Edward Macdonald Carey
(March 15, 1913 – March 21, 1994) was an American
actor, best known for his role as the patriarch Dr. Tom Horton
on NBC's soap opera
Days of our Lives.
For almost three decades, he was the show's central cast
member.
Early life and career
Born in
Sioux City,
Iowa
, Carey graduated from the University of
Iowa
in Iowa City
with a bachelor's degree in 1935, after attending
the University of Wisconsin–Madison
for a year where he was a member of Alpha Delta Phi. He first made his
career starring in various
B-movies of the
1940s, 1950s and 1960s. He was known in many Hollywood circles as
"King of the Bs", sharing the throne with his "queen",
Lucille Ball.
After World War II
A successful radio actor and stage performer whose credits included
the hit Broadway show
Lady in the
Dark and the 1942 film
Wake Island, Carey joined the
Marines in 1943, staying in uniform for four years. In 1943 he
appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's
Shadow of a Doubt, filmed in Santa
Rosa, California. He returned to Paramount in 1947 in
Suddenly, It's Spring. He
continued with Paramount into the 1950s; by this time he had
slipped into more noticeable character roles, and transitioned to
westerns for a time, such as
The Great Missouri Raid (1951),
Outlaw Territory (1953)
and
Man or Gun (1958). Carey
played patriot
Patrick Henry in
John Paul Jones
(1959). He also appeared in
Blue
Denim (1959),
The
Damned (known as
These Are the Damned in the US)
(1963),
Tammy and the
Doctor (1963), and
End of the World (1977). Carey
played the part of Brother Ben in "The Incident of the Golden Calf"
on
Rawhide. He also
guest starred in the 1964-1965
sitcom
The Bing Crosby Show
on
ABC.
In 1956 Carey took over the role of the kindly small-town physician
Dr. Christian, a character created in the late 1930s by the
Danish-American actor
Jean Hersholt,
who had performed the part on radio and in films, and had
co-written a Dr. Christian novel. Carey portrayed Dr. Christian on
television for one season. Carey also played the starring role of
crusading Herb Maris in the 1950s
syndicated series
Lock-Up. A total of 78
episodes (then considered to be only two full
seasons) were made 1959–1961, but apparently Carey did not appear
in all of them.
Days of our Lives
For the
remainder of his career, he played Tom Horton on Days of our
Lives, from 1965 until his death in Beverly Hills,
California
from lung cancer in
1994. During this time, Carey suffered from a drinking
problem, and eventually joined
Alcoholics Anonymous in 1982. A
longtime pipe smoker, he was seen in many films and early episodes
of
Days of our Lives with it. He was ordered by his doctor
to quit in September 1991 after having to take a leave of absence
from
Days in order to remove a cancerous tumor from one of
his lungs. He returned to the show in November of that year.
He is most recognized today, over a decade after his passing, as
the voice who recites the
epigraph each day before the program
begins: "
Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of
our Lives". From 1966 to 1994, he would also intone, "
This
is Macdonald Carey, and these are the Days of our Lives."
(After Carey's passing, the producers, out of respect for Carey's
family, decided not to use the second part of the opening tagline).
At each intermission, his voice also says "
We will return for
the second half of Days of our Lives
in just a
moment". Since the Horton family is still regarded as the core
of
Days of our Lives, his memory has been allowed to
remain imprinted on the show by leaving the voice-overs intact. He
also served as voice-over for the very first
PBS ident, in which he said
"This is PBS ... the Public Broadcasting Service."
Macdonald Carey wrote several books of poetry and a 1991
autobiography, "The Days of My Life".
For his contribution
to television, Carey has a star on the Hollywood Walk
of Fame
, at 6536 Hollywood Boulevard
.
Personal life
He was married to Elizabeth Hecksher from 1943 until their divorce
in 1969. They had six children. Later, he dated Lois Kraines, who
was his significant other from 1973 on.
He is
buried at Holy Cross Cemetery
in Culver City, California
, alongside his daughter Lisa, who died in
infancy. Carey also had five other children: Lynn, Theresa,
Steven, Edward Macdonald Jr., and Paul.
Carey's daughter Theresa is the mother of
Survivor: Panama Exile
Island winner
Aras
Baskauskas.
Lynn Carey was a 70's
Penthouse Pet and well
respected singer, providing music for
Russ
Meyer's legendary
cult classic film
Beyond the Valley of
the Dolls.
Awards
References
- http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/fulldetail/id/199081
- http://tv.yahoo.com/macdonald-carey/contributor/241997
External links
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