Peggy Webber, whose remarkable entertainment career stretched across nearly seven decades, has died of natural causes at a care facility in Napa, California. She was 100. Born in Laredo, Texas, in 1925, Webber discovered acting at an early age and made her radio debut when she was only 12.
During radio’s golden age, Webber became known for her extraordinary versatility. She reportedly portrayed around 150 different characters across roughly 2,500 broadcasts in just three years. Her credits included The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and in 1944 she played Ilsa in a radio adaptation of Casablanca, taking on the character made famous on screen by Ingrid Bergman.
Webber later expanded into movies and television, working with legendary filmmakers including Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock. She appeared as Lady Macduff in Welles’ 1948 Macbeth, had a role in Hitchcock’s The Wrong Man, and became memorable to horror audiences through the 1958 film The Screaming Skull. Despite her Hollywood career, radio remained especially important to her.
In 1984, Webber founded the California Artists Radio Theatre to help preserve radio drama for future generations, continuing to perform well into her later years. Her century-long life leaves behind an extraordinary legacy spanning radio, film, television and theater—a career remembered not only for its longevity, but for her lifelong commitment to storytelling and the art of performance.
