Hollyweird: Baby Peggy

Child actors have always had it hard. Just take Danny Bonaduce's (post-Partridge Family) alleged assault of a prostitute and alcoholism as one example. It seems that a good proportion of them end up in trouble of one kind or another.

In the 1920s, the heyday of the silent movie, parents were unaware of the perils of child stardom. So when director Fred Fishback spotted 19-month-old Baby Peggy sitting on a stool on the set of his film Playmates, her parents jumped at the chance to see her cast alongside Brownie the Wonder Dog.

Baby Peggy (real name Peggy-Jean Montgomery) went on to become Hollywood's first child star, appearing in scores of slapstick comedies and classic fairy-tales. She set the standard for child stars to come, first by trailblazing a path to success and then with a nervous breakdown. Working eight-hour days, receiving sporadic schooling and performing her own stunts (she once fainted after being held under water) would now be considered child cruelty. Peggy made millions of dollars, which her parents squandered, and her child star career ended in 1925.

She returned briefly to the screen in the 1930s, but then broke with her parents' wishes and became a writer, book publisher and Hollywood historian.