In a dream-like scene, Margaret Kerry, the real face of the famous Disney fairy “Tinker Bell,” returned to the stage during the celebration of “The Andy Griffith Show,” to amaze the audience with her grace, as she performed the “tap” dance to the tunes of the series’ theme song, as if time had stopped at her first youth.
Kerry, who in 1953 was the living model for Tinker Bell’s movements in the movie (Peter Pan), still maintains her artistic spark today. Her acting presence extended to prominent works, including the role of Bess Muggins in the series (The Andy Griffith Show), and her appearance in episodes of (The Little Rascals) and the movie (The Lone Ranger) in 1956.
In an interview with (Woman’s World) magazine during her participation in the (Mayberry Days) event, the annual celebration dedicated to (The Andy Griffith Show), she announced with a smile: “I will dance “tap” on Saturday night”… a promise she fulfilled literally hours later, surprising the audience with a lively show that did not look like her age.
Tinker Bell and Peter Pan (Internet)
Before her participation, she told Wilma Magazine that visiting these annual events still gives her special pleasure: “I travel the country to participate in celebrity and collector shows. I laugh and giggle and enjoy every moment. It is wonderful.” She continues: “I also give lectures to schoolchildren about the power of imagination, and I speak in front of different groups.” She was born Peggy Lynch, before adopting the name Margaret Kerry after she was told that her original name was “lack of sparkle.”
Margaret Kerry, who played the fairy Tinker Bell (Internet)
In her personal life, Kerry married Dick Brown in 1951, then they separated in 1984, then she was married to John Wilcox in 1987 until his death in 1999.
After twenty years of widowhood, fate reconnected what had been broken between her and Robert Bucky, the man she had dated in her youth and whom she had not seen for seventy years. Bucky, a war veteran, was in Amsterdam during the 75th anniversary of D-Day when he spotted a store called Tinkerbell’s Toys. He told his friends that he once dated Tinker Bell, so they searched for her email.
The original version of Disney’s Tinker Bell (online).
Kerry says she “remembered him immediately.” They talked on the phone, and three weeks later Bucky drove eight hours to see her. “I wasn’t thinking about getting engaged,” she says, “but the meeting was love at second sight.”
With the boldness of a lover, Kerry was the one who proposed, and they were married on Valentine’s Day 2020.
She concludes with a mischievous smile: “My husband drives the car brilliantly, makes the best left-hand turns. He also cooks. He has a COSCO card… I can use it.”
