User:Thnidu/sandbox/Peggy King career

Career
"Pretty perky Peggy King", as she was called, appeared on The George Gobel Show from 1954 through 1957 and guest-starred on many other TV shows, including Bob Hope's 1956 Chevy Show, American Bandstand, Maverick, Dragnet (series), The Steve Allen Show, The Kraft Music Hall with Milton Berle, What's My Line?, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Perry Como Show, The Garry Moore Show, and The Jack Benny Show.

In 1952 MGM signed her to a contract, which led to a singing cameo in Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful (recorded with Skip Martin for MGM Records) and a series of commercial jingles for Hunt's tomato sauce. These last brought her to the attention of Mitch Miller at Columbia Records. Miller signed her to a long-term contract, under which she made two best-selling albums, "Wish Upon on a Star" and "Girl Meets Boy" (both reissued on CD by Collectables Records), and a string of hit singles. She sang the Oscar-nominated song Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep) on the 1955 Academy Awards telecast, and both Billboard and Down Beat named her "Best New Singer" of 1955-56.

She sang in the 1955 cult comedy Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy and was featured as chief co-star on the poster. She portrayed the stewardess Janet Turner in the suspense thriller Zero Hour! (1957), later the basis for the disaster spoof, Airplane!. She starred opposite Tab Hunter in the original television musical Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates (1958) and in a musical version of Jack and the Beanstalk co-starring Joel Grey, Celeste Holm and Cyril Ritchard. Her more recent albums include "Lazy Afternoon" (1959, reissued on CD in 2012 by EMI), "Oh What a Memory We Made Tonight" and "Peggy King Sings Jerome Kern". In 2008 Sepia Records reissued the original cast album of Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates, adding sixteen of King's classic Columbia recordings and four of Hunter's.

The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia inducted King into their Hall of Fame in 2010. The success of the movie led to her resuming her singing career in 2013 with the Philadelphia-based All-Star Jazz Trio, and she received strong notices at 54 Below in New York and the Metropolitan Room.

On February 8, 1960, King became one of the first stars to be honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her star is located on the North side of the 6500 block of Hollywood Blvd.