in the Room.
Read more about Diana Serra Cary: Early Life, Stardom, Film Decline and Stage Work, Later Life, Hardships As A Child Actor, Films, Bibliography
Famous quotes containing the words diana and/or cary:
“I don’t have any doubts that there will be a place for progressive white people in this country in the future. I think the paranoia common among white people is very unfounded. I have always organized my life so that I could focus on political work. That’s all I want to do, and that’s all that makes me happy.”
—Hettie V., South African white anti-apartheid activist and feminist. As quoted in Lives of Courage, ch. 21, by Diana E. H. Russell (1989)
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—Joyce Cary (1888–1957)