Remembering Peggy Mount
On this very day in 1966, the first episode of sitcom, George and the Dragon aired, starring Peggy Mount!
George and the Dragon starred Peggy Mount, Sid James, John Le Mesurier and Keith Marsh. Made by ATV for the ITV network, the series was transmitted in four series comprising 26 episodes between 19 November 1966 and 31 October 1968.
Andrew Ross, the author of Everything I Ever Wanted – the Biography of Peggy Mount, shares his favourite facts about this charismatic actress:
Peggy blamed a freak childhood accident, in which her feet and legs were scalded by boiling water, for a dramatic change in her physical appearance and subsequent life-long struggle with her weight.
Peggy’s distinctive deep voice was partly the result of overwork, following her intense three-year run in the West End, in Sailor, Beware!
Dame Judi Dench, whilst dining with Peggy in the early 1960s, admitted to accidentally spilling gazpacho down Peggy’s white stole!
Despite being registered blind, Peggy continued to work on stage into her eighties, notably in Uncle Vanya at the Chichester Festival Theatre, with Sir Derek Jacobi.
Peggy’s estranged older sister was the talented pianist Nancy Mount, who performed in over twenty summer seasons around the country.
Everything I Ever Wanted – The Biography of Peggy Mount
Born in Southend on Sea in 1915, Peggy Mount rose from humble beginnings to become one of Britain’s best-known and best-loved actresses.
After achieving overnight stardom in the smash-hit play Sailor, Beware!, Peggy’s talent and unmistakable voice would secure her a place in entertainment history as the ultimate “battle-axe” on stage and in a succession of television series including The Larkins, George and the Dragon and You’re Only Young Twice. From critically acclaimed performances with the RSC to annual pantomime appearances, Peggy Mount’s career spanned more than fifty years and indomitably she remained a working actress into her eighties.
In the first ever biography of Peggy Mount’s life, Andrew Ross charts the story of an intensely private lady who consistently shunned the spotlight and rarely gave interviews. She once famously said “I’m not a bit like my screen image” yet the real-life Peggy was a fascinating and curious mixture of both the formidable and the insecure. From her difficult childhood, troubled family life and fifty-year feud with her only sister to her dramatic rise to fame, Peggy’s life and career are revealed to discover the homely yet complex lady behind the often fearsome on-screen image.
Drawing on exclusive first-hand accounts, including Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Derek Jacobi and the late Pat Coombs, this is the story of a unique and pioneering actress and her exceptional career.
