HOLLYWOOD -- Peggy Ann Garner, who won a special Academy Award as Hollywood's outstanding child actress 40 years ago, died Tuesday. She was 53.
Miss Garner had been in the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in suburban Woodland Hills since July 25, according to a spokesman. She reportedly had cancer.
Her career was launched by her mother, who got her into summer stock and modeling before she was 6. Virginia Garner moved her daughter to Hollywood a year later and placed her in several films before the young actress gained fame as Francie Nolan in the 1945 film, 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.'
Miss Garner's career faded as she grew older. She did stage and television work as well as a few other films, but never recaptured her childhood fame.
While earning her living in the 1960s as a real estate broker and in the 70s as an automobile sales manager, she dreamed of returning to Hollywood.
'I don't consider myself out of the business,' she said in 1976. 'Every time I've taken a job with a car dealership, one of my stipulations has been that if a role was offered to me that I wanted to do, I'd have carte blanche to do it.'
Born in Canton, Ohio, in 1931, Miss Garner was married and divorced three times. Her second husband, actor Albert Salmi, fathered her daughter, Katherine, who lives in Oregon.
Among Garner's films were 'Little Miss Thoroughbred,' 'In Name Only,' and 'Blondie Brings Up Baby.'
Funeral arrangements were pending.
