Daniel James Dailey Jr. (December 14, 1913 – October 16, 1978) was an American dancer and actor.
Biography
Born in New York City, he appeared in a minstrel show when very young, and appeared in vaudeville before his Broadway debut in 1937 in Babes in Arms. In 1940, he was signed by MGM to make movies and, although his past career had been in musicals, he was initially cast as a Nazi in The Mortal Storm. However, the people at MGM realized their mistake quickly and cast him in a series of musical films.
He served in the United States Army during World War II, then returned to more musicals. Beginning with Mother Wore Tights (1947) Dailey became the frequent and favorite co-star of movie legend Betty Grable. His performance in their film When My Baby Smiles at Me in 1948 garnered him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In 1950, he starred in A Ticket to Tomahawk, often noted as one of the first screen appearances of Marilyn Monroe, in a very small part as a dance-hall girl. One of his notable roles was in There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) which featured Irving Berlin's music and also starred Ethel Merman, Marilyn Monroe, Donald O'Connor, and Johnnie Ray.
As the musical genre began to wane in the mid-1950s, he moved on to various comedic and dramatic roles, including his television series, The Governor & J.J. and the NBC Mystery Movie series "Faraday & Company". His sister is Another World actress Irene Dailey.
Partial filmography
The Mortal Storm (1940)
Hullabaloo (1940)
Lady Be Good (1941)
Mother Wore Tights (1947)
You Were Meant for Me (1948)
When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948)
When Willie Comes Marching Home (1950)
A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950)
My Blue Heaven (1950)
I Can Get It for You Wholesale (1951)
The Pride of St. Louis (1952)
What Price Glory? (1952)
Call Me Mister (1953)
The Kid from Left Field (1953)
There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)
It's Always Fair Weather (1955)
Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956)
The Wings of Eagles (1957)
The Wayward Bus (1957)
Pepe (1960)
Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962)
Cuatro noches de la luna, Las aka Four Nights of the Full Moon (1963), co-starring Gene Tierney
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Dan Dailey
Dan Dailey at the Internet Movie Database
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Dailey"
Categories: American film actors | American dancers | Blackface minstrel performers | Irish-Americans | Vaudeville performers | Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) | 1913 births | 1978 deaths
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