Peggy Connelly

Peggy Connelly (September 25, 1931 – June 11, 2007) was a singer and actress, and former wife of Dick Martin (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In), with whom she had a son, Cary Martin.

Biography

Connelly was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and reared in Fort Worth, Texas. She had a long career as a singer and actress, starting with local dance bands (the first Harvey Anderson's) in the Fort Worth-Dallas area. In 1956 she recorded an album of standards, Peggy Connelly with Russ Garcia--That Old Black Magic, for Bethlehem Records. She also did a stint with The New Christy Minstrels, with whom she recorded two albums: Presenting, and In Person. Among other films, she appeared as a Flora Dora girl in The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955), and as Elizabeth Wilson in Houseboat (1958). She also appeared on the television show Take a Good Look with Ernie Kovacs.

She moved to Europe in the early 1970s and worked as a single act until the mid-1990s, when she, Sarah Tullamore and Wendy Taylor formed a trio called The Jazzberries. The Jazzberries played extensively in Paris and throughout Europe until they disbanded in 2000.

According to several news accounts and biographies, Connelly was one of the love interests of Frank Sinatra, as detailed in the bio Sinatra : The Life by Anthony Summers and other books.