Dana Delany

Dana Delany at 1991 Emmy Awards

Dana Welles Delany (born March 13, 1956) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She is known for her role as Colleen McMurphy on the ABC television show China Beach (1988–91), in more recent times as Katherine Mayfair on Desperate Housewives. She has spoken candidly to reporters about her sex life, philosophy on living, career choices, tastes, charitable projects, and background. Delany has been active in film, television, and stage since the late 1970s.

Biography

Early life

Delany was born in New York City to parents of Irish descent. She has remarked that, even as a child, she always wanted to go into acting. "The reason a person first gets into acting is because you want attention from your parents as a child," she told a reporter. In her childhood, she went with her family to many Broadway shows, and was fascinated by films. She recalled later about her childhood that, at the time, she thought "adults had all the answers" and described her attitude towards adults as "respectful."

While growing up in Stamford, Connecticut, she applied for admission to Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. At 16, she wrote an essay predicting where she would be in twenty years:

The final curtain falls and another day comes to an end. This is my life -- the theater. At age 36, many women have married, settled down, and raised a family, but that is not for me. My day does not begin with crying babies and a husband late for work, but with the dimming of lights, the rise of the curtain, and the current of magic between actor and audience. This is living to me.

Her prediction bore fruit; she said (in 2010): "I think you know everything as a child, and then sometimes it's smooshed out of you." She attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts for her senior year, and was a member of the school's first co-educational class, and was a classmate of future artist Julian Hatton. "Andover was the best time of my life," she recalled. She played the lead role of Nellie Forbush in the school's spring musical production of South Pacific. She commented: "It was just a little awkward to be Nellie at first because she hesitates to marry Emile since he had once lived with a Polynesian woman -- I don't agree with her reasoning so that made things a bit hard at the beginning." She graduated in 1974 with the academic honor of "cum laude" which was awarded to 80 out of 378 graduating seniors. She majored in theater at Wesleyan University, worked in summer stock productions during vacations, and graduated in 1978.

1980s: Stage, television, China Beach

Delany at the 1992 Emmy awards

After college, she found acting work in New York City in daytime soap operas. She starred in the Broadway show A Life. She won critical acclaim in 1983 in Nicholas Kazan's off-Broadway Blood Moon. New York Times critic Mel Gussow cited her "skillful verisimilitude" handling a difficult part requiring two roles "and she does them both with authority." He elaborated: "The impressionable Miss Delany is alternately tantalized and suspicious, but even as the audience senses that she is in jeopardy, she allows herself to fall under Mr. Canary's spell ... Miss Delany has to step awkwardly in and out of scenes and to address the audience."

Delany moved to Hollywood and during the next few years found work guest starring in TV shows like Moonlighting and Magnum, P.I.. Some roles had dark undercurrents requiring deft handling; for example, in the Moonlighting episode "Knowing Her", she played detective David Addison's seemingly friendly ex-girlfriend while secretly planning his murder. These guest appearances led to the leading role in a major television series.

Dana Delany's first audition for the lead role of nurse Colleen McMurphy was unsuccessful. "They thought I wasn't pretty enough", she said in an interview, but heeding advice from director Paul Schrader, she "cut her long tresses into a bob" and re-auditioned with this new haircut, successfully, after the producers lost their first choice. She won the lead role on the critically acclaimed China Beach, which appeared weekly from 1988 to 1991 and brought intense media attention to the actress. This role not only garnered two Emmy Awards, but two other Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations. New York Times TV critic John J. O'Connor wrote: "Ms. Delany, whose clean-cut, no-frills style is consistently refreshing, clearly serves as the anchor figure in the weekly repertory company ... Her character can't help radiating compassion from beneath the protective shell she uses to cope with the horrors of war." She bought a three-story house on a quiet street not far from the beach during these years which has an outdoor pool. She described China Beach as a critical hit but which "never really got the numbers." But after several seasons the show suffered from mediocre ratings and was discontinued in 1991.

1990s: Movies, television, voice

As a celebrity and talented actor, Delany was particularly attractive not only for her acting talent but with men. Actor and director Diane Keaton commented that "across the board, men love Dana" and that "she's got a special thing with them" and said "she's got the world's most perfect body." In 1991, Dana Delany was chosen by People magazine as one of the "50 most beautiful people in the world." In the years following China Beach, Delany worked steadily in television, movies, theater. In addition, she established herself as a significant voice talent.

What guided her selection of roles? She said it's instinct, intuition, good writing, and a chance to work with talented people. And during these years, there was a variety of opportunities for her to work on numerous projects in film, theater, and television. Delany won leading roles in a string of feature films. One script made her weep "from beginning to end", she said in an interview, and she agreed to appear in the TV movie A Promise to Keep (1991) about a woman who raises her dead sister's four children. She appeared in Light Sleeper (1992), a film with "mordant wit and ... rigorous, unfakable honesty" according to New Yorker critic Terrence Rafferty. She starred alongside comedian Steve Martin in the film Housesitter (1992), a film which earned mixed to negative reviews. She appeared in Tombstone (1993), a movie dubbed by one critic as a "designer western". The movie Fly Away Home (1996) featured Canadian geese flying after an ultra-light aircraft which leads them to safety, described by one critic as a sentimental film which "allows us to enjoy our emotions without feeling we've been criminally manipulated." She appeared in Wild Palms (1993). described by television critics as "a total original" and a "denser and more disorienting" version of the TV series Twin Peaks which establishes a "consistent mood of subtle menace."

Delany took on controversial roles, such as Mistress Lisa in Exit to Eden (1994). This film, aiming for a sweet spot between wholesomeness and X-rated fare, was adapted from the Anne Rice book and earned mixed to negative reviews; at one point, Delany appears naked. A Tampa Bay film critic commented "The script was awful -- Dana looked great." Delany commented in a 2008 interview about the audience reaction: "I had already got pilloried for playing the Exit to Eden dominatrix after China Beach because audiences had a certain image of me as Colleen and didn’t want to see it change." The provocatively titled Live Nude Girls included frank discussion by women of their sexual fantasies at a bachelorette party using a low-budget improvisational comedy format with strong chemistry between the actors. Reviews were mixed: Los Angeles Times critic Richard Natale liked the film but wrote older male film executives believed it to be "uncommercial"; another critic agreed it was "genuine girl talk" but "didn't have a lot of substance" and viewers "don't get to know the characters in the film". She also starred as Margaret Sanger in the TV movie Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story (1995), about a controversial nurse who crusaded for women's reproductive rights in the early 1900s.

In 1995, Delany appeared in the Broadway show Translations. New York Times critic Vincent Canby wrote it had an "able cast" but "uninspired" direction. In May 1997, Delany returned to her alma mater Phillips Academy to work with theater students as an artist-in-residence. She appeared in TV movies such as True Women (1997) and Resurrection (1999).

In 1998, Delany reportedly turned down the role of Carrie Bradshaw in the hit TV show Sex and the City. She commented in a subsequent interview: "The show’s creator Darren Star asked me to play Carrie ... Darren got the idea of televising Candace Bushnell’s Sex and the City from seeing me and Kim (Kim Cattrall) in Live Nude Girls." Delany declined the role partly after remembering the negative audience reaction she received with a similar film, Exit to Eden, a few years back. Sex and the City became a successful series, and the role of Carrie made Sarah Jessica Parker world-famous.

Delany played a gun-toting mother in an episode of the TV series Family Law (1999) for which she earned an Emmy nomination, but the series was not rerun due to sponsorship withdrawal.

In 2007, she recorded an audio book Life on the Refrigerator Door by author Alice Kuipers.

Work as Lois Lane

Dana Delany did substantial voice work periodically. She portrayed Andrea Beaumont in the 1993 animated feature film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm based on the popular TV show Batman: The Animated Series. Delany's voice performance in the film impressed filmmakers and led to her being cast as Lois Lane in Superman: The Animated Series. She was also mentioned by name in the theme song of Animaniacs, another Warner Bros. production. She reprised her role as Lois Lane for the character's guest appearances in Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, and The Batman. Coincidentally, Delany's future Desperate Housewives co-star, Teri Hatcher, also portrayed Lois Lane on the live-action TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

2000s: Television, movies, stage, Desperate Housewives

Delany, Teri Hatcher, Brenda Strong and Andrea Bowen at the 2009 GLAAD Media Awards.

Delany continued to find work in a variety of projects, doing pilots, TV series, made-for-TV movies, and feature films. She appeared in the NBC drama Good Guys/Bad Guys (2000), which Newsweek termed a "Sopranos knock-off". She appeared in the short-lived Pasadena (2001), a critically acclaimed Fox production which was "underpromoted and endlessly pre-empted" and described as a "twisted rich-family saga" with a "great cast". It was about a newspaper family with "long closeted skeletons"; Delany didn't reveal her secret until the last episode when she "let go" with "exquisitely calibrated emotion," and this led a reporter to describe her as the "master of the slow reveal". Delany commented in an interview: "You can see Pasadena as a black comedy or see it as really tragic. A lot of soaps on television now don't have that layer of tragedy to them." She was an actor and co-executive producer of the film Final Jeopardy (2001). New York Daily News TV critic David Bianculli gave a positive review to both her performance as an actor -- "Delany, as always, does pensive and independent better than most actresses" -- and as a producer. She played a doctor in the TV series Presidio Med (2002), described as a "conventional but pleasant drama populated by characters dedicated to medicine who also have messy personal lives." She appeared in TV movies such as A Time to Remember (2003), and Baby for Sale (2004). She appeared in feature films by indie film producers, such as The Outfitters (1999), Mother Ghost (2002), and Spin (2003).

Returning to theater, she played an artsy and incompetent woman who questions the "imposed conventions of society" after discovering her husband's affair in the Pulitzer-prize winning Dinner With Friends (2000, New York City, Los Angeles, Boston); her performance earned positive reviews generally. She played Beatrice in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (2003, San Diego); one critic described the "verbal sparring" between Delany and actor Billy Campbell as a "joy".

From 2004 to 2006, Delany played many guest roles on TV shows, such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Boston Legal, Kojak, Related, The L Word, and Battlestar Galactica. She also starred in the short-lived TV series Kidnapped (2006). One critic wrote "Delany is alternately furious and despondent as Ellie, and she and Hutton (Timothy Hutton) can do more without words than other actors can do with pages of dialogue. They’re absolutely convincing as rich, complicated Manhattanites and as parents who come face to face with the scary reality that they can’t always protect their kids."

Delany appeared as a guest on numerous TV talk shows throughout her career, including Xpose, The Bonnie Hunt Show, Rachael Ray, Live With Regis and Kathie Lee, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The View, The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, The Martin Short Show, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, Late Show with David Letterman, The Larry Sanders Show, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. She was a presenter at the Emmy awards.

The actress appeared as herself in the TV documentary Vietnam Nurses with Dana Delany which explored their lives and treatment after returning to the United States. Delany has become "something of a heroine to the nurses who served in Vietnam", according to Los Angeles Times writer Susan King, who noted that the actress worked on a nationwide nurse recruitment program in 1990 called the McMurphy project.

In 2004 Delany initially declined the offer to play one of the four Desperate Housewives principal characters, Bree Van De Kamp.

Delany did a successful audition for Bree in 2004 by basing her performance on her own mother, an interior designer from Connecticut. Producer of Desperate Housewives Marc Cherry described Delany's audition as a "very intelligent, sly reading." But she turned down the part because she said it "felt too similar to what I'd just done in Pasadena, and I didn't want to go back to a series ... I wasn't ready." The show became a popular prime-time soap opera with substantial ratings.

In 2007, Delany appeared in the films A Beautiful Life, Camp Hope, and Multiple Sarcasms.

Later in 2007 she was again offered a role on Desperate Housewives by producer Marc Cherry, this time as a supporting housewife and guest actor, and she joined the cast of the well-established series for the 2007–08 season. Reaction to the addition of Delany was positive; one critic wrote "...casting Dana Delany as Katherine Mayfair in Season 4 is one of the smartest things Cherry has ever done ... Not many actors can deftly deliver both comedy and drama, but Delany makes it look easy." She commented about playing housewife Katherine Mayfair: "The hardest thing for me was figuring out the tone of the piece because it's such a specific tone - so it was more of an acting challenge than anything else." She commented in 2008: “I hope that she (Katherine Mayfair) doesn’t lose her snarkiness, because that’s always fun to play.” On May 13, 2008, it was announced that Delany would reprise her role on Desperate Housewives for season five, having been promoted to the sixth lead.

Personal and public life

Charitable activity

Since the mid-1990s, Delany has served on the board of the Scleroderma Research Foundation, and with her friend Sharon Monsky, she helped campaign for support in finding a cure for scleroderma. Working with director Bob Saget, she starred in the TV movie For Hope (1996), based on Saget's sister Gay, who had died as a result of the disease. She appeared as a contestant on Celebrity Jeopardy in 2001, 2006 and 2009 to raise money for scleroderma research. Scleroderma "robs these women of not only their own lives in many cases, but robs their families which include countless children," she explained in 2002.

Activism

Delany is a board member of the arts advocacy organization Creative Coalition. She appeared in June 2009 in an onstage meeting in New York alongside White House social secretary Desiree Rogers to discuss ways to promote American cinematic creativity. In August 2009 Delany was named co-president of the Creative Coalition, joining Tim Daly in the leadership of the organization. Delany explained her support for the arts in an interview: "I just think it's so important for children and the future of the country and people's general happiness. I'm one of those people who, whenever I feel cut off spiritually or emotionally, I go to a museum or a play or a movie, and I'm just transported." She participated as a celebrity guest in fundraising events which support the rights of same-sex couples to marry. In addition, she has supported Planned Parenthood. She attended the organization's 90th birthday celebration in New York City in 2006. Delany said: "It's hard to imagine where we'd be in this country had Margaret Sanger not founded that first clinic here in New York, 90 years ago." She attended events sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Delany attended Clinton's inaugural in 1993 but not Obama's in 2009. She explained "It's like the Academy Awards in some ways -- it's better to watch on TV" because of factors such as proximity.

Religion and philosophy

Delany has studied "a little bit of Buddhism" and describes herself in terms of religious beliefs as "ambivalent":

We live in a culture where that's not okay. But I've been studying a little bit of Buddhism, and the best thing is to say 'I don't know.' I love that now I'm at a point where I'm okay being ambivalent. I think that's the key to life, to be able to say that marriage or commitment scares you. Then you can do it.

Los Angeles magazine editor Margot Dougherty described Delany as a "disarming synthesis of opposites":

(She's) a star who is on a first-name basis with the guy who sells bootleg CDs on the block in New York where she rents an apartment, and a yogini of 30 years' standing who enjoys tossing back shots of tequila.

What's important for her is being true to herself. She drew comparisons between herself and actor George Clooney in an interview in More Magazine in March 2010, and noted these parallels: participation in charitable works, savvy acting choices, reputation for being a great and loyal friend, and no interest in marriage. In the interview, she suggested that she was like a female version of Clooney in some respects.

The possibility of marrying

Delany commented about her personal life in an interview in 2006: "I turned 50 and I'm ready to get married ... I don't know who he is yet but I'm ready ... He has to be smart, funny and kind." She added a year later: "Marriage has never been a big deal for me ... But I think I’m ready now ... I got to have all the fun in the world, to experience a lot of people and figure out what I really like." Delany (in 1988) said she doesn't find being a celebrity to be that appealing: "I'm not a 'personality'. I am never recognized, which I take as a compliment. I have a love-hate thing with publicity." She thinks of herself as a free spirit and said "I don't have any baggage, for better or worse. I don't have any plants or pets or kids. I can lock the door and go. I need to be with somebody for whom that's okay." Later, in 2010, she looked back on her comment in 2007 about possibly considering marriage, but said "I think I was still reacting to the outside world and society ... I feel so fulfilled in my life, and I’m so content being by myself that if (marriage) were to happen, that would be great, but it’s not a priority." She prefers people who "aren't set" and who are "still actively creating in their life," she said.

Delany has dated celebrities including Eagles performer Don Henley.

Candid talk about sexuality

According to one source, Delany has dated the Eagles' Don Henley, China Beach producer John Sacret Young, actors Treat Williams and Henry Czerny, and is still friends with them. In 2007, Delany described her sexuality in this way: "I'm much more conservative about sex than I used to be. I'm not capable now of having sex unless my heart is involved. Otherwise there's no point." She said in an interview in 2010 that she enjoys sex with men. She said:

Here’s the difference after 50: Your hormones change ... So much of our lives is driven by hormones – sexual, procreative hormones. Believe me, I’m still very sexual, but I’m sexual in a much more energetic, spiritual sense, which is deeper and more fun ... I had times with people where it was ego-driven or where you just wanted to have an orgasm. It was like, ‘Let’s get to the endgame.’ ... great sex means it can go on for hours ... you take a break. You eat something. You talk, you laugh, you hang out. It’s ongoing and it’s sexy, and your whole life can be like that. Of course, you end up having a lot of orgasms, which is a bonus.

Delany likes art by American artist John White Alexander who painted this Study in Black and Green; Delany has an earlier painting by Alexander called The Interview on her wall.

Other

She appreciates art. She has a painting on her wall by American artist John White Alexander. She does yoga and has been to an acupuncturist. Since the mid-1990s, she has had a notable Internet presence. She has participated in several online chat events promoting various projects. Her official web site, online since 1996, includes a guestbook in which she participates.

Filmography

Year	Film/Play/TV/Other	Role	Other notes
1964	Elementary school play	The letter "E"	second grade
1974	South Pacific	Nellie Forbush	musical at Phillips Academy
1978	Ryan's Hope	Ryan's bar patron
1979	Love of Life	Amy Russell
1980	A Life		Broadway play
1981	The Fan	Saleswoman in record store
	As the World Turns	Hayley Wilson Hollister
1983	Wisk detergent	lady in an elevator	TV commercial (opposite Tom McBride)
	Blood Moon	Innocent pre-med student	Off-broadway production by Nicholas Kazan
1984	Almost You	Susan McCall
	Threesome	Laura Shaper
	The Streets (TV)	Jeannie
1985	Moonlighting	Jillian Armstrong	"Knowing Her," Episode 206
	Magnum, P.I.	Cynthia Farrell	Episodes 7.1, 7.2, 7.19
1986	A Winner Never Quits	Nora
	Where the River Runs Black	Sister Ana
	Liberty	Moya Trevor
1987	Sweet Surrender	Georgia Holden
1988	Patty Hearst	Gelina
	Masquerade	Anne Briscoe
	Moon over Parador	Jenny
	thirtysomething	Eve	South by Southeast season 1, episode 10
	China Beach	Colleen McMurphy	62 episodes 1988-1991
1990	A Promise to Keep	Jane Goodrich
1992	Light Sleeper	Marianne
	Housesitter	Becky Metcalf
	Cheers	Susan Metheny	Season 11, Episode 11
1993	Wild Palms	Grace Wyckoff
	Donato and Daughter	Lieutenant Dena Donato
	Tombstone	Josephine Marcus
	Batman: Mask of the Phantasm	Andrea Beaumont	voice
1994	The Enemy Within	Betsy Corcoran
	Exit to Eden	Lisa Emerson
	Texan
1995	Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story	Margaret Sanger
	Live Nude Girls'	Jill
	Fallen Angels	Helen Fiske
	Translations	Maire	Broadway play (short-lived)
1996	Superman: The Animated Series	Lois Lane	voice (43 episodes 1996-2000)
	Fly Away Home	Susan Barnes
	The Adventures of Mowgli	Bagheera	(voice) English version
	For Hope	Hope Altman
	Wing Commander Academy	Gwen Archer Bowman	(voice) 13 episodes
1997	True Women	Sarah Ashby McClure
	Spy Game	Honey Trapp	Season 1, episode 4
	Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man	Dr. Susan Fox	(voice)
1998	Wide Awake	Mrs. Beal
	The Curve	Dr. Ashley
	Rescuers: Stories of Courage — Two Couples	Johtje Vos
	The Patron Saint of Liars	Rose Cleardon Abbott
	The Batman/Superman Movie: World's Finest	Lois Lane	voice
	Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu
1999	Outfitters	Cat Bonfaim
	Sirens	Sally Rawlings
	Resurrection	Clare Miller
	Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story	Elaine Gunn
2000	The Right Temptation	Anthea Farrow-Smith
	Dinner With Friends	Beth	Stage; Pulitzer-prize script
2001	Final Jeopardy	Alexandra Cooper	Delany was actor, co-executive producer
	Family Law	Mary Sullivan
	Pasadena	Catherine McAllister	13 episodes (2001-2002)
2002	Conviction	Martha
	Mother Ghost	Karen Bennett
	Superman: Shadow of Apokolips	Lois Lane	(voice)
	Presidio Med	Dr. Rae Brennan	2 episodes
2003	Intimate Portrait: Dana Delany	Herself
	Justice League	Lois Lane	voice (10 episodes 2003-2005)
	Spin	Margaret Swift-Bejarano
	A Time to Remember	Britt Calhoun	aka "Turning Homeward"
	Much Ado About Nothing	Beatrice	stage, San Diego
2004	Baby for Sale	Nathalie Johnson
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Carolyn Spencer	"Obscene," Episode 603
	Justice League Unlimited	Loana	(voice) "For the Man who has Everything"
	Boston Legal	Samantha Fleming	1 episode
2005	Related	Francesca Sorelli	Season 1, episodes 7,18
	Getting to Know You	Marla
	Kojak	Kate McNeil
2006	Battlestar Galactica	Sesha Abinell
	Superman: Brainiac Attacks	Lois Lane	voice
	The Woman with the Hungry Eyes	Theda Bara	voice
	Kidnapped	Ellie Cain	13 episodes (2006-2007)
	The L Word	Senator Barbara Grisham
	Vietnam Nurses with Dana Delany	Host	Documentary
2007	Drunkboat	Eileen
	The Batman	Lois Lane	voice (2 episodes)
	Life on the Refrigerator Door	Narrator	audio book by Alice Kuipers
2007–present	Desperate Housewives	Katherine Mayfair	41 episodes (2007-2009)
2008	Route 30	Amish Martha
	Flying Lessons	Jeanne
2009	Multiple Sarcasms	Annie
	A Beautiful Life	Anne
	Camp Hope	Patricia

Awards and nominations

Year	Result	Award	Category	Film or series
1989	Won	Emmy	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	China Beach
1990	Nominated	Emmy	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	China Beach
1991	Nominated	Emmy	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	China Beach
1992	Won	Emmy	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	China Beach
2001	Nominated	Emmy	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series	Family Law
1990	Nominated	Golden Globe	Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-series drama	China Beach
1991	Nominated	Golden Globe	Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-series drama	China Beach
1989	Won	Q	Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series	China Beach
1990	Won	Q	Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series	China Beach
1991	Won	Q	Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series	China Beach
2009	Won	Prism	Best Performance in a Comedy Series	Desperate Housewives
2008	Nominated	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Desperate Housewives
2009	Nominated	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Desperate Housewives
1998	Won	Lone Star Film & Television	Best TV Actress	True Women
2007	Nominated	TV Land Award	Lady you love to watch fight for her life in a movie of the week	Movie of the week

General source for awards:

Additional sources—Family Law: Prism: Screen Actors Guild: Lone Star Film & Television: TV Land: