Notable Passings

Two Broadway actresses who had long careers on New York based soap operas have passed away.

Irene Dailey, the younger sister of actor-dancer Dan Dailey, passed away on September 24th at the age of 88. (Click title of this post for her obituary.)

Dailey, who had a lengthy stage career, also starred on ANOTHER WORLD for two decades and was the recipient of an Emmy for Best Actress.

Dailey's stage credits included the original cast of the Tony-winning THE SUBJECT WAS ROSES. Playbill has posted an obituary.

Scottish-born actress Eileen Herlie died on October 8th at the age of 90.

Herlie appeared on ALL MY CHILDREN for over three decades. She played Queen Gertrude in Laurence Olivier's great filming of HAMLET in 1948, and played the role again on Broadway opposite Richard Burton. Her Broadway credits also included the original production of THE MATCHMAKER.

London's Daily Telegraph, in one of that paper's characteristically interesting obituaries, says that early in her career Herlie gave the longest speech in the history of the stage, a monologue which lasted 21 minutes.