Tyne Daly is best known for her role as no-nonsense cop Mary Beth Lacy in the ground breaking 80s TV series Cagney and Lacey. The popular show has been ordered as a remake by CBS as part of a great reboot television wave. This has public interest once again centered on the very private actress, Tyne Daly. Here are 5 things you didn’t know about Tyne Daly.
She’s a multi award winning actress
Tyne Daly has earned many accolades over the years and has enjoyed her fair share of recognition not just for her televisions appearances but also for her stage performances. In total she was nominated for Emmy Awards 17 times and took home the award 6 times. This includes 4 Lead Actress awards for her portrayal of down to earth cop Mary Beth Lacy in the series Cagney and Lacy and two for Best Supporting Actress in later work. She was also the recipient of a prestigious Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Rose in the Broadway show Gypsy.
She played the first pregnant cop in a TV show
Cagney and Lacy was a ground breaking show. It was the the first to cast two female leads as gritty self sufficient police detectives in New York. Cagney was blonde and single and Lacey was a married woman whose story line reflected the stories of many working mothers. She grappled with maintaining a household and thriving in a male dominated world. It’s hard to imagine now what a ground breaking story line it was when the producers decided to incorporate the real life pregnancy of Daly into the show and the first pregnant cop was brought to the silver screen.
She had her own marriage equality story
In an emotional curtain speech at the end of It Should Have Been You she celebrated the US Supreme Court historic marriage equality decision in 2015. In her speech she addressed her own SCOTUS connection explaining to the audience that she was married in 1966, 49 years previously to actor and producer George Stanford Brown. In 17 states of America that marriage was deemed illegal because George had black skin. The year after their wedding the Supreme Court abolished those laws in the Loving vs. Virginia case. In her speech Daly asserted that while hate was strong, love was even stronger than hate.
She earned her equity card at the age of 15
Daly was born into a thespian family. She has said in interviews that she knew she wanted to be an actress at the age of 8. Her mother, the actress, Hope Newell was married to her acting father James Daly. Tyne and her younger brother Tim followed them into the family business. She was raised in Westchester New York and got her early start with her family performing in summer stock. By the time she was 15 she had already secured her equity card.
She committed to growing old naturally
Daly plays the matriarch, a mother, grandmother and social worker who reprises some of the down-to-earth depth of Lacey’s character as she grapples with real life issues for real women. She upset and delighted viewers in equal measure by appearing in the show with natural gray hair. Daly apparently cut off her dyed auburn hair for the show and graced the silver screen with her natural gray locks, ensuring her continued position as quiet icon of women’s power.
CBS has not yet announced the cast for the Cagney and Lacey reboot. Whoever is to take up the role of the iconic Mary Beth Lacy has big boots to fill.
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