Margaret "Peg" Phillips was a retired accountant when she began taking
acting classes at age 65. In 1990 she was cast in the role of Ruth-Anne
Miller, the shop keeper in the series
Northern Exposure (1990). The role was supposed to
be only intermittent, but Peg's portrayal won the hearts of viewers,
and Ruth-Anne became a regular role. In addition to
Northern Exposure (1990), Peg
appeared with
Shirley MacLaine in
Waiting for the Light (1990) and TV movies
How the West Was Fun (1994) and
Chase (1985), and
guest appearances in
7th Heaven (1996),
Touched by an Angel (1994), and
ER (1994), and a number of
commercials. Born in Everett, Washington, Peg overcame polio,
peritonitis, a ruptured aorta, and, at age 81, a broken hip and wrist
from being hit by a car. A smoker since age 13, Peg Phillips died of
lung disease in a suburban Seattle care center. She was
84.