Tyne Daly

Biography

Tyne Daly (born February 21, 1946) is an American stage and screen actress, widely known for her work as Detective Lacey in the television series Cagney & Lacey. She has won six Emmy Awards for her television work, and the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical in Gypsy: A Musical Fable in 1989. Daly was born Ellen Tyne Daly in Madison, Wisconsin, into a creative family; she is the daughter of actor James Daly. Her younger brother is actor Timothy Daly. Her sister-in-law, Amy Van Nostrand, is also an actress. She was raised in Westchester County, New York, where she started her career by performing in summer stock with her family; she earned her Equity Card at age 15. She studied at Brandeis University and The American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Daly was married to actor/director Georg Stanford Brown from 1966 to 1990. They have three daughters: Alisabeth (b. 1968), a potter; actress Kathryne (b. 1971); and Alyxandra (b. 1985). Television Daly represented one half of the title characters in the legendary CBS cop drama Cagney & Lacey winning four Emmy Awards for her performance as Mary Beth Lacey, the married working mother. Between herself and co-star Sharon Gless, they took the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for six straight years in a row, a winning streak unmatched in any major category by a show. She appeared as social worker Maxine Gray, who was also the mother to the show's title character on the CBS drama Judging Amy, which ran from 1999 to 2005. Addressing a conference of the National Association of Social Workers in 2000, Daly said that she had learned from social workers and social work texts to improve her portrayal of her character. She added: "I take from you because you are the ones dealing with all the bad institutions of our society: institutionalized poverty, institutionalized racism, institutionalized cynicism." She appeared in a made-for-TV movie for Lifetime in 2003 titled Undercover Christmas, as Anne Cunningham. She played the role of a traditional mother and peacemaker at Christmas time in a wealthy family of lawyers, who initially disapproves of her FBI agent son's girlfriend. Theater Daly's first Broadway role was in 1967 in a short-lived play, That Summer, That Fall. In April 1989, she starred as Rose in a 14 city U.S. tour of the musical Gypsy which finally landed on Broadway in late 1989. This production was the second revival of the show to play Broadway (the first was in 1974 with Angela Lansbury). Daly won the 1990 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in Gypsy. Daly left Gypsy in July 1990, with Linda Lavin playing Rose, and returned in April 1991 through closing in July 1991. Daly appeared in the Broadway revival of the Anton Chekhov play The Seagull in 1992 as Madame Arkadina. She appeared as Sally Adams in the City Center Encores! staged concert of Call Me Madam in February 1995. In regional theatre she played Lola in Come Back, Little Sheba at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, Los Angeles, California in April 1997. She appeared on Broadway in the 2006 play Rabbit Hole, portraying the mother of the play's protagonist, played by Cynthia Nixon. In January 2008 she played the role of Mother in the world premiere production of the Edward Albee play Me, Myself & I at the McCarter Theatre, Princeton, New Jersey. Cabaret Daly performed a cabaret act, Second Time Around, in January 2010 at Feinstein's at Loews Regency, New York City. She had previously performed at Feinstein's in May 2009. Film Daly appeared in John and Mary (1969), the movie adaptation of Play It As It Lays (1972), and The Adulteress. She was cast as Inspector Harry Callahan's first female partner, Kate Moore, in the 1976 Dirty Harry film The Enforcer. Although her performance was not widely praised, the concept was later used as the basis for the television show Hunter. Role model Daly has been identified as a feminist role model, particularly based on her television roles in Cagney and Lacey and Judging Amy. Her role as Lacey showed a woman detective at a time where the idea was still novel; the show was also novel in presenting Lacey primarily in a work environment, rather than always showing the character at home. She has also been outspoken about maintaining a natural appearance as she ages, and for the run of Judging Amy, Daly's hair was shown in its naturally gray state. Filmography (selection) John and Mary (1969) Larry (1974) The Enforcer (1976) Intimate Strangers (1977) Telefon (1977) Zoot Suit (1982) The Aviator (1985) Scattered Dreams (1993) Cagney & Lacey: The Return (1994) Cagney & Lacey: Together Again (1995) Cagney & Lacey: The View Through the Glass Ceiling (1995) Cagney & Lacey: True Convictions (1995) The Perfect Mother (1997) The Autumn Heart (1999) Judging Amy (1999) The Simian Line (2000) A Piece of Eden (2000) The Wedding Dress (2001)