Helen Gallagher Dies: Two-Time Tony Winner & ‘Ryan’s Hope’ Matriarch Was 98
She was not on the list.
Helen Gallagher, who won Tony Awards for Pal Joey and No, No, Nanette before starring as Maeve Ryan in all 13 seasons of daytime soap Ryan’s Hope, died November 24. She was 98.
Playbill confirmed the news on social media.
Born on July 19, 1926, in New York City, Gallagher already was a singing, dancing and acting veteran of numerous Broadway shows when she was cast as Gladys Bumps in the Chicago-set 1952 musical Pal Joey. Starring opposite Harold Lang and Vivienne Segal, she won the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
She went on to appear in such Golden Age Broadway musicals as The Pajama Game, Mame, Finian’s Rainbow and Sweet Charity, earning a second Featured Actress Tony nom for playing Mickie alongside Gwen Verdon and Ruth Buzzi. She also performed in revivals of such classics as Guys and Dolls and Brigadoon.
In 1970 she was cast as the original Lucille Early in
Broadway’s No, No, Nanette, earning a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
The show ran from January 1971-February 1973 at the 46th Street Theatre (now
the Richard Rodgers Theatre).
She returned to Broadway in the 1972-73 production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing before landing her biggest screen role.
Gallagher was cast as the patriarch of an American Irish family in New York City in the ABC soap opera Ryan’s Hope, which debuted in July 1975. Her Maeve Ryan and husband Johnny (Bernard Barrow) owned Ryan’s Bar across from a hospital and had five children. They were the cornerstone of the daytime drama that wrapped in early 1989, with Gallagher singing “Danny Boy” in the final episode, as she had many times before on the show.
She won back-to-back Daytime Emmys as Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series in 1976 and 1977 and added a third 11 years later. She also scored two other nominations in the category in 1979 and 1981.
Gallagher guested in episodes of several other daytime
dramas including Another World, All My Children and One Life to Live. Her other
TV credits include Law & Order, The Cosby Mysteries, several episodes of
The Ed Sullivan Show, talk shows including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny
Carson and variety and game shows.
Gallagher also appeared on the big screen in 1960’s Strangers When We Meet, alongside Kirk Douglas, Kim Novak, Ernie Kovacs, Barbara Rush and Walter Matthau, and later in director James Ivory’s Roseland (1977) and the Manhattan-set Neptune’s Rocking Horse (1997).
She also was a longtime member of the faculty at Herbert Berghof Studio in Manhattan.
Theater credits
Theater Opening date Closing date Title Role Theatre
December 7, 1944 May 12, 1945 Seven Lively Arts Understudy
Corps de Ballet Ziegfeld
September 6, 1945 September 15, 1945 Mr. Strauss Goes to Boston Corps de Ballet New Century
December 21, 1945 June 29, 1946 Billion Dollar Baby Chorine
Dancer
Neighbor Alvin
March 13, 1947 July 31, 1948 Brigadoon Dancer Ziegfeld
October 9, 1947 July 2, 1949 High Button Shoes Nancy New Century
Shubert
Broadway
October 13, 1949 March 18, 1950 Touch and Go Daughter
Neighbor
The Girl
Theatregoer Broadhurst
Broadway
April 18, 1951 July 14, 1951 Make a Wish Poupette Winter Garden
January 3, 1952 April 18, 1953 Pal Joey Gladys Bumps Broadhurst
February 11, 1953 September 19, 1953 Hazel Flagg Hazel Flagg Mark Hellinger
May 13, 1954 November 24, 1956 The Pajama Game Gladys (replacement) St. James
Shubert Theatre
April 20, 1955 May 31, 1955 Guys and Dolls Miss Adelaide City Center
May 18, 1955 May 29, 1955 Finian's Rainbow Sharon McLonergan City Center
April 9, 1957 May 5, 1957 Brigadoon Meg Brockie Adelphi
February 21, 1958 February 22, 1958 Portofino Kitty Adelphi
Mar 19, 1958 March 30, 1958 Oklahoma! Ado Annie Carnes City Center
December 31, 1964 January 23, 1965 Royal Flush Understudy Shubert
January 29, 1966 July 15, 1967 Sweet Charity Nickie
understudy Charity
replacement Charity Palace
May 24, 1966 January 3, 1970 Mame replacement Agnes Gooch
Winter Garden
Broadway
April 8, 1970 April 15, 1970 Cry for Us All Bessie Legg Broadhurst
January 19, 1971 February 3, 1973 No, No, Nanette Lucille Early 46th Street
November 11, 1972 February 11, 1973 Much Ado About Nothing Choreography assistant to Donald Saddler Winter Garden
April 26, 1976 May 9, 1976 Tickles by Tucholsky Theatre Four
October 5, 1977 November 27, 1977 The Misanthrope Arsinoe Joseph Papp Public Theater
New York Shakespeare Festival
June 14, 1978 December 3, 1978 The American Dance Machine Choreographic reconstruction Century
October 10, 1978 November 12, 1978 A Broadway Musical Maggie Simpson Theatre of the Riverside Church
October 8, 1979 August 28, 1982 Sugar Babies Replacement Mark Hellinger
May 14, 1981 October 25, 1981 I Can't Keep Running in Place Beth Westside
June 13, 1983 Unknown Tallulah Tallulah Bankhead Westside Arts
August 23, 1983 September 5, 1983 Same Time, Next Year Doris Ivoryton Playhouse
March 9, 1987 March 9, 1987 Star Dust Performer Sardi's
May 17, 1990 July 8, 1990 Annie 2 Fran Riley Norma Terris
September 6, 1990 September 9, 1990 Money Talks Promenade
June 1996 June 1996 Home Mother Ensemble Studio Theatre
April 9, 1997 May 27, 1997 No, No, Nanette Paper Mill Playhouse
January 28, 2000 January 30, 2000 70, Girls, 70 Gert York Theatre Company
Film and television
Film and television Year Title Role Notes
1949 Manhattan Showcase Host
1951 Don Ameche's Musical Playhouse Self Jan 25, 1951
1951 Don Ameche's Musical Playhouse Self Feb 4, 1951
1951 Paul Whitman's Goodyear Revue Self May 20, 1951
1951 General Electric Guest House Self August 12, 1951
1951 The Mel Torme Show Self November 5, 1951
1951 Colgate Comedy Hour Self Episodes 1.35 and 1.40
1952 The Ezio Pinza Show February 1, 1952
1953 The Ed Sullivan Show Self Episodes 6.25 and 6.45
1954 Kraft Television Theatre TV series, episode: Pardon My Prisoner
1955 Colgate Comedy Hour Self Episode 5.33
1955 A.N.T.A. Album of 1955 Self
1958 The Ed Sullivan Show Self Episodes 11.17, 11.19 and 11.32
1960 Strangers When We Meet Betty Anders
1960 Hallmark Hall of Fame Lise TV series, episode: Shangri-La
1961 The Bell Telephone Hour Self TV series, episode: The Music of Richard Rodgers
1961 Yves Montand on Broadway Self
1971 The David Frost Show Self Episode 3.109
1971 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Self Feb 4, 1971
1972 26th Tony Awards Self
1973 27th Tony Awards Self
1976 The American Woman: Portraits of Courage Mary Harris Jones
1977 Roseland Cleo
1975–1989 Ryan's Hope Maeve Ryan TV series, 789 episodes
1982 Family Feud Self Feb 8, 1982
1989 Live with Regis Self Jan 13, 1989
1989 Entertainment Tonight Self Jan 13, 1989
1989 Another World Hannah Tuttle TV series, 2 episodes
1993 Law & Order Flo Bishop TV series, episode: Born Bad
1995 The Cosby Mysteries TV series, episode: Last Tango
1995 All My Children Nurse Harris TV series, 2 episodes
1997 Neptune's Rocking Horse Sadie
1997–1998 One Life to Live Dr. Maud Boylan TV series, 6 episodes
2009 American Masters Self TV series, episode: Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About
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