Peggy King, George Gobel Show Singer, Dies at 96

Peggy King, the singer and television star of the 1950s, died on Sunday, October 25, 2026, at the age of 96. Her publicist, Alan Eicher, confirmed her death to Variety. She died at the Saunders House assisted living facility in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, following a battle with Alzheimer's disease.

King was best known as the resident vocalist on The George Gobel Show, where she appeared from 1954 to 1957. Host George Gobel introduced her musical numbers and gave her the nickname Pretty Perky Peggy King, which stayed with her for the rest of her career. The weekly variety program was one of the biggest hits of early television, and King sang on it while it sat at the top of the NBC schedule.

A voice of early television

King was born on February 16, 1930, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Ravenna High School in Ohio and began singing on radio in Cleveland. She then sang with the big bands of Charlie Spivak, Ray Anthony and Ralph Flanagan before moving into television and records.

In 1952 she signed a contract with MGM. The deal led to a singing cameo in the film The Bad and the Beautiful, in which she performed Don't Blame Me, and she later appeared in the 1955 film Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy. Mitch Miller then signed her to a long term contract with Columbia Records, where she made two best selling albums, Wish Upon a Star and Girl Meets Boy. DownBeat and Billboard named her best new singer for 1955 to 1956. Composer Arthur Hamilton wrote Cry Me a River for King, but Miller would not let her record it, and she performed the song throughout her career instead.

Emmy and Oscar nights

King was nominated for an Emmy Award for best female singer in 1955. That same year she performed Count Your Blessings at the Academy Awards, and in 1958 she returned to the Emmy Awards as a co-host of the broadcast.

Her list of television appearances covers the variety circuit of the decade. She appeared on Bob Hope's Chevy Show, American Bandstand, The Steve Allen Show, The Kraft Music Hall with Milton Berle, What's My Line, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Perry Como Show, The Garry Moore Show and The Jack Benny Program. Her acting credits included roles on Maverick and Dragnet, the television musical Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates opposite Tab Hunter, a television version of Jack and the Beanstalk with Joel Grey, Celeste Holm and Cyril Ritchard, and the role of a stewardess in the 1957 thriller Zero Hour.

In 2010, King was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame. She is survived by her daughter, Suzy Rudofker, and her son-in-law, Dwain Goforth.