Grace Carney (1911-2009) was an American actress who worked in early television, and performed in both On and Off-Broadway stage productions. From 1950 through 1954 she played Mabel King on the '' Rocky King Detective'' television series. At the age of 67 Carney became president of United Tool and Die, a company that produced aircraft components. Carney was born on September 15, 1911, in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

. Her father was John J. Carney, who founded United Tool and Die in the 1920s. After graduating from Hartford’s Bulkeley High School she moved to New York City to begin an acting career.

Acting career

Early in Carney’s career she worked in theatrical stock companies, and performed as part of the ensemble in her first Broadway show, ''Fantasia'', in 1933. Her other Broadway stage credits are: Birdie Monyhan in

Donnybrook! ''Donnybrook!'' is a musical, with music and lyrics by Johnny Burke and book by Robert E. McEnroe. It is based on the 1952 film ''The Quiet Man''. Production ''Donnybrook!'' opened on Broadway at the 46th Street Theatre on May 18, 1961 and c ...

(1961); Madge (understudy) and Lizzy Sweeney (understudy) in

Philadelphia, Here I Come! ''Philadelphia, Here I Come!'' is a 1964 play by Irish dramatist Brian Friel. Set in the fictional town of Ballybeg, County Donegal, the play launched Friel onto the international stage. Plot ''Philadelphia, Here I Come!'' centres around Gareth ...

(1966); Mrs. Winemiller in The ''Eccentricities of a Nightingale'' (1976); Angel in Vieux Carre (1977); Mrs. Snowden in ''Angel'' (1978); and Mrs. Polianoffsky in ''My Old Friends'' (1979). Carney also found work in early television, when most TV shows were broadcast from New York City. On May 24, 1946 she played the Divorcee in ''Angels Don’t Marry'', which was broadcast live on the

DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...

. From 1949 to 1956 Carney had roles in at least four episodes of

Kraft Television Theatre ''Kraft Television Theatre'' is an American anthology drama television series running from 1947 to 1958. It began May 7, 1947 on NBC, airing at 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings until December of that year. It first promoted MacLaren's Imperial Chees ...

, including ''Payment Deferred'' (1949) and ''Time Lock'' (1956). From 1950 to 1954 Carney played Mabel King on the

series '' Rocky King Detective''. As an economy measure Carney was heard, but not seen, as the wife of Detective Rocky King. DuMont always suffered from limited funds, and in an early episode Carney was asked to play both the detective’s wife and a woman connected to the crime being investigated. Since the thirty-minute series was broadcast live there wasn’t time for Carney to change her clothing and make-up, so she spoke her Mable lines offscreen. The audience enjoyed the novelty of a character that was never seen, and so Carney continued to speak her lines out of camera range.Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946 – Present'' (Seventh Edition), Ballantine Books, 1999, page 866. Carney also had roles on ''

The Phil Silvers Show ''The Phil Silvers Show'', originally titled ''You'll Never Get Rich'', is a sitcom which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959. A pilot titled "Audition Show" was made in 1955, but it was never broadcast. 143 other episodes were broadcast – all half-a ...

'' and '' Route 66''. She played Mrs. Weyerhaus in the 1970 film ''

The Owl and the Pussycat "The Owl and the Pussy-cat" is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published in 1870 in the American magazine '' Our Young Folks: an Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls'' and again the following year in Lear's own book ''Nonsense Songs, S ...

''.

Businesswoman

In 1979 Carney became president of United Tool and Die in order to continue the family ownership of the company founded by her father. During her time as head of the company she donated $1.2 million dollars to the

University of Hartford The University of Hartford (UHart) is a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut. Its main campus extends into neighboring Hartford and Bloomfield. The university attracts students from 48 states and 43 countries. The university and it ...

, to be used for scholarships. In 1997, after running United Tool and Die for thirteen years, Carney turned over operations of the company to Joseph Wagner, a longtime employee and administrator. Grace Carney died in

Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census. History ...

on March 25, 2009, at the age of 97.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carney, Grace 1911 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American actresses American television actresses Businesspeople from Connecticut American stage actresses Actresses from Hartford, Connecticut 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen 21st-century American women