Monday, May 25, 2026

RIP Helen Gallagher, 98, Two Time Tony Award Winner, Emmy Winning Star of “Ryan’s Hope”

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Helen Gallagher has passed away at age 98.

What a life! Winner of two Tony Awards on Broadway, Gallagher was best known to TV audiences as the star of the ABC soap, “Ryan’s Hope.” She played wise matriarch Maeve Ryan from 1975 to 1989 when the show ended.

One of Gallagher’s Tony Awards was for the revival of “No, No, Nanette,” the massively successful musical.

But it was “Ryan’s Hope” that became the cornerstone of her career. She won three Daytime Emmy Awards as Best Actress for playing Maeve with a lilting Irish accent. She was clearly from the stage world, and on a whole different level than most TV stars during daytime or primetime.

She will be sorely missed and always remembered.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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