Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Dan Dailey

 
Actor: Dan Dailey
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Dec 14, 1917 in New York City, New York
  • Died: Oct 15, 1978 in Los Angeles, California
  • Occupation: Actor, Director
  • Active: '40s-'50s, '70s
  • Major Genres: Musical, Comedy
  • Career Highlights: It's Always Fair Weather, Meet Me at the Fair, When My Baby Smiles at Me
  • First Major Screen Credit: Hullabaloo (1940)

Biography

The son of a hotelier, Dan Dailey began taking dancing lessons at the age of 14. He worked in minstrel shows, vaudeville and burlesque, taking many "joe jobs" during fallow periods. Graduating to Broadway, Dailey was featured in Babes in Arms, Stars in Your Eyes and I Married an Angel. He came to Hollywood in 1940 when he was signed as an MGM contract player. After serving as an officer in World War II, Dailey rose to film stardom in such 20th Century-Fox productions as Mother Wore Tights (1947), A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950) and When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948), for which he won an Oscar nomination. Other top-rank Dan Dailey musical performances can be seen in Universal's Meet Me at the Fair (1952) and MGM's It's Always Fair Weather (1953). The actor's athletic physique and remarkable dexterity won him leading roles in two baseball films, Pride of St Louis (1953) (in which he played Dizzy Dean) and The Kid From Left Field (1953). On television, Dailey starred in three series: Four Just Men (1959), The Governor and JJ (1970), and Farraday and Company (1974). In 1977, Dan Dailey broke his hip while appearing in a touring production of The Odd Couple; he died of acute anemia one year later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Wikipedia: Dan Dailey
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
For the glass artist (born 1947), see Dan Dailey (glass artist).
Dan Dailey
Born Daniel James Dailey
December 14, 1915(1915-12-14)
New York, New York, USA
Died October 16, 1978 (aged 62)
Los Angeles, California, USA
Spouse(s) Esther Rodier (?-1941)
Gwen Carter O'Connor (1955-1960)
Elizabeth Hofert (1942-1951)

Daniel James Dailey Jr. (December 14, 1915 – October 16, 1978) was an American dancer and actor.

Contents

Early life and career

Born in New York City on December 14, 1915,[1] to James J. and Helen Dailey, both born in New York City. He appeared in a minstrel show when very young, and appeared in vaudeville before his Broadway debut in 1937 in Babes in Arms. In 1940, he was signed by MGM to make movies and, although his past career had been in musicals, he was initially cast as a Nazi in The Mortal Storm. However, the people at MGM realized their mistake quickly and cast him in a series of musical films.

He served in the United States Army during World War II, was commissioned as an Army Officer after graduation from Signal OCS at Ft Monmouth, NJ,[2] after which he served with distinction until the war ended. Then returned to more musicals. Beginning with Mother Wore Tights (1947) Dailey became the frequent and favorite co-star of movie legend Betty Grable. His performance in their film When My Baby Smiles at Me in 1948 garnered him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In 1950, he starred in A Ticket to Tomahawk, often noted as one of the first screen appearances of Marilyn Monroe, in a very small part as a dance-hall girl. In 1953, Dailey starred in Meet Me at the Fair. One of his notable roles was in There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) which featured Irving Berlin's music and also starred Ethel Merman, Marilyn Monroe, Donald O'Connor, and Johnnie Ray.

As the musical genre began to wane in the mid-1950s, he moved on to various comedic and dramatic roles, including his television series, The Governor & J.J. and the NBC Mystery Movie series "Faraday & Company". His sister was Another World actress Irene Dailey.

Partial filmography

References

  1. ^ The 1920 census and Dailey's official enlistment record shows that he was born December 14, 1915, not 1913 as is sometimes reported.
  2. ^ Dailey enlisted in the Army shortly after Pearl Harbor. He was selected to attend Signal Corps Officer Candidate School at Ft Monmouth NJ and was assigned there in September 1942. The beginning class had over 1500 candidates. Only 754 of those graduated. Dailey was one of the 754. He was commissioned on Dec 12, 1942 and served until late in 1946 when he was discharged as a Captain.

External links

Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dan Dailey

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 
Learn More
The Get-Away (1941 Crime Film)
The Girl Next Door (1953 Musical Film)
Sunday Punch (1942 Comedy Film)

Who is dan s? Read answer...
What is dans code? Read answer...
Is dan hot? Read answer...

Help us answer these
How many callories do you need dailey?
What is elephants dailey life like?
How cold is Antartica on a dailey basis?

Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

 

Copyrights:

Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Dan Dailey".  Read more