According to TVLine, Helen Gallagher (Stranger When We Meet, Neptune’s Rocking Horse) has passed away at the age of 98. She died on Sunday, which was reported by her coworkers at the New York City’s Herbert Berghof Studio where she taught musical theater singing classes. Gallagher is most known for her role Maeve Ryan on the soap Ryan’s Hope on ABC. She is a three time Emmy winner.
Per TVLine, Gallagher started her acting career on stage, starting in Broadway productions such as No, No, Nanette, Sweet Charity and Pal Joey. She even won a few Tony awards. In 1975, she landed the role of Maeve Ryan who was an Irish-American mother of a large family living in New York City for the show Ryan’s Hope on ABC. The Drama aired for 13 years and offered roles for upcoming stars such as Kate Mulgrew (Throw Momma from the Train, Stretch Armstrong: The Breakout), Marg Helgenberger (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, A Dog’s Journey) and Christian Slater (Heathers, The Legend of Billie Jean).
As stated by TVLine, Gallagher stayed in Ryan’s Hope until it stopped writing in 1989. The season finale closed off with Maeve singing Danny Boy at the family bar, which was a fan favorite scene. She had been nominated for five Daytime Emmys for portraying Maeve and won three of them in 1976, 1977 and 1988. After Ryan’s Hope ended, she starred in other dramas such as All My Children, Another Word, Law & Order, One Life to Live, The Crosby Mysteries and many other shows and movies.
On August 27, another Ryan’s Hope star by the name of Ron Hale (General Hospital, The Lord Protector: The Riddle of the Chosen), who played Roger Coleridge, died at 78. It was released from a local funeral home in St. George, South Carolina and no cause of death had been released from a previous TVLine article. A previous mxdwn article also has more information which can be read here.