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This lively Scottish character actress enjoyed a career spanning seven decades, during which she enlivened the Broadway stage in the 1950s and 1960s with roles ranging from the determined milliner Irene Malloy to Queen Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother. She also made a significant impact on television, captivating daytime audiences by holding her own against Susan Lucci’s Erica Kane character (later becoming her surrogate mother) and delivering sharp moral lessons to other notorious Pine Valley residents on the classic soap opera All My Children (1970).
Eileen Herlie, born Eileen Herlihy on March 8, 1918, in Glasgow, Scotland, was the daughter of a Catholic father and a Protestant mother. She trained and performed extensively with the Scottish National Players before moving to England, where she worked closely with the legendary director Tyrone Guthrie. She made her official stage debut in 1938 with Sweet Aloes and went on to appear in plays such as Rebecca (1942), Peg o' My Heart (1943), The Little Foxes (1944), John Gabriel Borkman (1944), The Second Mrs. Tanqueray (1944), The School for Scandal (1945), and Anna Christie (1945). She made a memorable impression as Queen Gertrude in Hamlet in late 1945. Her film debut was in the costume drama Hungry Hill (1947), supporting Margaret Lockwood and Dennis Price, but her major breakthrough came when Laurence Olivier cast her as Queen Gertrude in his film adaptation of Hamlet (1948), despite her being 11 years younger than Olivier, who won an Oscar for his performance. Years later, she again received acclaim playing Gertrude in the 1964 Broadway production of Hamlet starring Richard Burton, as well as in the accompanying 1964 film.
Despite this early film success alongside Olivier, Eileen rarely appeared in movies afterward. Instead, she remained devoted to the theatre. While she delivered strong performances in films such as The Angel with the Trumpet (1950), Gilbert and Sullivan (1953), Uncle Willie's Bicycle Shop (1953), Cocktails in the Kitchen (1954), She Didn't Say No (1958), and Freud (1962), her most rewarding roles were on stage. She earned praise for performances in The Eagle Has Two Heads (1946), Medea (1948, title role), The Way of the World (1953), and Venice Preserv'd (1953).
The fiery red-haired Scot made her Broadway debut in 1955 as Irene Molloy, a hat shop owner, in the hit production of The Matchmaker alongside Ruth Gordon as Dolly Levi. She also appeared in New York musicals, co-starring with Jackie Gleason in the nostalgic Take Me Along (1960), which earned her a Tony nomination, and with Ray Bolger in All-American (1962). Elsewhere, she starred in two of Peter Ustinov’s plays, Photo Finish (1963) and Halfway Up the Tree (1967), and continued her regal portrayals as Queen Mary opposite George Grizzard’s Edward VIII in Crown Matrimonial (1973). She had previously played the same role in a 1972 TV film alongside Richard Chamberlain as Edward VIII and Faye Dunaway as Wallis Simpson. Her last stage appearance was in The Great Sebastians (1974) in Chicago with Werner Klemperer, and her final film role was a featured part in Chekhov’s The Sea Gull (1968), directed by Sidney Lumet and featuring a stellar cast including Simone Signoret, Vanessa Redgrave, David Warner, and James Mason.
In 1976, Herlie transitioned permanently to daytime soap operas. She portrayed Myrtle Lum Fargate, a lively, plump carnival worker who later refined herself to run a boutique on All My Children (1970). Audiences adored her grounded character, whose straightforwardness, strong integrity, sharp wit, and kind heart made her one of Pine Valley’s most cherished residents. She remained on the show for over thirty years.
Twice divorced and without children, Eileen passed away at age 90 on October 8, 2008, due to pneumonia complications. The dedicated actress continued working almost until the end, last appearing as her All My Children character in June 2008.
