British postcard by Show Parade Picture Service, London, in the Film Star Series, no. P. 1174. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 62. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
The musical as his specialisation
Daniel James Dailey Jr. was born in New York in 1915. His parents were Daniel James Dailey Sr. and Helen Theresa (née Ryan) Dailey. His father ran a hotel for show people on Long Island. He was the older brother of actress Irene Dailey. Dan performed in a minstrel show in 1921 and later appeared in Vaudeville.
He worked as a golf caddy and shoe salesman before he got his first good break, playing in a show on a South American cruise ship in 1934. He made his Broadway debut in 1937 in 'Babes in Arms'. He followed it with 'Stars in Your Eyes' and 'I Married an Angel'.
In 1940, he signed a contract with the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio, where he played supporting roles in several films credited as Dan Dailey Jr. Although the musical was his specialisation, one of his first film roles was in the comedy-drama Susan and God (George Cukor, 1940) starring Joan Crawford. He also played a Nazi in The Mortal Storm (Frank Borzage, 1940) starring Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart.
Dailey was the juvenile lead in the comedy The Captain Is a Lady (George B. Sinclair, 1940) starring Charles Coburn. His breakthrough came with a role in the musical film Panama Hattie (Norman Z. McLeod, 1942). Due to its success, he acquired the lead role in For Me and My Gal (Busby Berkeley, 1942) opposite Judy Garland, but he was drafted by the army and eventually had to give up the role to Gene Kelly.
Consequently, Dailey served for the US Army as an army officer during World War II, now credited as Dan Dailey. During his service, he acted in the Propaganda film This Is the Army (Michael Curtiz, 1943). After the end of the war, MGM did not renew his contract, which led him to sign a contract with 20th Century Fox. Their association began brilliantly with Mother Wore Tights (Walter Lang, 1947) in which Dailey supported the studio's biggest star, Betty Grable. His part was built up during filming, and the film was Fox's biggest hit of 1947, making $5 million. Dailey soon grew to become one of the film studio's big stars, mainly playing the male lead in musicals.
American autograph card.
Dutch postcard by Takken / 't Sticht, no. 712. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Cracking up
Dan Dailey was reunited with Betty Grable in When My Baby Smiles at Me (Walter Lang, 1948). It was Fox's biggest hit of the year and garnered Dailey an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor at the 21st Academy Awards. Dailey starred in a film for John Ford, When Willie Comes Marching Home (John Ford, 1950), which was a mild success at the box office. A third teaming with Grable was in My Blue Heaven (Henry Koster, 1950). Dailey co-starred with Anne Baxter in A Ticket to Tomahawk (Richard Sale, 1950), often noted as one of the first screen appearances of Marilyn Monroe, who played a dance hall girl.
He made a fourth and final film with Betty Grable, Call Me Mister (Lloyd Bacon, 1951). IMDb: "In 1951, he checked himself into the Menninger Clinic for five months and, after his return to Hollywood, presented his experiences there frankly to Hedda Hopper and other reporters, pointing out that the necessity of this break from his hectic show business career was prompted by his 'cracking up'." Dailey made a second film with Ford, a remake of What Price Glory (John Ford, 1952), where he teamed with James Cagney.
In 1954, Dailey signed a new seven-year contract with Fox. Another highlight of his work for Fox was his role opposite Marilyn Monroe in There's No Business Like Show Business (Walter Lang, 1954), which featured Irving Berlin's music. There's No Business Like Show Business proved to be Dailey's biggest hit in a long time. In the late 1950s, he returned to his first film studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Dailey went to MGM to play GI-turned-advertising man Doug Hallerton in It's Always Fair Weather (Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen, 1955) alongside Gene Kelly. Dailey returned to Fox for one more musical, The Best Things in Life Are Free (Michael Curtiz, 1956), to play songwriter Ray Henderson opposite Gordon MacRae.
As the popularity of the musical genre waned in the late 1950s, Dailey saw his career threatened with it as well. He made a move to television and starred in The Four Just Men (1959–1960). His later films include Pepe (George Sidney, 1960) with Cantinflas, and Las Cuatro Noches de la Luna Llena / Four Nights of the Full Moon (Sobey Martin, 1963) with Gene Tierney and made in Spain. The latter is considered a lost film. During production, the producers ran out of money, and the project was shortened for television. Dailey lectured on the college circuit in later years, speaking on dance and motion, the art of acting in dance and the importance of acting to the dancer.
His final film was The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (Larry Cohen, 1977) starring Broderick Crawford. Dailey married his first wife, high school sweetheart Esther Rodier, in 1942. His second wife, Elizabeth Hofert, was a Los Angeles socialite with whom he had a son, Dan Jr. The couple divorced in 1951, and his son committed suicide in 1975. From 1955 to 1960, he was married to Gwen Carter O'Connor, a former actress and the ex-wife of actor Donald O'Connor. His fourth wife, Carol Warner, was a dancer. Dan Dailey broke his hip in 1977 and required surgery. He died in autumn 1978 from complications of this operation. According to an in-depth article written by Frances Ingram in the January 2001 issue of Classic Images film magazine, Dan was buried in his favourite pink hunting jacket and singer and long-time friend John Raitt sang at his funeral.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 534. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Belgian postcard, no. 750. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
West German postcard by ISV, no. A 45. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Publicity still for There's No Business Like Show Business (Walter Lang, 1954).
Sources: Wikipedia (English and Dutch) and IMDb.
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