Helen Gallagher is an American actress, dancer, singer and makeup artist

Makeup artist

thumb|[[Michelle Camaclang]], an international-certified professional makeup artistthumb|Special effects makeup techniquesA Make-up artist is an artist whose medium is the human body, applying makeup and prosthetics for theatrical, television, film, fashion, magazines and other similar productions...

.

Early years

Born in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, she was raised in Scarsdale, New York

Scarsdale, New York

Scarsdale is a coterminous town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the northern suburbs of New York City. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several villages...

 for several years until the Wall Street crash which heralded the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

, and her family moved to the Bronx

The Bronx

The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...

. Her parents separated and she was raised with an aunt. She suffered from asthma.

Gallagher was known for decades as a Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 performer. She appeared in Make a Wish

Make a Wish (musical)

Make a Wish is a musical with a book by Preston Sturges and Abe Burrows, who was not credited, and music and lyrics by Hugh Martin.Based on Sturges' screenplay for the 1935 film The Good Fairy, which in turn is based on the play of the same name by Ferenc Molnár as translated by Jane Hinton, the...

, Hazel Flagg

Hazel Flagg

Hazel Flagg is a musical with a book by Ben Hecht, lyrics by Bob Hilliard, and music by Jule Styne. The musical is based on the 1937 screwball comedy film Nothing Sacred...

, Portofino

Portofino (musical)

Portofino is a musical with a book by Richard Ney, lyrics by Ney and Sheldon Harnick, and music by Louis Bellson and Will Irwin.Set in a piazza in the Italian resort town of Portofino, the convoluted plot involves auto-racing duke Nicky; his Texan rival Kitty; his granddaughter Angela, a practicing...

, High Button Shoes

High Button Shoes

High Button Shoes is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Sammy Cahn and book by George Abbott and Stephen Longstreet. It was based on the semi-autobiographical 1946 novel The Sisters Liked Them Handsome by Longstreet...

, Sweet Charity

Sweet Charity

Sweet Charity is a musical with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon. It was directed and choreographed for Broadway by Bob Fosse starring his wife and muse Gwen Verdon. It is based on Federico Fellini's screenplay for Nights of Cabiria...

(for which she received a 1967 Tony Award

Tony Award

The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 nomination for Featured Actress in a Musical), and Cry for Us All

Cry for Us All

Cry for Us All is a musical with a book by William Alfred and Albert Marre, lyrics by Alfred and Phyllis Robinson, and music by Mitch Leigh. In response to poor advance sales, the title was...

.

In 1952, she won a Tony Award

Tony Award

The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 for her work in the revival of Pal Joey. In 1971, she won her second Tony Award

Tony Award

The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 for her role in the revival of the musical No, No, Nanette

No, No, Nanette

No, No, Nanette is a musical comedy with lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach, music by Vincent Youmans, and a book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel, based on Mandel's 1919 Broadway play My Lady Friends...

, which also starred Ruby Keeler

Ruby Keeler

Ruby Keeler, born Ethel Hilda Keeler, was an actress, singer, and dancer most famous for her on-screen coupling with Dick Powell in a string of successful early musicals at Warner Brothers, particularly 42nd Street . From 1928 to 1940, she was married to singer Al Jolson...

 and Patsy Kelly

Patsy Kelly

Patsy Kelly was an American stage and film comedic actress.-Early life and career:Kelly was born Sarah Veronica Rose Kelly in Brooklyn, New York to Irish immigrants, John and Delia Kelly, and made her Broadway debut in 1928...

. Her song and dance number with Bobby Van from that show, "You Can Dance with Any Girl", is preserved on the cast album of that revival.

Gallagher's first starring role on Broadway came in 1953 as title character Hazel Flagg

Hazel Flagg

Hazel Flagg is a musical with a book by Ben Hecht, lyrics by Bob Hilliard, and music by Jule Styne. The musical is based on the 1937 screwball comedy film Nothing Sacred...

, based on the 1937 Carole Lombard

Carole Lombard

Carole Lombard was an American actress. She was particularly noted for her comedic roles in the screwball comedies of the 1930s...

 movie Nothing Sacred

Nothing Sacred (film)

Nothing Sacred is a 1937 Technicolor screwball comedy film made by Selznick International Pictures and distributed by United Artists. It was directed by William A. Wellman and produced by David O. Selznick, from a screenplay credited to Ben Hecht, based on a story by James H. Street...

. The role earned her a feature photo shoot for Life magazine.

Gallagher appeared in the 1977 movie Roseland

Roseland (film)

Roseland is a 1977 Merchant Ivory Productions' portmanteau film with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. It was directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant....

opposite Christopher Walken

Christopher Walken

Christopher Walken is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New...

. An aficionada of Rodgers and Hammerstein

Rodgers and Hammerstein

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...

, she appeared on a special tribute to Richard Rodgers

Richard Rodgers

Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...

 on The Bell Telephone Hour

The Bell Telephone Hour

The Bell Telephone Hour is a long-run concert series which began April 29, 1940 on NBC Radio and was heard on NBC until June 30, 1958. Sponsored by Bell Telephone, it showcased the best in classical and Broadway music, reaching eight to nine million listeners each week. It continued on television...

.

Television

Despite her extensive work on Broadway, she is perhaps best known as the gentle Irish American

Irish American

Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...

 matriarch, Maeve Ryan, on the soap opera

Soap opera

A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 Ryan's Hope

Ryan's Hope

Ryan's Hope is an American soap opera, revolving around 13 years of trials and tribulations within a large Irish American family in the Riverside district of New York City. It aired from July 7, 1975 to January 13, 1989 on ABC...

, a role she played for the show's entire duration, from 1975 to 1989. She was nominated for five Daytime Emmy Award

Daytime Emmy Award

The Daytime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American daytime television programming...

s 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

Michael Hawkins (US actor)

Michael Hawkins is an American actor.Hawkins was born as Thomas Knight Slater in Harlem, New York City. He would also use the stage name Michael Gainsborough. During the 1940s lived in the Strathmore section of Manhasset, New York on Long Island. His family left Manhasset in 1950...

, who would play the first Frank Ryan, was one of her students.

As the show progressed further into the 1980s, the ratings took a steep slide. When ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 executives cancelled Ryan's Hope

Ryan's Hope

Ryan's Hope is an American soap opera, revolving around 13 years of trials and tribulations within a large Irish American family in the Riverside district of New York City. It aired from July 7, 1975 to January 13, 1989 on ABC...

, Claire Labine

Claire Labine

-Early career:Although she originally aspired to be an actress, Labine eventually became a critically acclaimed writer. She attended the University of Kentucky where her major was journalism, but later she switched to playwriting major at Columbia University’s School of Dramatic Arts...

 ended the final episode with Maeve at the family bar, Ryan's, singing her favorite tune, Danny Boy

Danny Boy

-Background:The words to "Danny Boy" were written by English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly in 1910. Although the lyrics were originally written for a different tune, Weatherly modified them to fit the "Londonderry Air" in 1913, after his sister-in-law in the U.S. sent him a copy. Ernestine...

. Since the cancellation of Ryan's Hope, Gallagher has appeared in All My Children

All My Children

All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...

and One Life to Live

One Life to Live

One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...

and in various Off-Broadway

Off-Broadway

Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...

 productions.

Later years

In 1984, Gallagher starred in the title role of Tallulah, a musical stage biography of actress Tallulah Bankhead

Tallulah Bankhead

Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante...

.

Theatre, film and television credits

Theatre

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 Billion Dollar Baby Billion Dollar Baby is a musical set on Staten Island and in Atlantic City during the late 1920s. It follows the adventures of an ambitious young woman, Maribelle Jones, in her quest for wealth during the Prohibition era. Betty Comden and Adolph Green, fresh from their success with On the Town,...	Chorine Dancer Neighbor	Alvin
March 13, 1947	July 31, 1948	Brigadoon Brigadoon Brigadoon is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. Songs from the musical, such as "Almost Like Being in Love" have become standards....	Dancer	Ziegfeld
October 9, 1947	July 2, 1949	High Button Shoes High Button Shoes High Button Shoes is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Sammy Cahn and book by George Abbott and Stephen Longstreet. It was based on the semi-autobiographical 1946 novel The Sisters Liked Them Handsome by Longstreet...	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 Make a Wish (musical) Make a Wish is a musical with a book by Preston Sturges and Abe Burrows, who was not credited, and music and lyrics by Hugh Martin.Based on Sturges' screenplay for the 1935 film The Good Fairy, which in turn is based on the play of the same name by Ferenc Molnár as translated by Jane Hinton, the...	Poupette	Winter Garden
January 3, 1952	April 18, 1953	Pal Joey	Gladys Bumps	Broadhurst
February 11, 1953	September 19, 1953	Hazel Flagg Hazel Flagg Hazel Flagg is a musical with a book by Ben Hecht, lyrics by Bob Hilliard, and music by Jule Styne. The musical is based on the 1937 screwball comedy film Nothing Sacred...	Hazel Flagg	Mark Hellinger
May 13, 1954	November 24, 1956		Gladys (replacement)	St. James Shubert Theatre
April 20, 1955	May 31, 1955	Guys and Dolls Guys and Dolls Guys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure", two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, most notably...	Miss Adelaide	City Center
May 18, 1955	May 29, 1955	Finian's Rainbow Finian's Rainbow Finian's Rainbow is a musical with a book by E.Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Burton Lane. The 1947 Broadway production ran for 725 performances. Several revivals and a 1968 film version followed. A Broadway revival ran from October 8, 2009 until January 17, 2010...	Sharon McLonergan	City Center
April 9, 1957	May 5, 1957	Brigadoon Brigadoon Brigadoon is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. Songs from the musical, such as "Almost Like Being in Love" have become standards....	Meg Brockie	Adelphi
February 21, 1958	February 22, 1958	Portofino	Kitty	Adelphi
Mar 19, 1958	March 30, 1958	Oklahoma! Oklahoma! Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...	Ado Annie Carnes	City Center
December 31, 1964	January 23, 1965	Royal Flush	Understudy	Shubert
January 29, 1966	July 15, 1967	Sweet Charity Sweet Charity Sweet Charity is a musical with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon. It was directed and choreographed for Broadway by Bob Fosse starring his wife and muse Gwen Verdon. It is based on Federico Fellini's screenplay for Nights of Cabiria...	Nickie understudy Charity replacement Charity	Palace
May 24, 1966	January 3, 1970	Mame	replacement Agnes Gooch replacement Vera Charles	Winter Garden Broadway
April 8, 1970	April 15, 1970	Cry for Us All Cry for Us All Cry for Us All is a musical with a book by William Alfred and Albert Marre, lyrics by Alfred and Phyllis Robinson, and music by Mitch Leigh. In response to poor advance sales, the title was...	Bessie Legg	Broadhurst
January 19, 1971	February 3, 1973	No, No, Nanette No, No, Nanette No, No, Nanette is a musical comedy with lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach, music by Vincent Youmans, and a book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel, based on Mandel's 1919 Broadway play My Lady Friends...	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 05, 1977	November 27, 1977		Arsinoe	Joseph Papp Public Theater New York Shakespeare Festival
June 14, 1978	December 3, 1978		Choreographic reconstruction	Century
October 10, 1978	November 12, 1978		Maggie Simpson	Theatre of the Riverside Church
October 8, 1979	August 28, 1982	Sugar Babies Sugar Babies Sugar Babies is a musical revue conceived by Ralph G. Allen and Harry Rigby, with music by Jimmy McHugh, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and Al Dubin and various others. The show is a tribute to the old burlesque era...	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 Same Time, Next Year Same Time, Next Year is 1975 comedy play by Bernard Slade. The plot focuses on two people, married to others, who meet for a romantic tryst once a year for two dozen years.-Plot:...	Doris	Ivoryton Playhouse
March 9, 1987	March 9, 1987	Star Dust	Performer	Sardi's
May 17, 1990	July 8, 1990	Annie2	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		Papermill Playhouse
January 28, 2000	January 30, 2000	70, Girls, 70 70, Girls, 70 70, Girls, 70 is a musical with a book by Fred Ebb and Norman L. Martin adapted by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Ebb, and music by John Kander.The musical is based on the 1958 play Breath of Spring by Peter Coke...	Gert	York Theatre Company

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		Self	November 5, 1951
1951	Colgate Comedy Hour	Self	Episodes 1.35 and 1.40
1952			February 1, 1952
1953	Ed Sullivan Show	Self	Episodes 6.25 and 6.45
1954	Kraft Television Theatre Kraft Television Theatre Kraft Television Theatre is an American drama/anthology television series that began May 7, 1947 on NBC, airing at 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings until December of that year. In January 1948, it moved to 9pm on Wednesdays, continuing in that timeslot until 1958. Initially produced by the J...		TV series, episode: Pardon My Prisoner
1955	Colgate Comedy Hour	Self	Episode 5.33
1955	A.N.T.A. Album of 1955 A.N.T.A. Album of 1955 A.N.T.A. Album of 1955 is a closed-circuit American television special produced to raise funds for the relief agency CARE that was telecast live from the now-demolished Adelphi Theatre in New York City on March 28, 1955...	Self
1958	Ed Sullivan Show	Self	Episodes 11.17, 11.19 and 11.32
1960	Strangers When We Meet Strangers When We Meet (film) Strangers When We Meet is a 1960 drama film about two married neighbors who have an affair. The movie was adapted by Evan Hunter from his novel of the same name and directed by Richard Quine...	Betty Anders
1960	Hallmark Hall of Fame Hallmark Hall of Fame Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...	Lise	TV series, episode: Shangri-La
1961		Self	TV series, episode: The Music of Richard Rodgers
1961	Yves Montand on Broadway	Self
1971		Self	Episode 3.109
1971		Self	Feb 4, 1971
1972	26th Tony Awards 26th Tony Awards The 26th Annual Tony Awards was broadcast by ABC television on April 23, 1972 from The Broadway Theatre in New York City. Hosts were Henry Fonda, Deborah Kerr and Peter Ustinov....	Self
1973	27th Tony Awards 27th Tony Awards The 27th Annual Tony Awards was broadcast by ABC television on March 25, 1973 from the Imperial Theatre in New York City. Hosts were Rex Harrison, Celeste Holm and co-hosts were Sandy Duncan and Jerry Orbach....	Self
1976		Mary Harris Jones
1977	Roseland Roseland (film) Roseland is a 1977 Merchant Ivory Productions' portmanteau film with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. It was directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant....	Cleo
1975–1989	Ryan's Hope Ryan's Hope Ryan's Hope is an American soap opera, revolving around 13 years of trials and tribulations within a large Irish American family in the Riverside district of New York City. It aired from July 7, 1975 to January 13, 1989 on ABC...	Maeve Ryan	TV series, 788 episodes
1982	Family Feud Family Feud Family Feud is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Two families compete against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to a survey question posed to 100 people...	Self	Feb 8, 1982
1989	Live with Regis Live with Regis and Kelly Live! with Kelly is a syndicated American television morning talk show, hosted by Kelly Ripa. The show has aired since 1983 in New York City and 1988 nationwide. Tony Pigg has been the show's announcer since its inception...	Self	Jan 13, 1989
1989	Entertainment Tonight Entertainment Tonight Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...	Self	Jan 13, 1989
1989	Another World Another World (TV series) Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It ran for a total of 35 years. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...	Hannah Tuttle	TV series, two episodes
1990's	All My Children All My Children All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...	Nurse Harris	TV series, unknown episodes
1993	Law And Order Law and Order Law and Order may refer to:In politics:*Law and order , a term common in political debate and discussion, generally indicating support of a strict criminal justice system*Law and Order Offensive Party, a minor German political party...	Flo Bishop	TV series, episode: Born Bad
1995			TV series, episode: Last Tango
1997	Neptune's Rocking Horse	Sadie
1997	One Life to Live One Life to Live One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...	Dr. Maud Boylan	TV series, unknown episodes
2009	American Masters American Masters American Masters is a PBS television show which produces biographies on the artists, actors and writers of the United States who have left a profound impact on the nation's popular culture. It is produced by WNET in New York City...	Self	TV series, episode: Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About

External links

• Helen Gallagher at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Helen Gallagher at Broadway World