Cass Daley Collection

Cass Daley
(1915 – 1975)

We usually suppose that the first thing a starlet needs to make it in Hollywood is exceptional beauty. In a town that is filled with exceptional beauty, pretty soon it becomes not so exceptional. There are plenty of actresses who make it on their personality.

One day in the summer of 1915, an Irish streetcar conductor in Philadelphia came home to find the newborn baby girl who would later joke that the doctor had slapped the wrong end. Little Cass began singing in front of stores along her father's streetcar route. When she was a little older, she found a job in a nightclub working as an electrician and hat-check girl, and was also allowed to sing occasionally. Although she was by no means a classic beauty, Cass turned her pronounced overbite into a comic virtue and sold the song whenever she was allowed on stage.

In the 1930s, Dally moved to New York and was featured in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1936-1937. Cass's first husband, Frank Kinsella, convinced her to incorporate both of her gifts, singing and slapstick, into her act. Hollywood called in the 1940s, where her zany comedic sense paid off in films like The Fleet's In (1942) with Dorothy Lamour, Crazy House (1943) with Ole Johnson and Chic Johnson, and Riding High (1944) with Dick Powell and Dorothy Lamour.

Although Cass was hardly the pin-up girl type, she was extremely popular with the troops at USO shows overseas. She made several appearances on AFRS broadcasts like Command Performance and Mail Call. She also appeared with Bob Burns on The Life Buoy Program and was the featured comedienne on The Fitch Bandwagon. Time magazine named Cass Daley as the most popular comedienne in radio.

With radio in decline, after divorcing Kinsella Cass moved to Newport Beach and went into semi-retirement to raise her son. She still appeared in film occasionally, and made numerous guest appearances on television. On March 22, 1975, Cass's second husband, Robert Williamson, came home to find Cass dead of a tragic accident. While home alone, she had apparently stumbled and died from injuries from falling into a glass table. 

Two Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame honor Cass Daley, one at 6301 Hollywood Blvd for her work in Television, and another at 6710 Hollywood Blvd for her contributions to Radio. Cass's Television Star shares its location with Stars honoring Desi Arnaz and Marie Wilson's contributions to Radio. Her Radio Star shares its location with a Star honoring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. for Radio.