Virginia Dwyer

Who was Virginia Dwyer?

Virginia Dwyer Gorman was an actress known for her roles in several daytime soap operas. From 1954 to 1962, she had roles on at least five daytime programs, including The Road of Life, The Secret Storm, Young Dr. Malone, Guiding Light, and As the World Turns. She was born in Omaha.

She was best known for her role as matriarch Mary Matthews on Another World, a role she played from the series premiere in 1964 until her departure in 1975. Although popular with the audience, she fell into disfavor with headwriter Harding Lemay, reportedly because she refused to learn her dialogue as written. Finally, Lemay had the Mary Matthews character die unexpectedly off-camera, thus eliminating Dwyer from the program. After being a regular performer on daytime television for over 20 years, Dwyer did not work on daytime again after leaving Another World. However, for an anniversary episode of Another World, she did reprise her role as Mary Matthews in a dream sequence in which George Reinholt also appeared and reprised his role as Steven Frame.