- Born
- Died
- Birth nameCatherine Dailey
- Brassy, gangly Cass Daley, the daughter of a streetcar conductor, started her career as a band vocalist. She displayed a flair for zany comedy that made her a big hit in nightclubs and on radio, and she started working in films in the early 1940s. Her eccentric, off-the-wall singing and dancing combined with her gawky, buck-toothed appearance endeared her to movie audiences in the 1940s and 1950s, most notably in knockabout comics Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson's Crazy House (1943), in which she played both herself and a goofy lookalike, "Sadie Silverfish". She retired from films in the 1950s and made only occasional appearances into the 1970s. She died in a freak accident at home when she fell over a glass table and a shard of broken glass slashed her neck, causing her to bleed to death.
- IMDb mini biography by: frankfob2@yahoo.com
- SpousesRobert John Williamson(February 12, 1966 - March 22, 1975) (her death)Frank Kinsella(February 9, 1941 - 1965) (divorced, 1 child)
- The late "Mamas and Papas" pop/folk singer Cass Elliot, whose real name was Ellen Naomi Cohen, called herself Cass in tribute to Ms. Daley.
- She was a regular on the radio series, "The Fitch Bandwagon," for which she was voted radio's most popular comedienne.
- Some of her songs recorded for Decca Records include: "Abba Dabba Honeymoon", "Put the Blame on Mame" and "A Good Man Is Hard to Find".
- Died after a fall on broken glass that severed her jugular vein.
- Originally a Plain-Jane torch singer, she was upstaged during one of her singing performances by a buffoonish emcee Red Skelton and was inspired to switch to outright comedy. Her first husband, Frank Kinsella, a talent agent who became her manager as well, persuaded her to incorporate her two gifts -- singing and slapstick.
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