University of Oklahoma former President David L. Boren announced in September, 2011 that the OU School of Drama was being named in honor of Peggy Dow Helmerich, a Tulsa civic leader and community volunteer whose acting career included performances in “Harvey” with James Stewart and “Bright Victory” with Arthur Kennedy.
The OU Board of Regents, at its meeting in Tulsa, approved the naming of the Peggy Dow Helmerich School of Drama in honor of Mrs. Helmerich’s strong ties to the school and its students and her longtime support, including a new $2.5 million gift from her and her husband, OU alumnus Walter H. Helmerich III.
“The University of Oklahoma is proud that the name of Peggy Dow Helmerich will forever be linked with our School of Drama,” Boren said. “It is recognition of her distinguished acting career and of the generosity of Peggy Helmerich and her husband, Walter Helmerich III, that have presented so many opportunities for our students.”
Of the Helmerichs’ most recent gift, $2 million is designated for a drama scholarship endowment, which will fund up to 50 new scholarships for drama students each year; and $500,000 will establish an enrichment fund, which will provide funding for activities that will enrich the educational experience of OU drama students.
In 1949, the then-Peggy Dow signed a seven-year contract with Universal Studios and made her debut in the thriller “Undertow.” Her most famous roles were as Nurse Kelly in the classic farce “Harvey” in 1950 and in the war drama “Bright Victory” in 1951. She retired from her acting career after three years to marry Walter Helmerich and settle in Tulsa, where she raised five sons and became an active community volunteer.
In the summer of 2005, when the OU School of Drama produced the play “Harvey,” the school’s director, Tom Huston Orr, asked Mrs. Helmerich to visit with the cast of the play, and that visit led to a lasting connection between Mrs. Helmerich and OU drama students. In 2006, she made gifts totaling $500,000 to create a visiting professorship in drama and a digital video editing and camera acting studio.
OU’s drama school, established in 1927, is one of the oldest university dramatic training institutions in the United States. Only Yale has had a drama training program longer.
With degree tracks in acting, design, dramaturgy, stage management and technical production, OU’s program offers an education that allows students an exceptionally wide range of opportunities for hands-on learning and prepares them for success in the modern drama professions.
In 2011, OU drama students won the largest number of awards of any university in the nation in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
In addition to their support for drama, Mr. and Mrs. Helmerich have made gifts to OU that created endowments to support Bizzell Memorial Library, the Dean of Libraries, and a library garden, as well as capital project contributions to the Wayman Tisdale Specialty Health Clinic at OU-Tulsa, the Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, the Mary and Howard Lester Wing of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, and the renovation of Boyd House.
