Peggy Cummins, at 92, ‘Gun Crazy’ actress

Peggy Cummins, who starred in the film noir classic “Gun Crazy,” died Dec. 29 in a London hospital after suffering a stroke, her longtime friend Dee Kirkwood, a fellow trustee of Stars Foundation for Cerebral Palsy, told The Hollywood Reporter. She was 92.

The actress played a carnival sharpshooter-turned-murderous bank robber in the 1950 flick. The petite, blond Irish actress was bestknown for her role in the sexually charged film noir classic, but she also starred in “Green Grass of Wyoming” (1948) with Charles Coburn and in Jacques Tourneur’s British horror classic “Curse of the Demon” (1957).

She also had lead roles in “Moss Rose” (1947) and “Escape” (1948).

Ms. Cummins moved to America in 1954 and was cast for the lead in 20th Century Fox’s “Forever Amber,” but was replaced by Linda Darnell.

In the low-budget “Gun Crazy,” she portrayed Annie Laurie Starr, a career traveling performer who engages in a shooting competition with Barton Tare (John Dall) before later marrying him and going on a crime spree with him.

“Peggy’s performance, her Hollywood swan song, would galvanize the ‘Gun Crazy’ production and earn her lasting fame as the tiniest, but most ferocious, femme fatale in the history of film noir,” author Eddie Muller said in July as he introduced the film on Turner Classic Movies. Muller wrote the 2014 book “Gun Crazy: The Origin of American Outlaw Cinema,” The Hollywood Reporter reported.

Ms. Cummins retired from acting in the mid-1960s.

She married the late Derek Dunnet, a London businessman, in 1950. She is survived by her son David and daughter Diana.