Disney's Original Tinker Bell Is Still TapDancing at 96 Years Old Virginia ChamleeNovember 23, 2025 at 3:00 AM 0 Courtesy Everett Collection; Bobby Bank/Getty Image of Tinker Bell in 1953's 'Peter Pan,' Margaret Kerry The actress who played the original Tinker Bell in Disney's animated Peter Pan is still putting on her dancing shoes at 96 years old Margaret Kerry served as a liveaction reference model for Tinker Bell in Disney's animated movie, which was released in 1953 She recently appeared at an Andy Griffith Show celebration, taking to the stage to tap dance to the show's theme song The ac...
- - Disney's Original Tinker Bell Is Still Tap-Dancing at 96 Years Old
Virginia ChamleeNovember 23, 2025 at 3:00 AM
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Courtesy Everett Collection; Bobby Bank/Getty
Image of Tinker Bell in 1953's 'Peter Pan,' Margaret Kerry -
The actress who played the original Tinker Bell in Disney's animated Peter Pan is still putting on her dancing shoes at 96 years old
Margaret Kerry served as a live-action reference model for Tinker Bell in Disney's animated movie, which was released in 1953
She recently appeared at an Andy Griffith Show celebration, taking to the stage to tap dance to the show's theme song
The actress who played the original Tinker Bell in Disney's animated Peter Pan is not slowing down, even at 96 years old.
Margaret Kerry served as a live-action reference model for Tinker Bell in Disney's 1953 animated adventure fantasy. She would go on to act in other roles, such as Bess Muggins in The Andy Griffith Show, several episodes of The Little Rascals and in 1956's The Lone Ranger.
In a recent interview with Woman's World, Kerry spoke about her career while appearing at Mayberry Days, an annual Andy Griffith Show celebration, telling the outlet: "Oh, I'll be tap dancing on Saturday night."
Later that evening, she surprised the audience by doing exactly that — tap dancing to the theme song of The Andy Griffith Show.
Mike FANOUS/Gamma-Rapho via Getty
Margaret Kerry
YouTube videos from past years' Mayberry Days events show Kerry tap dancing with plenty of energy on stage.
Speaking to Wilma Magazine ahead of the event, Kerry said she still loves attending the annual festival and similar events despite her age.
"I travel all over the country attending celebrity and collector shows where I get to meet people and they meet me," she said. "I giggle and laugh and have a grand time. It is fabulous. I also give talks to schoolchildren about using their imagination. And I give talks to groups."
Born Peggy Lynch, she ultimately took Margaret Kerry as a stage name after a fellow entertainer told her her real name had "no fizz," per Woman's World.
She wed her first husband, Dick Brown, in 1951, but they split in 1984. She later tied the knot with John Wilcox in 1987. The two remained married until he died in 1999.
Following two decades as a widow, she reconnected with a man named Robert Boeke, whom she had briefly dated when she was young but had not seen in seven decades.
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Boeke, a World War II veteran, was traveling in Amsterdam to attend the 75th anniversary of D-Day when he spotted a shop called Tinkerbell's Toys. After telling his friends that he had once dated Tinker Bell herself, they did some research and found Kerry's email address.
Kerry tells Woman's World she "remembered him immediately," and the two reconnected on the phone before Boeke drove eight hours to see her three weeks later.
"I'd been a widow for 20 years. I wasn't thinking of getting together with anyone," Kerry told the outlet, adding that "it was love at second sight" when the two finally met again.
It was Kerry who proposed, and the two married on Valentine's Day 2020.
Speaking to Woman's World, Kerry says of her now-husband: "He still drives. Does the best left-hand turns I've ever seen. He cooks, too. And he has a Costco card — which I can use."
on People
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: November 22, 2025 at 06:45PM on Source: MARIO MAG
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