Peggy Dow (born Peggy Josephine Varnadow; March 18, 1928) is an American philanthropist and retired actress who had a brief career in Hollywood had

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

starring in films during the Golden Age Era in the early 1950s. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Nurse Kelly in ''

Harvey Harvey, Harveys or Harvey's may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Harvey'' (play), a 1944 play by Mary Chase about a man befriended by an invisible anthropomorphic rabbit * Harvey Awards ("Harveys"), one of the most important awards ...

'' (1950) and Judy Greene in ''

Bright Victory ''Bright Victory'' is a 1951 American drama romance war film directed by Mark Robson and starring Arthur Kennedy and Peggy Dow. Plot During World War II, American sergeant Larry Nevins is blinded by a German sniper while fighting in North Afr ...

'' (1951).

Early life

Born in

Columbia, Mississippi Columbia is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Marion County, Mississippi, which was formed six years before Mississippi was admitted to statehood. Columbia was named for Columbia, South Carolina, from which many of the early settlers had migr ...

, at age 4 she moved with her family to

Covington, Louisiana Covington is a city in, and the parish seat of, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 11,564 at the 2020 United States census. It is located at a fork of the Bogue Falaya and the Tchefuncte River. Covington is part o ...

. She attended high school and junior college at Gulf Park College in

Gulfport, Mississippi Gulfport is the second-largest city in Mississippi after the state capital, Jackson. Along with Biloxi, Gulfport is the co-county seat of Harrison County and the larger of the two principal cities of the Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolit ...

(now the Gulf Park campus of the

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

), then finished college at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, appearing in college plays and receiving her degree from Northwestern's School of Speech in 1948.

Career

After brief modeling and radio experience, Dow was spotted by a talent agent and cast in a television show in February 1949. Shortly after that exposure, Universal offered her a seven-year contract. Dow made nine films, most notably as Nurse Kelly in ''

'' (1950), starring James Stewart, and co-starring with Best Actor Oscar nominee Arthur Kennedy in ''

'' (1951). After being featured in several crime dramas, Dow had starring roles in two 1951 family films, '' Reunion in Reno'' and '' You Never Can Tell''. She retired after three years in the business to marry Walter Helmerich III, an oil driller from

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

, in 1951. He became president of his family's business,

Helmerich & Payne Helmerich & Payne, Inc. ( ) is an American petroleum contract drilling company engaged in oil and gas well drilling and related services for exploration and production companies headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with operations throughout the wo ...

. They were married for 60 years, until his death in 2012. The couple had five sons. She became an active supporter of libraries and other charities. The Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award, an award given annually since 1985 to a distinguished author by the Tulsa Library Trust, is named in her honor, as is the drama school at the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

and the auditorium at Northwestern's Annie May Swift Hall."Annie May Swift Renovation to Begin"

, June 6, 2006.

Filmography

Your Show Time ''Your Show Time'' is an American anthology drama series that debuted on NBC Television on the East Coast in September 1948 and then on both the East and the West Coast, as a network show, on January 21, 1949. The show was produced by Marshall ...

(TV anthology series) (1949) *'' Undertow'' (1949) *''

Woman in Hiding ''Woman in Hiding'' is a 1950 American film noir crime film directed by Michael Gordon and starring Ida Lupino, Stephen McNally and Howard Duff. Plot Deborah Chandler Clark watches police drag a North Carolina river for her body. She recounts ...

'' (1950) *'' Shakedown'' (1950) *'' The Sleeping City'' (1950) *''

'' (1950) *''

'' (1951) *'' You Never Can Tell'' (1951) *'' Reunion in Reno'' (1951) *'' I Want You'' (1951) * ''

The Cases of Eddie Drake ''The Cases of Eddie Drake'' is an American crime drama series which initially was shown in syndication in 1951, before airing on the DuMont Television Network during 1952. It was a crime drama originally filmed for CBS Television by Imppro, a s ...

'' (TV series) (1952)

References

External links

*
Voices of Oklahoma interview with Peggy Dow Helmerich.
First person interview conducted with Peggy Dow Helmerich. Original audio and transcript archived wit
Voices of Oklahoma oral history project.

Peggy Dow
at the American Film Institute
Peggy Dow on the cover of ''Life'' magazine; August 7 1950 issue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dow, Peggy 1928 births Living people 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Louisiana Actresses from Mississippi Actresses from Tulsa, Oklahoma American film actresses American philanthropists Northwestern University School of Communication alumni People from Columbia, Mississippi People from Covington, Louisiana

Early life

Career

Filmography

See also

References

External links