James Firman Daly, a distinguished character player, first appeared onstage in his hometown of Wisconsin Rapids in 1928. With a strong encouragement from his parents, he began acting from an early age. His father was in the fuel business, and his mother was a former CIA employee. Daly studied dramatic arts at various Midwestern colleges, eventually graduating from Grinnell College in Iowa.
After serving in all three branches of the military during World War II, Daly's acting career was put on hold. He landed a part as understudy to Gary Merrill in the long-running hit play "Born Yesterday" on Broadway in 1946. He quickly gained recognition, winning a Daniel Blum Award for his performance in "Man and Superman" in 1949.
Daly went on to have a busy time on stage, co-starring with Helen Hayes in "The Glass Menagerie" in 1950 and collecting the Theater Guild Award as the star of "Major Barbara" that same year. He also appeared in notable roles such as "Billy Budd," "Saint Joan," "The Merchant of Venice," and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" on tour with Colleen Dewhurst.
Daly was a hard-working actor who diversified into different media, recognizing the potential of live television drama. He made his small-screen debut in the late 1940s and soon starred in early Playhouse productions. He then featured in his own weekly syndicated series, "Foreign Intrigue," about a family of foreign correspondents in Europe, which was one of the first TV shows to be shot on location.
Throughout the next twenty years, Daly remained in demand as a reliable leading television actor with "gravitas," often playing tragic or despairing figures. He was commanding as the titular star of "Give Us Barabbas!" in 1961 and won an Emmy for his role in the Hallmark Hall of Fame episode "The Eagle and the Cage" in 1965.
Daly also appeared in several notable television episodes, including "The Twilight Zone" episode "A Stop at Willoughby," where he played a salesperson driven to the brink of a nervous breakdown, and "The Invaders" pilot episode "Beach-Head," where he was David Vincent's ill-fated business partner and friend. He also had a memorable role as "Flint," the solitary near-immortal, in the Star Trek episode "Requiem for Methuselah."
Daly had a recurring role in the long-running series "Medical Center" as the resident "elder statesman" to young surgeon Chad Everett. He had just completed filming on an episode of "Roots: The Next Generations" and was scheduled to appear in the play "Equus" at the historic Westchester Theatre, Tarrytown Music Hall, when he died of a heart attack at the age of 59.
