History Creator / BabyPeggy

Before Creator/ShirleyTemple made it big on the box office, there was one little tyke besides Creator/JackieCoogan who earned quite a reputation during UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood.

During her heyday, Montgomery earned over a million dollars for her films, earning her the nickname "The Million Dollar Baby", and serving as an inspiration for Creator/JudyGarland to pursue an acting career, but mismanagement of her finances, along with her parents holding a tight rein on her and not accounting for her well-being, took a toll on Montgomery's career as a child star which tailed off in 1924, culminating in a stint in [[{{Vaudeville}} vaudeville]] and a short-lived comeback as a teenage actress during [[UsefulNotes/RiseOfTheTalkies the early 1930s]]. Disenchanted with show business and following TheGreatDepression, she retired in 1938 and later adopted the name Diana Serra Cary, eventually finding success as a professional book seller, historian, and author.

* LastOfHerKind: She was, until her death in February 2020, the last living star of the UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood. Especially poignant since the only others alive from that era were cast as extras with no lines or infants with no memories of actually appearing in the film.

* AlliterativeName: Subverted, in that certain sources erroneously list her birth name as Margaret Montgomery, though Diana herself noted that she was indeed born as ''Peggy Jean'' Montgomery - the nuns at her birth hospital recommended the name Margaret over Peggy as the latter was perceived to be too pagan, only for her parents to reject it.

* NoOSHACompliance: Peggy, er, Diana, attested to that in her memoir. She did her own stunts, among them being trapped in a burning set and left to her own devices while keeping character in ''The Darling of New York'', hanging precariously upside-down by the side of a truck during a botched riding sequence, witnessed an unruly elephant [[GiantFootOfStomping crushing an animal trainer to death]] and a chimpanzee who went amok which his handlers took care of by bludgeoning him with a crowbar.

Cary, then known as Baby Peggy, starred in over 150 short films, after a chance encounter with director Fred Fishbach when she, her mother and a film-extra friend visited Century Studios, the latter known and described by Cary in her memoir to be a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_Row ragtag production outfit]] based at a "very large, very old, fast-disintegrating" studio. Most of the early shorts were in the form of [[{{Parody}} parody]] films satirizing silent-era actors and actresses of the time like Creator/RudolphValentino and Creator/PolaNegri. Peggy later worked for Creator/{{Universal}}, where she appeared in dramas like ''The Darling of New York'' and the first feature-length adaptation of ''Film/CaptainJanuary'', the latter of which inspired a [[TheRemake remake]] starring Shirley Temple. These films were billed as "Universal Jewels," owing to Peggy's star status at the time and the lavish production values given to them.

* NoOSHACompliance: Peggy, er, Diana, attested to that in her memoir. She did her own stunts, among them being trapped in a burning set and left to her own devices while keeping character in ''The Darling of New York'', hanging precariously upside-down by the side of a truck during a botched riding sequence, witnessed an unruly elephant [[GiantFootOfStomping crushing an animal trainer to death]] and a chimpanzee who went amok which his handlers took care of [[VideoGame/HalfLife by bludgeoning him with a crowbar]].

Diana Serra Cary, ''née'' Peggy-Jean Montgomery (29 October 1918--24 February 2020), was one of three major American child stars of the SilentFilm era during TheRoaringTwenties, alongside Coogan and Marie Osborne Yeats, aka Baby Marie. She was also one of the last surviving stars of that era until her passing.

Diana Serra Cary, ''née'' Peggy-Jean Montgomery (29 October 1918--24 February 2020), was one of three major American child stars of the silent film era during TheRoaringTwenties, alongside Coogan and Marie Osborne Yeats, aka Baby Marie.

* SameFaceDifferentName: Having being jaded by her Baby Peggy moniker, she lived under an assumed name as she retired from acting and focused on her new career as a bookstore salesperson and author.

Diana Serra Cary, ''née'' Peggy-Jean Montgomery (born 29 October 1918), was one of three major American child stars of the silent film era during TheRoaringTwenties, alongside Coogan and Marie Osborne Yeats, aka Baby Marie.

* AlliterativeName: Subverted, in that certain sources erroneously list her birth name as Margaret Montgomery, though Diana herself noted that she was indeed born as ''Peggy Jean'' Montgomery - the nuns at her birth hospital recommended the name Margaret, only for her parents to reject it.

* LastOfHerKind: She is the last living star of the UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood. Especially poignant since the only others alive from that era were cast as extras with no lines or infants with no memories of actually appearing in the film.

* LastOfHerKind: She is the last living star of the UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood. Especially poignant since the only others alive from that era were extras with no lines or infants with no memories of actually appearing in the film..

* LastOfHerKind: She is the last living star of the UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood
* LighthousePoint: Where ''Captain January'' mostly took place.

* LastOfTheirKind: She's the last silent film star alive who wasn't an extra with no lines or an infant with no memories of actually appearing in the film.

* TwentiesBobHaircut: Being UsefulNotes/TheRoaringTwenties, of course she had this.

* TwentiesBobHaircut: Being the Roaring Twenties, of course she had this.

* NoOSHACompliance: Peggy, er, Diana, attested to that in her memoir. She did her own stunts, among them being trapped in a burning set and left to her own devices while keeping character in ''The Darling of New York'', hanging precariously upside-down by the side of a truck during a botched riding sequence, and witnessed an unruly elephant [[GiantFootOfStomping crushing an animal trainer to death]].

During her heyday, Montgomery earned over a million dollars for her films, earning her the nickname "The Million Dollar Baby", and serving as an inspiration for Creator/JudyGarland to pursue an acting career, but mismanagement of her finances, along with her parents holding a tight rein on her and not accounting for her well-being, took a toll on Montgomery's career as a child star which tailed off in 1924, culminating in a stint in vaudeville and a short-lived comeback as a teenage actress during [[UsefulNotes/RiseOfTheTalkies the early 1930s]]. Disenchanted with show business and following TheGreatDepression, she retired in 1938 and later adopted the name Diana Serra Cary, eventually finding success as a professional book seller, historian, and author.

During her heyday, Montgomery earned over a million dollars for her films, earning her the nickname "The Million Dollar Baby", and serving as an inspiration for Creator/JudyGarland to pursue an acting career, but mismanagement of her finances, along with her parents holding a tight rein on her and not accounting for her well-being, took a toll on Montgomery's career as a child star which tailed off in 1924, culminating in a stint in vaudeville and a short-lived comeback as a teenage actress during [[RiseOfTheTalkies the early 1930s]]. Disenchanted with show business and following TheGreatDepression, she retired in 1938 and later adopted the name Diana Serra Cary, eventually finding success as a professional book seller, historian, and author.

* TwentiesBobHaircut

During her heyday, Montgomery earned over a million dollars for her films, earning her the nickname "The Million Dollar Baby", but mismanagement of her finances, along with her parents holding a tight rein on her and not accounting for her well-being, took a toll on Montgomery's career as a child star which tailed off in 1924, culminating in a stint in vaudeville and a short-lived comeback as a teenage actress during [[RiseOfTheTalkies the early 1930s]]. Disenchanted with show business and following TheGreatDepression, she retired in 1938 and later adopted the name Diana Serra Cary, eventually finding success as a professional book seller, historian, and author.

* NoOSHACompliance: Peggy, er, Diana, attested to that in her memoir. She did her own stunts, among them being trapped in a burning set and left to her own devices while keeping character in ''The Darling of New York'', and witnessed an unruly elephant [[GiantFootOfStomping crushing an animal trainer to death]].

Before Creator/ShirleyTemple made it big on the box office, there was one little tyke besides Creator/JackieCoogan who earned quite a reputation during UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood.

During her heyday, Montgomery earned over a million dollars for her films, earning her the nickname "The Million Dollar Baby", but mismanagement of her finances, along with her parents holding a tight rein on her and not accounting for her well-being, took a toll on Montgomery's career as a child star which tailed off in 1924, culminating in a stint in vaudeville and a short-lived comeback as a teenage actress. Disenchanted with show business and following TheGreatDepression, she retired in 1938 and later adopted the name Diana Serra Cary, eventually finding success as a professional book seller, historian, and author.

'''Diana Serra Cary''', ''née'' '''Peggy-Jean Montgomery''' (born 29 October 1918), was one of three major American child stars of the silent film era during TheRoaringTwenties, alongside Coogan and Marie Osborne Yeats, aka Baby Marie.

* NoOSHACompliance: Peggy, er, Diana, attested to that in her memoir. She did her own stunts, among them being trapped in a burning set and left to her own devices while keeping character in ''The Darling of New York'', and witnessed an unruly elephant crushing an animal trainer to death.