Betty Corday                     Ted Corday                         Irna Phillips





Elizabeth Shay Corday
March 21, 1912-November 17, 1987

     Elizabeth (Betty) Corday, creator and executive producer of the first color daytime television soap opera "Days of Our Lives," has died of respiratory failure. She was 75. Mrs. Corday, known to all in the industry as Betty, won a Daytime Drama Series Emmy for her work in 1978 and was nominated for three others. She died Monday, November 17 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
     A former actress and casting director, Mrs. Corday created the television series in 1965 with her husband, Ted. When he died of cancer a year later, she took over production of the show. Her son Kenneth currently is a co-producer of the series.
     Mrs. Corday began her career on Broadway, where she was "in one flop after another," she once said. It was in New York that she met Ted Corday, who had left his law practice in Canada to pursue a career as a stage director. They were married in 1942 and began their theatrical collaboration.
     Frances Reid, an original cast member of "Days of Our Lives," said Mrs. Corday was "absolutely marvelous with casting. She made it her business to know people." Reid said Mrs. Corday initially had difficulty persuading NBC that she was capable of producing "Days of Our Lives." "She finally got it firmly in her hands and kept it in the family for her and for Kenny," Reid said. Mrs. Corday also is survived by another son, Christopher. (Los Angeles Times, 11/20/87)

     Elizabeth Corday, the longtime executive producer of the daytime drama "Days of Our Lives," died of respiratory failure, Monday, November 17, 1987 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. She was 75 years old.
     Mrs. Corday, who won an Emmy for her work on "Days of Our Lives" in 1978, created the daytime television series- the first color soap opera - in 1965 with her husband, Ted. He died one year later.
     Mrs. Corday is survived by two sons: Kenneth, who is co-producer of the series, and Christopher. (New York Times, 11/20/87)
Theodore Corday
May 8, 1908-July 23, 1966

 

 

(Los Angeles Times, 7/25/66)
(New York Times, 7/25/66)
Irna Phillips
July 21, 1901-December 23, 1973
 
 
                                         (Chicago Tribune, 12/30/73)