Peggy Ann Garner (February 3, 1932 – October 16, 1984) was an Academy Award-winning American cinema and theater actress.
Born in Canton, Ohio, Garner's mother pushed her into the limelight, and entered her in talent quests while Garner was still a child. By 1938 she had made her first film appearance and over the next few years appeared in several more films including Jane Eyre (1944) and The Keys of the Kingdom (1944). She reached the height of her success at the age of 13 in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) winning an Academy Juvenile Award largely on the basis of this performance.
Like many child performers, Garner was unable to make a successful transition into adult film roles. She guest starred steadily in televisions roles beginning in the early 1950s and continuing through the 1960s. After her film career ended, she ventured into stage acting and had some success, but also worked as a real estate agent between acting jobs in order to support herself. Her final screen performance was a small part in a made for television feature in 1980.
Garner married singer Richard Hayes, and they divorced in 1953. She went on to marry actor Albert Salmi on May 16, 1956, and they divorced March 13, 1963. Their only daughter, Catherine Ann Salmi, died in 1995 at age 38 from heart disease.
Garner died from pancreatic cancer.
