Peggy McCay

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. 2Biography McCay was born in Manhattan in 1927, the only child of Catherine (or Cathryn) and Michael McCay, who owned a construction company that specialized in building schools. Peggy attended Saint 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. Following her graduation from college, McCay joined impresaria Margo Jones's Texas-based theatre company and graduated to repertory, where she essayed numerous roles. She also studied with Lee Strasberg in New York and later helped to set up Strasberg's West Coast studio. In New York one of her first roles was in a 1956 off-Broadway production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, playing opposite Franchot Tone. Her role as Sonya in Uncle Vanya earned her the off-Broadway award "OBIE" for Best "Off-Broadway" Young Actress of the Year. The next year both she and Tone reprised their roles in the Hollywood film version of the pla