Irene Dailey, a late-blooming actress perhaps best known for her roles in television soap operas and for her portrayal of the quick-witted, sensitive mother, Nettie Cleary, in the 1964 Tony Award-winning drama “The Subject Was Roses,” died on Sept. 24 in Santa Rosa, Calif. She was 88 and lived in Guerneville, Calif.
The cause was colon cancer, her friend Arleen Lorrance said.
From 1974 to 1986, and then again from 1988 to 1994, Miss Dailey played Liz Matthews in ANOTHER WORLD — an upper-class-bred matriarch of a middle-class family dealing with the convolutions of life in the fictional town of Bay City. For that role, Miss Dailey won a Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding actress in 1979.
For a year, in 1969, Miss Dailey played a role in the crime-mystery soap opera THE EDGE OF NIGHT. Her many other television credits included appearances on shows like BEN CASEY, DR. KILDARE, THE TWILIGHT ZONE and THE DEFENDERS. Miss Dailey’s film credits include roles in No Way to Treat a Lady, Five Easy Pieces and The Amityville Horror.
It was only after appearing in a long series of Broadway flops that, in 1964, Miss Dailey received critical acclaim in the United States. It was for her portrayal of the mother in Frank D. Gilroy’s three-character drama, “The Subject Was Roses.” The play dealt with an incompatible couple’s love for their 21-year-old son (with Jack Albertson as the father and Martin Sheen as the son) after the son returns after three years in the Army.
“Miss Dailey’s Nettie is a luminous creation,” Howard Taubman wrote in The New York Times. “She can suggest hurt and desiccation with a stricken glance. Wearing a plain hat and coat and holding her purse, she can turn to walk out of her apartment so that her back conveys her utter defeat and despair.”
Miss Dailey was born in New York City on Sept. 12, 1920, the daughter of Daniel and Helen Ryan Dailey. Her father was the manager of the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan. Her brother Dan Dailey gained fame as a song-and-dance man and Hollywood actor.
At 8, Irene Dailey was dancing in vaudeville, and at 18 she was working in summer stock. With consistent bad luck, she kept winning parts in what she once said were 13 of Broadway’s worst shows. “Miss Lonelyhearts,” for example, had a nine-day run.
Miss Dailey ran a lampshade store and worked as a waitress while making the Broadway rounds. Then, in 1960, she tried her luck in London. She was the 47th actress to try out for the lead in “Tomorrow — With Pictures,” about an American woman trying to take over a British newspaper empire. She got the part and drew rave reviews.
“Every plummy-voiced English rose of an imitation actress should be dragged to see Miss Dailey,” The Daily Express critic wrote. “She sweats love, breathes hate, weeps desire.”
In an interview with Time magazine at the time, Miss Dailey said: “I shall be 40 in September. I have nothing, really nothing. I’m not married. I have no children.”
“All I really care about is the theater,” she continued. “But now, for the first time, I know in my stomach that my work is good.”
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In addition, *welovesoaps* is featuring Amy's video of Aunt Liz/Mac/Rachel among their "The Latest in Soap Videos" segment today ~
Frankly, I cannot imagine *BayCity* without *Liz Matthews*.
As much as I thought Audra Lindley was *Liz*,
when Irene assumed the role our meddling busybody took
on an entirely new life. I always wished tptw would have
given our gal a love interest of her own, but it may have
softened her judgemental edge too much. She was the
perfect long~suffering lonely gal. I think she loved both
*Jim* & *Mac*...and we know how they felt about her.
Love that she played a character named "Nettie".
Thank you Miss Dailey for taking us away to Another World.
I saw that and forgot to comment, so thanks for reminding me! Also, I heard of Dan Dailey but never made the connection to Irene.
I still remember (from 1988) when she spilled the beans to Matthew about Rachel/Mitch/Janice/Mac. And also, how she tipped Mac off to the fact that Sam Fowler was Mitch's brother.
A _________________ "Linda [Dano] is a parade looking for an event." ~ John Bolger (Gabe McNamara)
Bay City definitely wouldn't have been the same without Aunt Liz, and for me there's only one: Irene Dailey. Sure, she was a nosy busybody who often told people things that it wasn't her place to tell (like Matthew about his paternity or, in 1981, telling Cecile that Mac had just changed his will in the hospital after the hostage crisis at the cabin), but as strange as it will sound, especially coming from me, they needed her to be there, not just a character like her, but her.
And since Audra Lindley will always be *Mrs. Roper* to me, Irene Dailey is the one and only Aunt Liz.
Thank you so much for posting this news. How sad that we have lost both Ms. Dailey and Beverlee McKinsey in the same year.
At one point, there were some classic AW scenes of Ms. Dailey on You Tube. The first was with the late Douglass Watson. Liz broke down in Mac's arms while exclaiming that nobody had time for her, or something to that effect. The other powerful scene was when Liz broke up a very physical confrontation between Victoria Wyndham's Rachel and Jacquie Courtney's Alice. I would love to see both of those scenes restored to You Tube in memory of Irene Dailey.
Irene Dailey – Aunt Liz – NBC's Another World.
I was very sad to hear about Irene Daily's death (NYT, Theatre Section). As I reflect on her life and my friendship with her, I only remember laughter, her energy and her willingness to help and to teach. She was a wonderful lady. The only thing you can hope for is that when you go, the people who remain smile when they think of you... and today, I'm smiling when I think of Irene.
A _________________ "Linda [Dano] is a parade looking for an event." ~ John Bolger (Gabe McNamara)
My deepest sympathy to all of Irene's
family and friends. I treasure the many
years "Liz" visited me through AW and
will continue with watching those episodes
again and again.
Chase
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