Dominic Florentino: Who is Peggy Moran?

Peggy Moran: That's what I wonder. Who is she really? I haven't the vaguest idea. (Laughs)

What was your childhood like?

My mother and father were divorced when I was five. My mother wanted to come out here because she used to dance with the Ruth Saint Dennis dancers and she always loved California. Anyway, my mother and her girlfriend wanted to have their fortune told. When you don't know what life is about women always want their fortunes told. At that time there was a physic, or fortune-teller, in Hollywood called Darios. He became famous because he had predicted Rudolf Valentino's death. So they said "Wouldn't it be fun if we could go and have him tell our fortunes?" So we went clear downtown, found his office, went in and they tried to get an appointment with him and they couldn't. He was all booked up and too popular by that time so they went out of his office and we were sitting in the hallway figuring out where to go. Weather to go right home or what, and suddenly Darios himself came out of his office and started to walk down the hall and as he came to as far as we were he suddenly came over, put his hand under my chin and said, "Ah, an actress." Well, as I say I don't believe, really, in fortune telling or anything like that but I was a child and, being a child, I didn't know weather he was supposed to be predicting my future or what. Except that as a child I believed him. I thought he was stating a fact. So from that time on I thought I was going to grow up and be an actress.

Do you believe in destiny?

Well, I think we make our own destiny by our beliefs. Change your attitude, your consciousness, because that's what you are going to attract. Did you like horror films when you were young? I loved King Kong with Fay Wray. That was one of my favorite pictures. I admired Fay. I thought Fay Wray was so beautiful. I remember later I went to a party and she was there and I sat at her feet and said, 'You were my favorite actress', and I told her how much I worshiped her.

And weren't you also a fan of Fredric March? He was amazing in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Oh, I adored him. When I was little I had every conceivable size picture of him on my walls. When I would see his pictures I was right in the story with him. When he suffered, I suffered. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde -- I even suffered with him in that even though he turned into this monster. I later was walking down the street at Universal and I hear somebody calling behind me, "Hey! Hey!" and I turn around and there was Fredric March standing in his dressing room up there. I looked to see who he was yelling at and he said, "I mean you, you." Well, of course they had all told him that I was there and how I felt about him.

Charles Laughton?

Charles Laughton I knew very well. We were very great friends. In fact we were his first audience when he did readings. He used to sit down, we had this low coffee table, and he would read everything to us from Alice in Wonderland to Shakespeare, everything. He made everything seem so charming. Later he did this foursome with Tyrone Power, Agnes Moorehead; there were four of them that went traveling all over the country doing readings like this. We were his first audience, I remember that. He was married to Elsa Lanchester.

What kind of person was Charles Laughton?

He was funny. When he had an audience, or a part to do, he was very outgoing. But, in person, when he didn't have a part to act he was kind of shy and a little funny, different acting. Not with us personally though.