Margaret Kerry obit

Margaret Kerry Dies: Model For Disney’s Animated Tinker Bell Was 97

 She was not on the list.

Margaret Kerry, the early sitcom actor and dancer who modeled the movements and expressions for Disney animators as they drew Peter Pan‘s pixie Tinker Bell into being, died of lung cancer on Thursday, June 11, in Wilmington, North Carolina. She was 97.

Her death was announced by her family in a Facebook message.

“It is with profound sadness that we share news of the passing of Margaret Kerry (Boeke), our beloved Tinker Bell,” reads the statement. “Margaret passed peacefully into the arms of Jesus on June 11, 2026, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Her three adoring children, Ellen, Christina and Eric, were with her as she lost her courageous battle with lung cancer at the age of ninety-seven.”

“And remember,” the statement continues, “on any given night, look up into the night sky and search for that ‘Second Star to the Right’. Upon closer look, you might just notice that star shining a little brighter in Margaret’s honor. With love to an irreplaceable friend, talented entertainer and loving mother.”

Born Margaret McCarty on May 11, 1929, in Springfield, Illinois, Kerry lost her mother during childbirth and, along with two siblings, was placed for adoption. At age three, she and her adoptive parents moved to Los Angeles.

By the mid- to late-1930s Kerry was working as a child actor, with small roles in such films as A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Television work followed, with a 1950 appearance on The Lone Ranger and, in the early 1960s, two episodes of The Andy Griffith Show.

Her most significant TV roles was as a regular cast member of the early ABC family sitcom The Ruggles (1949-1952). She played the college-age Sharon Ruggles, daughter of star Charlie Ruggles (for whom the series and its family were named).

Kerry also had an early and successful career as a voice actor, with credits including the 1959 cartoon Clutch Cargo and, in 1962, Space Angel and, in 1965, Captain Fathom. All three shows are remembered today for the sometimes bizarre-looking practice of superimposing real human mouths on the animated characters’ faces.

Kerry’s signature, if virtually offscreen, role arrived in the early 1950s when she auditioned at Disney Studios for Peter Pan, the film that would become an animated classic upon its release in 1953. Although Hollywood lore would often have Marilyn Monroe as the inspiration for the blonde pixie Tinker Bell – the bombshell icon might indeed have provided some visual inspiration for the curvy fairy – Kerry was without question the primary source, a reference model performing the movements and facial expressions for the loyal, if mischievous, sidekick to Peter Pan.

The Tinker Bell character, with pointy little wings and a short green strapless dress with a hemline resembling the leaves of a flower, would prove so popular that she became Disney’s de facto mascot right along with Mickey Mouse. It was the flying Tinker Bell, with fairy dust trailing, that opened episodes of Disney’s classic The Wonderful World of Disney anthology series.

Kerry published her autobiography Tinker Bell Talks: Tales of a Pixie Dusted Life in 2016, and worked as a motivational speaker later in life. From 1992 to 2004 she was a producer, writer and host of a Christian radio program for Los Angeles’ KKLA-FM.

Kerry’s first marriage to The Ruggles director Dick Brown ended in divorce, and a second marriage with John Wilcox ended with his death in 1999. In 2020, she married Robert Boeke, a former boyfriend from the 1940s with whom she’d recently reconnected; he died this year on May 24.

 

Actress

Before There Were Rings (2020)

Before There Were Rings

Short

Nana

2020

 

Public Access (1993)

Public Access

5.3

Marge

1993

 

The New 3 Stooges (1965)

The New 3 Stooges

7.0

TV Series

Good Little BoyHousewifeMother (uncredited) ...

1965

48 episodes

 

Space Angel (1962)

Space Angel

6.1

TV Series

Crystal MaceEvil Queen ZoraJohnny Kendell ...

1962–1964

52 episodes

 

Ron Howard, Frances Bavier, and Andy Griffith in The Andy Griffith Show (1960)

The Andy Griffith Show

8.4

TV Series

Bess MugginsHelen Scobey

1960–1961

2 episodes

 

Clutch Cargo (1959)

Clutch Cargo

5.7

TV Series

SpinnerPaddlefootDoctor Assistant ...

1959

52 episodes

 

Summer Theatre

6.5

TV Series

1953

1 episode

 

June Foray, Kathryn Beaumont, Tony Butala, Candy Candido, Paul Collins, Hans Conried, Bobby Driscoll, Robert Ellis, Connie Hilton, Margaret Kerry, Tommy Luske, John Wilder, Jeffrey Silver, and Stuffy Singer in Peter Pan (1953)

Peter Pan

7.2

Mermaid (voice, uncredited)

1953

 

The Ruggles (1949)

The Ruggles

7.4

TV Series

Sharon Ruggles

1949–1952

137 episodes

 

Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels in The Lone Ranger (1949)

The Lone Ranger

7.7

TV Series

Jane Carter

1950

1 episode

 

David Bruce, Adeline De Walt Reynolds, Charles Halton, Gloria Holden, Robert Emmett Keane, Margaret Kerry, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Lockhart, Anne O'Neal, Arthur Stone, Kent Taylor, and Emmett Vogan in The Sickle or the Cross (1949)

The Sickle or the Cross

5.9

Betty Deems

1949

 

Scott Brady in Canon City (1948)

Canon City

6.5

Maxine Smith

1948

 

Eddie Cantor and Joan Davis in If You Knew Susie (1948)

If You Knew Susie

5.9

Marjorie Parker

1948

 

Bing Crosby in The Star Maker (1939)

The Star Maker

6.3

Chorus Member (as Peggy Lynch)

1939

 

George 'Spanky' McFarland, Billy Mindy, and Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer in Aladdin's Lantern (1938)

Aladdin's Lantern

6.5

Short

Tap Dancer (uncredited)

1938

 

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

7.0

Schoolgirl (uncredited)

1938

 

Darla Hood, Eugene 'Porky' Lee, George 'Spanky' McFarland, and Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer in The Pinch Singer (1936)

The Pinch Singer

6.9

Short

Call-in voter (as Peggy Lynch)

1936

 

James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, Mickey Rooney, Hugh Herbert, Ross Alexander, Joe E. Brown, Frank McHugh, Jean Muir, Dick Powell, and Max Reinhardt in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)

A Midsummer Night's Dream

6.8

Fairy (uncredited)

1935

 

Teacher's Beau (1935)

Teacher's Beau

7.3

Short

Student (as Peggy Lynch)

1935

 

Additional Crew

TinkerBellTalks.Com Video (2014)

TinkerBellTalks.Com Video

Short

creative consultant (uncredited)

2014

 

June Foray, Kathryn Beaumont, Tony Butala, Candy Candido, Paul Collins, Hans Conried, Bobby Driscoll, Robert Ellis, Connie Hilton, Margaret Kerry, Tommy Luske, John Wilder, Jeffrey Silver, and Stuffy Singer in Peter Pan (1953)

Peter Pan

7.2

live action model: Mermaidlive action model: Tinker Bell (uncredited, uncredited)

1953

 

Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp, and Jackie 'Butch' Jenkins in National Velvet (1944)

National Velvet

7.3

stand-in: Miss Taylor (uncredited)

1944

 

Soundtrack

Eddie Cantor and Joan Davis in If You Knew Susie (1948)

If You Knew Susie

5.9

performer: "My Brooklyn Love Song" (1948)

1948

 

Thanks

Chi-Walt (2016)

Chi-Walt

Short

special thanks

2016

 

You Can Fly!: The Making of Walt Disney's Masterpiece 'Peter Pan' (1998)

You Can Fly!: The Making of Walt Disney's Masterpiece 'Peter Pan'

6.8

Video

thanks (as Margaret Kerry-Wilcox)

1998

 

Self

Mears - How One Woman Changed American Christianity (2025)

Mears - How One Woman Changed American Christianity

Self

2025

 

Hollywood Icons

TV Series

Self

2021

1 episode

 

Eli Austin in The Mayberry Effect (2021)

The Mayberry Effect

7.2

Self

2021

 

Stay 'Tooned! LIVE (2020)

Stay 'Tooned! LIVE

TV Series

Self

2020

1 episode

 

47th Annie Awards (2020)

47th Annie Awards

TV Special

SelfSelf - Paddlefoot

2020

 

Margaret Kerry Tinker Bell Talks

Self

2020

 

Dizney Coast to Coast (2014)

Dizney Coast to Coast

TV Series

Self

2019

1 episode

 

Tim Drake in On the Mic Podcast with Tim Drake (2013)

On the Mic Podcast with Tim Drake

Podcast Series

Self

2018

1 episode

 

The Tiara Talk Show (2013)

The Tiara Talk Show

1.4

TV Series

Self - Guest

2016

1 episode

 

The Nation's Favourite Disney Song (2015)

The Nation's Favourite Disney Song

6.2

TV Movie

Self - Tinker Bell, Peter Pan

2015

 

Stu's Show (2006)

Stu's Show

6.4

Podcast Series

Self - Guest

2013

1 episode

 

Chronicles of Comic Con (2012)

Chronicles of Comic Con

8.1

TV Series

Self

2013

1 episode

 

The DizRadio Show (2010)

The DizRadio Show

Podcast Series

Self - Guest

2010

1 episode

 

Tinker Bell: A Fairy's Tale (2007)

Tinker Bell: A Fairy's Tale

7.6

Video

Self

2007

 

Breakfast (2000)

Breakfast

5.2

TV Series

Self

2007

1 episode

 

The 100 Greatest Family Films (2005)

The 100 Greatest Family Films

7.2

TV Movie

Self

2005

 

You Can Fly!: The Making of Walt Disney's Masterpiece 'Peter Pan' (1998)

You Can Fly!: The Making of Walt Disney's Masterpiece 'Peter Pan'

6.8

Video

Self - Model for 'Tinker Bell'

1998

 

Light Magic at Disneyland: A Spectacular Journey

TV Special

Self

1997

 

Archive Footage

TinkerBellTalks.Com Video (2014)

TinkerBellTalks.Com Video

Short

Self (archive footage)

2014

 

WatchMojo (2006)

WatchMojo

5.5

TV Series

Self - Mermaid (archive footage, voice)

2014

1 episode

 

Classic Comedy Teams (1986)

Classic Comedy Teams

7.5

Video

Self - Receptionist (archive footage, segment "The Three Stooges")

1986