Tinker Bell Model Margaret Kerry Passes Away at 97

Margaret Kerry, known as the model for Disney’s Tinker Bell, passed away on June 11, 2026 at 97 years old.

Margaret Kerry

Born Peggy Lynch, Kerry appeared in several film and television roles. She was chosen by animator Marc Davis to pantomime for Tinker Bell in Peter Pan (1953). Kerry performed the role for cameras on an empty stage with props like a giant keyhole and scissors, providing integral movement reference for the animators.

Kerry also provided reference movements and voiced the red-headed mermaid.

She was a producer, writer, and host of What’s Up Weekly – Ministry Loves Company on KKLA-FM from 1992 and 2004. She published her autobiography, Tinker Bell Talks: Tales of a Pixie Dusted Life, in 2016. In 2019, she self-published the booklet They All Look Alike To Me about her experience with prosopagnosia a.k.a. face blindness.

For the 100th anniversary of The Walt Disney Company, the ballet shoes Kerry wore as Tinker Bell were displayed at The Walt Disney Family Museum. The museum conducted an interview with Kerry about her experience, below.