Margaret Ann "Peggy" McCay (November 3, 1927 – October 7, 2018)[1] was an American actress whose career began in 1949, and includes theatre, television, soap operas, and feature films. McCay may be best known for originating the roles of Vanessa Dale on the CBS soap opera Love of Life (a role she played from 1951 to 1955), and Caroline Brady, which she played from 1983 to 2016 on NBC's Days of Our Lives.
Life and career
McCay was born on November 3, 1927.[2] She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. McCay. McCay attended Saint Walburga's Convent School and Barnard College, graduating from the latter in June 1949.[3] After her father's sudden death, she and her mother ran his construction company for a period of time.[4]
Following her graduation from college, McCay joined impresariaMargo Jones's Texas-based theatre company and graduated to repertory, where she essayed numerous roles. She also studied with Lee Strasberg in New York and later helped to set up Strasberg's West Coast studio. In New York one of her first roles was in a 1956 off-Broadway production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, playing opposite Franchot Tone.[5][6] Her role as Sonya in Uncle Vanya earned her an Obie Award for Best Young Actress of the Year in an off-Broadway production.[7][8] The next year both she and Tone reprised their respective roles in the Hollywoodfilm version of the play.
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.
In 1958 she appeared on Gunsmoke as “Flora”, a woman freed from an abusive marriage by the actions of her town drunk father whom she never knew (played by John Dehner) in “Bottleman” (S3E28). That same year she appeared on Perry Mason as defendant Stephanie Falkner in "The Case of the Long-Legged Models", and in 1959 as fraudster Melissa Maybrook in the Maverick episode "The Sheriff of Duck 'n' Shoot" with James Garner and Jack Kelly. She also appeared as a supporting character in the Maverick episode titled "Kiz" starring Roger Moore and Kathleen Crowley. Soon after, she was cast in an episode of the CBSanthology series, Appointment with Adventure. She appeared in four feature films in the late 1950s before landing a lead role in 1962 in the ABC television series Room for One More as Anna Perrott Rose, who had written a memoir about her family life as a foster mother;[citation needed]Andrew Duggan portrayed the part that Cary Grant had played in the original movie version a decade earlier. In 1962, McCay starred in the feature film Lad, A Dog.[9]
She played Sally Mitchell opposite Robert Sterling and MacDonald Carey in "House Guest" on the Alfred Hitchcock Hour Season 1 Episode 8 which aired on November 7, 1962. On February 4, 1963, she appeared as Sheriff Andy Taylor's old girlfriend Sharon DeSpain in the "Class Reunion" episode of The Andy Griffith Show. On April 9, 1963, McCay appeared in the episode "Broken Honor" of NBC's Laramie; she and Rod Cameron played Martha and Roy Halloran, a farm couple.[citation needed]
She may be best known as matriarch Caroline Brady on Days of Our Lives. McCay first appeared on the program in February 1983. After signing a long-term contract in 1985, she played the character of Caroline on a regular basis for over thirty years. Her final appearance in the role was aired August 24, 2016.
Death
On October 7, 2018, McCay died from natural causes at her home in Los Angeles.[10][11][12] She never married nor had children, leaving no immediate survivors.[13]
^Tallmer, Jerry (1956-02-08). "Theatre: Uncle Vanya". The Village Voice. pp. 6–7. Retrieved 2012-12-11. To access the next page, drag the image down a bit and to the left.
^Tallmer, Jerry (1958-04-23). "Movies: Uncle Vanya". The Village Voice: p. 12 and 13; retrieved December 11, 2012.
^Peggy McCay clippings file at the New York Library for the Performing Arts, 3rd floor, Lincoln Center; accessed August 31, 2014.
