Macdonald Carey

Edward Macdonald Carey was born on March 15, 1913, in Sioux City, Iowa, and died on March 21, 1994, in Beverly Hills, California. He attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison for one year, where he joined Alpha Delta Phi, before transferring to the University of Iowa in Iowa City, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1935. His involvement with the drama program at Iowa set him on a path toward a professional acting career.

Before reaching Broadway, Carey toured with the Globe Players and established himself in radio, taking on the role of Dick Grosvenor in the soap opera Stella Dallas and Ridgeway Tearle in John's Other Wife, both in the early 1940s. He also appeared on the radio program Lights Out. His Broadway debut came in 1941 with Lady in the Dark, in which he performed opposite Gertrude Lawrence, Danny Kaye, and Victor Mature. The production led directly to a contract offer from Paramount Pictures. Carey later reflected that 1941 was a pivotal year, noting that he also married and signed with Paramount that same year, though he attributed gaps in his memory of the period to his alcoholism.

Carey made his film debut in Star Spangled Rhythm in 1942. Paramount cast him in Take a Letter, Darling that same year, directed by Mitchell Leisen, followed by Dr. Broadway, his first starring role, and Wake Island, directed by John Farrow. Alfred Hitchcock borrowed him from Paramount to play the romantic lead in Shadow of a Doubt in 1943, opposite Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright. His film momentum was interrupted when he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He received his commission in early 1944, attended fighter director school at Camp Murphy in Orlando, Florida, and subsequently served with Air Warning Squadron 3 on Espiritu Santo, Bougainville, and Mindanao.

Returning to Paramount in 1947, Carey resumed leading roles in several films directed by Leisen, including Suddenly, It's Spring with Paulette Goddard, Hazard again with Goddard, and Dream Girl with Betty Hutton. He played Cesare Borgia in Bride of Vengeance in 1948 alongside Goddard, though the film was a commercial failure. He appeared as the villain in the Western Streets of Laredo in 1949, with William Holden in the lead, and co-starred as Nick Carraway in Alan Ladd's adaptation of The Great Gatsby the same year. Universal borrowed him for Comanche Territory with Maureen O'Hara and South Sea Sinner with Shelley Winters, both in 1950. Back at Paramount he appeared in the film noir The Lawless, directed by Joseph Losey, and played a villain opposite Ray Milland in Copper Canyon, directed by Farrow. He portrayed Jesse James in The Great Missouri Raid in 1951 and supported Red Skelton at MGM in Excuse My Dust. At 20th Century Fox he appeared alongside Betty Grable in Meet Me After the Show and Claudette Colbert in Let's Make It Legal, both in 1951. His film work continued through the early 1950s with titles including Count the Hours with Teresa Wright, Hannah Lee, and Malaga with Maureen O'Hara.

Carey returned to Broadway in 1954 with Anniversary Waltz, directed by Moss Hart, which ran for two years. His Broadway career thus spanned from 1941 to 1954, encompassing both Lady in the Dark and Anniversary Waltz.

During his film years Carey also built a substantial television résumé, appearing in episodes of Celanese Theatre, Lux Video Theatre, General Electric Theater, Climax, and Playhouse 90, among many others. He played Fred Gaily in a remake of Miracle on 34th Street for The 20th Century Fox Hour, and starred in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Coyote Moon." In 1956 he took over the role of Dr. Christian, a character originated by Jean Hersholt, for one season of a syndicated television series. He starred as crusading attorney Herb Maris in the syndicated series Lock-Up, which produced seventy-eight episodes between 1959 and 1961. He also appeared in The Outer Limits episode "The Special One" and guest starred on numerous series including Wagon Train, Rawhide, Burke's Law, and Bewitched. He played Patrick Henry in the 1959 film John Paul Jones, directed by Farrow, and traveled to England to make The Devil's Agent and The Damned, the latter directed by Joseph Losey.

Beginning in 1965, Carey took on the role of patriarch Dr. Tom Horton on NBC's daytime drama Days of Our Lives, a part he held from the program's first episode until his death. He won two Daytime Emmy Awards for the performance. He became widely recognized as the voice delivering the program's daily epigraph: "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives." From 1966 to 1994 he also introduced each episode with the words, "This is Macdonald Carey, and these are the Days of Our Lives." Carey joined Alcoholics Anonymous in 1982 after a prolonged struggle with alcohol. In September 1991 he took a leave of absence from the show to have a cancerous tumor removed from one of his lungs, returning to the cast in November of that year. He continued in the role until his death from lung cancer on March 21, 1994.