Peggy Shanor (November 1895 – May 30, 1935) was an American actress in silent films.
Early life Margaret Marion Shanor was from Sistersville, West Virginia, and raised in the Pittsburgh area, the daughter of Perry Absalom Shanor and Etta Kate Leasure Shanor.Untitled society item, Daily Republican (September 10, 1894): 1. via Newspapers.com"Theatre Party and Supper", Pittsburgh Press (November 27, 1910): 42. via Newspapers.com Her father, who was elected to represent Sistersville in the West Virginia legislature soon after Peggy was born,Untitled news item, Butler Citizen (November 19, 1896): 2. via Newspapers.com was a leader in the Loyal Order of Moose,"Peggy Shanor", Variety (June 5, 1935): 54."Perry A. Shanor" New York Times (November 7, 1939): 26. and the International Order of Odd Fellows."Odd Fellows Pay Tribute to Dead", York Daily (May 19, 1917): 3. via Newspapers.com
Career Shanor appeared in several silent films, notably in vamp roles"Mystery Remains", Daily News (January 16, 1922): 25. via Newspapers.com in serials, including The House of Hate (1918), The Queen of Hearts (1918), The Echo of Youth (1919), The Lurking Peril (1919), The Mystery Mind (1920), The Man Who Stole the Moon (1921), and The Prodigal Judge (1922).John T. Soister, Henry Nicolella, Down from the Attic: Rare Thrillers of the Silent Era through the 1950s (McFarland 2016): 34, 44, 50. "Peggy Shanor distinguished herself, in The House of Hate, by her ability to go upstairs in a truly regal manner," noted one film magazine of her day."Peggy Shanor", Picture-Play Magazine (September 1918): 21. She declined an offer to make films for an English production company in 1919."British Bid for American Star", Motion Picture News (November 8, 1919): 3472. Shanor commented on her typecasting as a "vamp" in a 1920 interview: "I don't know why the public persists in calling any woman character in a play or picture who has red blood, brains or allurement a 'vamp'. The word irritates me excessively.""Peggy Shanor an Unwilling Vamp", Exhibitors Herald (January 31, 1920): 66.
Stage roles, mainly in Somerville, Massachusetts, included Yes or No? (1917), Behind the Screen (1922),"Mr. Crosby's Play Acted in Somerville", Boston Globe (December 19, 1922): 4. via Newspapers.com The Goldfish (1923),"Somerville Theatre", Boston Globe (April 1, 1923): 53. via Newspapers.com Very Bright Green (1923),"Sheffield's Merry Play at the Somerville Theatre", Boston Globe (May 1, 1923): 8. via Newspapers.com Grumpy (1923),"Somerville Players", Boston Globe (February 6, 1923): 6. via Newspapers.com and Love 'Em and Leave 'Em (1926)."Merry Comedy at the Castle Sq", Boston Globe (November 30, 1926): 17. via Newspapers.com
Shanor was one of the entertainers donating their talents at a "smoke fund" benefit in New York in 1918, raising money to send cigarettes to American troops in World War I."Smokes Will Go Right to Germany", New York Herald (November 25, 1918): 4. via Newspapers.com In 1921, she visited orphans in the Jewish Foster Home of Germantown, with colleagues Vera Gordon and Stanley Price."Actress Visits Orphans", Philadelphia Inquirer (March 4, 1921): 8. via Newspapers.com In 1922 she was in the news for her role in a "hospital mystery", as fellow film actor Earle Foxe collapsed in her apartment at the Knickerbocker Hotel."Screen Stars Figure in Hospital Mystery", Washington Times (January 16, 1922): 3. via Newspapers.com They were rumored to be romantically involved."Peggy Shanor's Forgettery", Broadway Brevities (December 1921): 28.
Personal life Peggy Shanor was engaged to marry Harry Caplan in 1923.Untitled brief news item, Boston Globe (June 2, 1923): 5. via Newspapers.com She died in New York City in 1935, aged 39 years, "after a brief illness", according to her obituary in Variety.
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