Helen Gallagher, who won two Tony Awards on Broadway, has died. She was 98.
Gallager passed away Sunday at a hospital in Manhattan.
Her death was confirmed by Edith Meeks, the executive and artistic director at New York’s Herbert Berghof Studio, where Gallagher taught classes.
Playbill released a statement on Instagram about Gallagher’s death.
“We are saddened to report that two-time Tony winner Helen Gallagher has passed away at the age of 98. Our condolences go out to her family, friends, and fans,” the statement read.
Gallagher received her first Tony for her role as Gladys Bumps in the 1952 revival of “Pal Joey.”
She won her second Tony in 1971 for the show “No, No, Nanette,” where she played Lucille Early. She also earned a Drama Desk Award for the performance.
Gallagher had her first starring role on Broadway in 1953’s “Hazel Flagg.” She went on to appear in the musicals “The Pajama Game,” “Mame,” “Finian’s Rainbow,” and “Sweet Charity,” which earned her another Tony nomination.
She also performed in revivals of “Guys and Dolls” and “Brigadoon.”
Gallagher’s final Broadway role was in “70, Girls, 70” in January 2000.
The late star also found success on the ABC soap opera “Ryan’s Hope.” She played Irish matriarch Maeve Ryan for the show’s 13-year duration from 1975 to 1989.
Gallagher’s performance won her three Daytime Emmy Awards out of five nominations.
“Ryan’s Hope was the best,” Gallagher said in a 1997 interview with RyansBarOnline. “First of all, it was a half-hour show – wonderfully cast and wonderfully written. There were plenty of times when it was boring, but as a rule, it was really interesting – the people were centered and had work to do.”
“It wasn’t just a matter of sitting around on couches talking about your emotional problems,” she added. “There was a life going on in that place, maybe because it was centered on a bar. It was just magic.”
Gallagher exclaimed that “Ryan’s Hope” was the best written soap ever.
“And it’s not so much just the writing, it’s the whole situation,” she explained. “It lent to the complications of ordinary life, but at the same time, it had a foot in reality, which made it so much easier to play. It wasn’t Never Never Land. It was a person and a place. It was terrific!”
Additionally, Gallagher made guest appearances on the soaps “All My Children” and “One Life to Live.” In the 1990s, she guest starred on “Law & Order” and “The Cosby Mysteries.”
In film, Gallagher was in 1960’s “Strangers When We Meet” starring Kirk Douglas and Kim Novak and 1977’s “Roseland” starring Geraldine Chaplin and Christopher Walken.
Gallagher worked as a faculty member at Herbert Berghof Studio in the later years of her life.
