Peggy McCay

Peggy McCay
McCay on Ben Casey (in 1964)
Born	Margaret Ann McCay (1927-11-03) November 3, 1927 (age 89) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1949–present

Margaret Ann McCay (born November 3, 1927), known professionally as Peggy McCay, is an American actress whose career began in 1949, and includes theatre, television, soap operas, and feature films. She may be best known for originating the roles of Vanessa Dale on the CBS soap opera Love of Life (a role she played from 1951–55), and Caroline Brady, which she has played since 1983 on NBC's Days of Our Lives.

The Manhattan-born McCay was the only child of Michael, a construction company owner who specialized in building schools, and his wife, Catherine (or Cathryn) McCay. She attended St. Walburga's Convent School and Barnard College, graduating from the latter in June 1949. After her father's sudden death, she and her mother ran his construction company for a period of time.

After graduation, she joined impresaria Margo Jones's Texas-based theatre company and graduated to repertory, where she essayed numerous roles. She studied with Lee Strasberg in New York, later helping to set up Strasberg's West Coast studio.

One of her first New York roles was in an off-Broadway production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, opposite Franchot Tone; they reprised their roles in the 1957 film version of the play. Her role as Sonya earnedher the off-Broadway award "OBIE" for Best "Off-Broadway" Young Actress of the Year.

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 Perry Mason as defendant Stephanie Falkner in "The Case of the Long-Legged Models", and in 1959 as conwoman Melissa Maybrook in the Maverick episode "The Sheriff of Duck 'n' Shoot". Soon after, she was cast in an episode of the CBS anthology 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. In 1962, McCay starred in the feature film, Lad, A Dog.