It has been announced that Peggy Cummins, the leading lady of a selection of cult movies of the 1950s and 60s, has passed away over the New Year period; she had suffered a stroke.
Welsh by birth though raised in Ireland, she entered films as a teenager in 1940, including the rite of passage of an Old Mother Riley instalment, and by the end of that decade was securing roles of increasing stature and a chance in America, leading to her greatest performance in 1950 as the deadly female half of a Bonnie and Clyde-inspired couple in Gun Crazy. If she rarely had the chance to prove herself in other roles, that one was enough to make her a cult legend, a startling and sensual reading that tested the censor's code of the day.
Other notable movies, away from her Hollywood trip, included Meet Mr Lucifer, the muscular Hell Drivers, horror classic Night of the Demon and her last, comedy In the Doghouse. She retired in the late sixties, but remained a favourite of vintage movie fans who knew how good she could be.
