Peggy McCay
McCay onBen Casey (in 1964)
Born	Margaret Ann McCay (1927-11-03)November 3, 1927[1] Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
Died	October 7, 2018(2018-10-07) (aged 90) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Barnard College
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1949–2016

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 ofVanessa Dale on theCBS soap operaLove of Life (a role she played from 1951 to 1955), andCaroline Brady, which she played from 1983 to 2016 onNBC'sDays of Our Lives.

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 andBarnard 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 joinedimpresariaMargo Jones's Texas-based theatre company and graduated to repertory, where she essayed numerous roles. She also studied withLee 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'sUncle Vanya, playing oppositeFranchot Tone.^[5][6] Her role as Sonya inUncle Vanya earned her anObie 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 theHollywoodfilm version of the play.

McCay accepted her first major role as the heroineVanessa Dale on the soap operaLove of Life, which premiered in 1951. After four years, she left in 1955 to pursue other options.

In 1958 she appeared onGunsmoke 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 onPerry Mason as defendant Stephanie Falkner in "The Case of the Long-Legged Models", and in 1959 as fraudster Melissa Maybrook in theMaverick episode "The Sheriff of Duck 'n' Shoot" withJames Garner andJack Kelly. She also appeared as a supporting character in theMaverick episode titled "Kiz" starringRoger Moore andKathleen Crowley. Soon after, she was cast in an episode of theCBSanthology series,Appointment with Adventure. She appeared in four feature films in the late 1950s before landing a lead role in 1962 in theABC television seriesRoom 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 thatCary Grant had played in theoriginal movie version a decade earlier. In 1962, McCay starred in the feature filmLad, 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 ofThe Andy Griffith Show. On April 9, 1963, McCay appeared in the episode "Broken Honor" ofNBC'sLaramie; she andRod Cameron played Martha and Roy Halloran, a farm couple.^{[citation needed]}

McCay guest-starred on ABC'sThe Roaring 20s,The Greatest Show on Earth, andJason Evers'sChanning. In 1963, she appeared on NBC'sRedigo, withRichard Egan, and on CBS'sPerry Mason (as defendant Margaret Layton in "The Case of the Skeleton's Closet").^{[citation needed]} In 1963 she was in an episode ofThe Virginian as Helen Hammond Judson, a woman seeking her husband. In 1964, after guest starring inThe Fugitive episode "The Garden House," she returned to daytime television as a lead on ABC'sThe Young Marrieds. When the show went off the air in 1966, she was written into the story line on ABC'sGeneral Hospital (as Iris Fairchild) from March 1967 to January 1970. In the 1970s, McCay appeared inEleanor and Franklin: The White House Years,How the West Was Won,The Lazarus Syndrome andBarnaby Jones (episode titled, "Blind Terror"). She appeared in a 1975 television movie,John O'Hara's Gibbsville (also known asThe Turning Point of Jim Malloy), and was a regular in the cast of the short-lived 1976 seriesGibbsville.^{[citation needed]} During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she had a recurring role as Marion Hume in the CBS dramaLou Grant. In 1991, McCay was awarded a PrimetimeEmmy forOutstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series forThe Trials of Rosie O'Neill.

She may be best known as matriarchCaroline Brady onDays 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.

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]

• Lad A Dog (1962) as Elizabeth Tremayne
• Promises in the Dark (1979) as Mrs. Pritikin
• Bustin' Loose (1981) as Gladys Schuyler
• Second Thoughts (1983) as Dr. Martha Carpenter
• Daddy's Girl (1996) as Grandmother
• James Dean (2001) as Emma Dean

• Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1957) (Season 3 Episode 11: "The Deadly") as Myra Herbert
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962) (Season 1 Episode 8: "House Guest") as Sally Mitchell
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1964) (Season 2 Episode 13: "The Magic Shop") as Mrs. Grainger

26. Demetria Fulton previewed Peggy McCay's appearance in the second season of Barnaby Jones; episode titled, "Blind Terror"(09/16/1973).

• "Actress Chooses to Take a Cut in Her Own Pay".The Gettysburg Times. Associated Press. 1959-08-15. p. 2. Retrieved2012-12-11.
• Heffernan, Howard (1962-01-06)."Personality parade: Soap Opera Queen Finds Normal Life".The Toledo Blade. Retrieved2012-12-11.
• Passalacqua, Connie (1986-11-01)."Actress is Honored Day, Night".The Kentucky New Era. Retrieved2012-12-11.
• "Actress Waits For A Pie In Face".The Kentucky New Era. Associated Press. 1987-03-07. p. 5B. Retrieved2012-12-11.
• Reichardt, Nancy (1989-10-14)."Tune In Tomorrow: Peggy McCay Fights For Animal Rights".The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star. p. 2 (TV Star). Retrieved2012-12-11.

• Peggy McCay atIMDb
• Peggy McCay at theInternet Broadway Database
• Peggy McCay at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
• "SOAP STAR STATS: Peggy McCay".Soapoperadigest.com. RetrievedJanuary 21, 2010.

• 1927 births
• 2018 deaths
• American film actresses
• American soap opera actresses
• American television actresses
• American stage actresses
• Barnard College alumni
• Primetime Emmy Award winners
• Obie Award recipients
• Actresses from Manhattan
• 20th-century American actresses
• 21st-century American actresses

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• Internet Broadway Database person ID same as Wikidata
• Internet Off-Broadway Database person ID same as Wikidata