Helen Gallagher

Helen Gallagher (born July 19, 1926) is an American actress, dancer, and singer. She is the recipient of three Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Drama Desk Award.

Early years

Born in Brooklyn, she was raised in Scarsdale, New York, and the Bronx. Her parents separated and she was raised by an aunt. She suffered from asthma.

Career

Stage

Gallagher was known for decades as a Broadway performer. She appeared in '' Make a Wish'', '' Hazel Flagg'', '' Portofino'', ''High Button Shoes'', and '' Sweet Charity'' (for which she received a 1967 Tony Award nomination for Featured Actress in a Musical), eventually assuming the title role, and closing the original Broadway run. She also appeared in '' Cry for Us All''.

In 1952, she won a Tony Award for her work in the revival of '' Pal Joey''. In 1971, she won her second Tony for her role in the revival of the musical '' No, No, Nanette''. Her song-and-dance number with Bobby Van from that show, "You Can Dance with Any Girl", is preserved on youtube through its performance on the Tony Awards television broadcast. She later took on the role of Sue Smith in the Papermill Playhouse revival of the show, playing the role Keeler played a quarter century earlier.

Her first starring role on Broadway came in 1953 as title character in ''Hazel Flagg'', based on the 1937 Carole Lombard movie '' Nothing Sacred''. The role earned her a feature-photo shoot for ''Life''. Gallagher appeared in the 1977 movie '' Roseland'' opposite Christopher Walken. An aficionada of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she appeared on a special tribute to Richard Rodgers on '' The Bell Telephone Hour''.

Television

Despite extensive work on Broadway, she is perhaps best known as matriarch Maeve Ryan on '' Ryan's Hope'', a role she played for the show's entire duration, from 1975 to 1989. She was nominated for five Daytime Emmy Awards for her work on the serial, winning in 1976, 1977, and 1988.

At the time she was cast in ''Ryan's Hope'', Gallagher taught singing in her home three times a week. Michael Hawkins, who played the first Frank Ryan, was one of her students.

As the show progressed into the 1980s, the ratings took a steep slide. When ABC executives cancelled ''Ryan's Hope'', Claire Labine ended the final episode with Maeve at the family bar, singing " Danny Boy". Almost immediately after the cancellation of ''Ryan's Hope'', Gallagher had a two-day guest stint on '' Another World'', and has appeared in '' All My Children'' as a strict nurse and on '' One Life to Live'' as a sex therapist (whose son married Dr. Dorian Lord). She has continued to act in various off-Broadway and professional theater productions.

Later years

In 1984, Gallagher starred in the title role of ''Tallulah'', a musical stage biography of actress Tallulah Bankhead. In 1990s, she guest-starred on '' Law & Order'' and '' The Cosby Mysteries''. In 1997, she starred in the independent LGBT-themed drama film ''Neptune’s Rocking Horse''.

She is currently a faculty member at Herbert Berghof Studio in New York City.

Theater credits

Film and television

References

External links

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*
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Helen Gallagher at Broadway World
* 200

on TheaterMania
* 201
interview
about ''High Button Shoes'' on the New York City Center blog

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, Helen
1926 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from New York City
American musical theatre actresses
American film actresses
American soap opera actresses
Donaldson Award winners
Tony Award winners
Daytime Emmy Award winners
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series winners
People from Scarsdale, New York
People from Brooklyn
People from the Bronx