# Irene Dailey

Irene Dailey (September 12, 1920 – September 24, 2008) was an American stage, film, and television actress.

## Early years

Dailey was born on September 12, 1920, in New York City, the daughter of Helen Theresa (née Ryan) and Daniel James Dailey. She had a sister and two brothers, one of whom was actor Dan Dailey. She began appearing in vaudeville at age 8 and performed in summer stock productions in her teenage years. She was a student of Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen.

## Career

By age 42, Dailey had been in "about a dozen Broadway plays", none of which were successful. For 17 of her first 23 years as an actress she worked as a waitress to support herself. During another five-year span she opened a shop on New York's East Side, making and selling lampshades. She also had psychoanalysis to help her deal with her problems.
In 1965, Dailey taught at, and was director of, the School of the Actor's Company in New York.
Dailey received the 1966 Drama Desk Award for her work in Rooms, and played Nettie Cleary in the original Broadway production of the Tony Award-winning drama, The Subject Was Roses (1964). Other Broadway credits included Idiot's Delight, The Good Woman of Szechwan, and You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running.
In 1969, Dailey joined the cast of the long-running CBS serial The Edge of Night as Pamela Stewart, the vindictive wife of Nicole Drake's ex-husband Duane who stabbed Stephanie Martin to death. In 1971 she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre. Dailey later joined the cast of Another World in 1974 as the fourth actress to play the role of family matriarch Liz Matthews. While other members of the Matthews family were written out in the early 1980s, she remained a major character on the show until the summer of 1986, returning in November 1987 on a non-contract basis, being prominently featured in the show's 25th and 30th anniversary shows, and making her last appearance in May 1994.
Her work on Another World was recognized with a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in 1979; two of her fellow nominees were her AW costars Victoria Wyndham and Beverlee McKinsey. The meddling "Aunt Liz" was first a rival with Rachel for the love of Mac Cory, and later became his secretary. As Liz mellowed, Dailey was allowed to show her flair for comedy, but as the Matthews family dwindled onscreen, she became a sounding board for various friends and family and a well-meaning busy-body. After the death of Liz's great niece Sally, Dailey was written out, but the following year was brought back due to popular demand. The Matthews family had a brief resurgence, and Liz became a confidante for her great niece Olivia. After that storyline ended, Liz continued to appear at special events, most notably at Ada Hobson's memorial and at a Cory Publishing gathering which coincided with the show's 30th anniversary. After her final appearance in 1994, she appeared on Broadway in a revival of the Strindberg play The Father, receiving excellent notices for her performance as Frank Langella's nurse who must manipulate him into a straitjacket after he goes insane. Her film credits include No Way to Treat a Lady (1968), Five Easy Pieces (1970) and The Amityville Horror (1979).
According to Dailey, she was a self-described lifelong Democrat and a practicing Catholic. She never married nor had any children due to a lack of interest in either.

## Personal life and death

Dailey did not marry, and she had no children. She died on September 24, 2008, in Santa Rosa, California. The cause was colon cancer, according to Arleen Lorrance, a longtime friend. She had been a resident of Guerneville.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role |
| 1968 | Daring Game | Mrs. Carlyle |
| 1968 | No Way to Treat a Lady | Mrs. Fitts |
| 1970 | Five Easy Pieces | Samia Glavia |
| 1971 | The Grissom Gang | Gladys 'Ma' Grissom |
| 1979 | The Amityville Horror | Aunt Helena |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1958 | Decoy | Millie Baker | "Blind Date" |
| 1959 | Naked City | Amy Gary | "Four Sweet Corners" |
| 1962 | Naked City | Auntie Maud | "Goodbye Mama, Hello Auntie Maud" |
| 1962 | The Defenders | Mrs. Prinzler | "The Avenger" |
| 1962 | Sam Benedict | Amelia Carter | "Everybody's Playing Polo" |
| 1963 | The Twilight Zone | Miss Frank | "Mute" |
| 1963 | Dr. Kildare | Sara Anderson | "A Trip to Niagara" |
| 1963 | The Eleventh Hour | Agatha Miller | "The Bride Wore Pink" |
| 1964 | Ben Casey | Caroline Bullard | "Heap Logs and Let the Blaze Laugh Out" |
| 1964 | Brenner | Mrs. Friedman | "The Vigilantes" |
| 1965 | The Nurses | Annie Cloyne | "Threshold" |
| 1966 | Hawk | Hallie Simmons | "How Close Can You Get?" |
| 1968 | NET Playhouse | Ruth | "Home" |
| 1969–1970 | The Edge of Night | Pamela Stewart | TV series |
| 1972 | Jigsaw | Mrs. Cummings | TV film |
| 1974–1986 | Another World | Liz Matthews | Contract role |
| 1987 | American Playhouse | Mrs. McGuire | "Stacking" |
| 1987–1994 | Another World | Liz Matthews | Recurring role (final appearance) |

## Selected discography

* 1965: Of Poetry and Power: Poems Occasioned by the Presidency and by the Death of John F. Kennedy (Folkways Records)
* 1967: The Wick and the Tallow By Henry Gilfond (Folkways Records)