Betty Corday (born Elizabeth Shay; March 21, 1912 – November 17, 1987) was a

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

dramatic actress and long-time American

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon ...

. She co-created and executive produced the long running

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

drama ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...

'' from 1966 until her death in 1987.

Biography

Stage

Corday had previously been a

stage actress, starring in "one flop after another" before marrying her husband, a

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

-born lawyer. They were married from 1942 until his death in 1966. They had two sons, Chris and

Ken Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine. * Ken Masters, a main character in ...

Radio

Corday produced such radio soaps as ''

Pepper Young's Family ''Pepper Young's Family'' is a daytime drama series, with various format and title changes during its long run from 1932 to 1959. It was created and written by short story author and playwright Elaine Sterne Carrington. History With Burgess Mered ...

'' and ''

Young Dr. Malone ''Young Doctor Malone'' (a.k.a. ''Young Dr. Malone'') is an American soap opera, created by Irna Phillips, which had a long run on radio and television from 1939 to 1963. The producer was Betty Corday (1912–1987), who also produced '' Pepper You ...

''.

Television

Becoming executive producer after the death of her husband,

Ted Corday Theodore "Ted" Corday (May 8, 1908 – July 23, 1966) was a Canadian-American producer, director and co-creator of soap opera for NBC, most notably the hit series ''Days of Our Lives''. Biography Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Corday graduated ...

(credited as Mrs. Ted Corday), she was the

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...

of ''

'' from 1966 to 1985. She semi-retired in 1985, turning control over to her son,

. She kept the title of executive producer until her death in November 1987. In addition to her work on ''Days of our Lives'', Corday was a

consultant A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servi ...

for ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...

''.

Death

Betty Corday died at age 75 on November 17, 1987 from respiratory failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center,

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Executive producing tenure

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Corday, Betty 1912 births 1987 deaths American stage actresses Place of birth missing Days of Our Lives Soap opera producers American women television producers 20th-century American actresses