May 11, 1941

The husband of Winona Sammon, whose stage and screen name was Peggy Shannon, found her dead. Sammon was born in Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) and was thrust into prominence after she met Florenz Ziegfeld’s secretary during a visit to New York and was asked to sit for publicity shots. At one time, she was promoted as the next “It Girl” to replace Clara Bow, who had suffered a nervous breakdown. Her popularity declined after she developed a reputation for being temperamental and hard to work with. She was interred in Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Three weeks after her death, her husband took his own life sitting in the same chair at the table where she had been found.

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