Peg Phillips Biography

Fast Facts

• Founded a program called Theatre Inside at the Echo Glen juvenile correctional facility to use drama to teach cooperation and image building
• Considered to have a late start with her acting career, she began taking acting classes at the age of 65 after retiring from a career as an accountant
• Quote: "(On working with young juvenile offenders) "There's nothing better for a person's damaged self-esteem than to get up in front of people and have them applaud․""
• Quote: "(When questioned about the heartbreaking events of her life Peg) "You've got to live while you live․ Can't sit around waiting to die․""
• The role she is best known for on Northern Exposure was supposed to be recurring, but her portrayal of the fiesty character was so well received that she quickly became a regular cast member
• In keeping with her forthright but funny persona, she wore blue jeans, suspenders and sandals to an Emmy award ceremony in which she was a nominee, and when asked who designed her outfit replied "Me․"
• When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Phillips was a Navy wife in the Territory of Hawaii