Loading AI tools
American actress From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Margherita Maria Francesca LaCentra[1] (April 10, 1910 – June 1, 1996)[2] was an American contralto[3] singer, best known for her work on old-time radio and her singing with Artie Shaw's orchestra. She also performed as Barbara Fulton.
Peg LaCentra | |
|---|---|
Publicity Photo of Peg LaCentra | |
| Born | Margherita Maria Francesca LaCentra April 10, 1910 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | June 1, 1996 (aged 86) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Barbara Fulton |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, actress |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Born on 10 April 1910 in Boston,[4] LaCentra studied at the Fenway Academy of Dramatic Art and the New England Conservatory of Music[5] and graduated from Katharine Gibbs College.[6]
LaCentra worked as an announcer at WNAC[6] and performed on WBZ radio in Boston[7] before moving to New York in 1931 to work on network radio broadcasts.[2] She performed on NBC programs, including Beauty Box Theater, Circus Night in Silvertown, and Lucky Smith.[5]
In 1934, LaCentra was billed as Barbara Fulton when she sang with Leo Reisman's orchestra on radio. Use of the pseudonym was necessary because Reisman's sponsor was a competitor of the one for which she sang on another program.[8] In December 1934, she began singing with Harry Reser and his orchestra on a new weekly program on NBC.[9]
In 1935, a group of five radio stars selected LaCentra and Bob Lawrence to star in a new program, The Radio City Party, on NBC-Blue.[10] Also in 1935, she was the leading lady on Max Baer's radio program.[11] She gained her own program, The Peg LaCentra Show, on NBC in 1938,[12] a year in which she also sang on For Men Only on NBC.[13]
LaCentra was one of the stars of the Gulden's Mustard Serenade, a 15-minute variety show broadcast on NBC twice weekly in 1940.[14] She and singer Jerry Wayne co-starred in a twice-weekly musical program on CBS in 1944.[15] As a dramatic actress, she frequently played supporting roles in Mutual's romantic thriller, The Modern Adventures of Casanova (1952).[13]: 466-467
In addition to her work on network radio, LaCentra recorded programs for NBC's Thesaurus music service.[16]
LaCentra appeared on Broadway as Mrs. Hamilton in The Patriots (1943).[17] In 1957, she appeared in a production of the romantic comedy Janus at the Pasadena Playhouse.[18]
On television, she played Amanda on the CBS comedy series The Marge and Gower Champion Show (1957).[19]
In 1932, LaCentra sang with Phil Spitalny and his orchestra.[3] Her first recording was "The Fortune Teller" (1934) with Johnny Green's orchestra on the Columbia label.[2]
In 1936, LaCentra joined Shaw as a singer for his newly formed orchestra. The two had worked together when she sang on The Mell-O-Roll Ice Cream Show, on which he was a member of the orchestra. In their new relationship, they performed in New York at the Paramount Theater and the Lexington Hotel. She recorded with Shaw for Brunswick records for a year.[2] She also sang with Benny Goodman's orchestra[1] and recorded with Jerry Sears' orchestra for Bluebird Records.[2]
LaCentra was a ghost singer in feature films, dubbing vocal performances for stars including Susan Hayward in Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (1947) and Ida Lupino in The Man I Love (1947).[20] She also appeared in short films,[2] including Broadway Follies, (1937) a series of single-reel musicals from Columbia Pictures,[21] and sang in cafe sequences in Humoresque (1946).[22]
LaCentra married actor Paul Stewart in 1939.[2] For years, they had a commuter marriage, as she worked in New York and he made films in Hollywood.[1]
On June 1, 1996, LaCentra died at age 86 of a heart attack at her home in Los Angeles.[2]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
