Peggy McCay

Peggy McCay
McCay on Ben Casey (in 1964)
Born	New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1949–present

Peggy Ann McCay is an American actress whose career began in 1949, and includes soap operas, television, and feature films. She is best known for playing Caroline Brady, a role she originated and has played since February 1983 on the long-running NBC drama, Days of our Lives.

Biography

The Manhattan-born McCay was the only child of a construction company owner who specialized in building schools. She attended St. Walburga's Convent School and Barnard College, graduating from the latter in June 1949.^[1] After graduation, she joined impresaria Margo Jones's Texas-based theatre company and graduated to repertory, where she essayed numerous roles. She also studied with Lee Strasberg in New York, later helping to set up Strasberg's West Coast studio. One of her first off-Broadway roles was in a production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, opposite Franchot Tone; they reprised their roles in the 1957 film version of the play.^[2]

McCay accepted her first major role as the heroine Vanessa Dale on the soap opera Love of Life, which premiered in 1951. After four years, she left in 1955 to pursue other options. She was soon cast in an episode of the CBS anthology series, Appointment with Adventure. She appeared in four feature films in the late 1950s before landing a lead role in 1962 in the television series Room for One More as "Anna Perrott Rose", who had written a memoir about her family life as a foster mother. In 1962, McCay starred in the feature film, Lad, A Dog.^[3] She guest starred in The Greatest Show on Earth, and Jason Evers's Channing, both on ABC (1963–1964).

McCay returned to daytime television in 1964 as one of the leads in ABC's The Young Marrieds. When the show went off the air in 1966, she was written into the storyline on ABC's other daytime soap, General Hospital, as "Iris Fairchild" until 1970. In the 1970s, McCay appeared in Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years, How the West Was Won and The Lazarus Syndrome. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she had a recurring role as Marion Hume in the CBS drama Lou Grant.

She may best be known as matriarch Caroline Brady on Days of our Lives. First appearing on the program in February 1983, she signed a long-term contract with the serial in 1985 and has appeared on a regular basis ever since.^{[citation needed]}

Awards

She was nominated for Daytime Emmy Awards in 1986 and 1987, and in 1991 won a Primetime Emmy Award for her guest starring role on The Trials of Rosie O'Neill as Irene Hayes in the episode "State of Mind".^[4]

Personal life

McCay has never married or had children.

Selected filmography

• Second Thoughts (1983)

References

External links

• Peggy McCay at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website
• "SOAP STAR STATS: Peggy McCay (Caroline, Days of our Lives)". SoapOperaDigest.com. http://www.soapoperadigest.com/soapstarstats/peggymccaybio/. Retrieved January 21, 2010.