Dana Delany Looks As Amazing As Always At 67 Years Old

Aug 02, 2021

Dana Delany is an American actress who first rose to fame playing the role of Colleen McMurphy on the television series “China Beach.” Her performance earned Delany two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Her first win came in 1989 and the second in 1992, which was after the series ended.

The star then went on to appear in several popular films, gaining even more recognition. Some of her films include “Light Sleeper,” “Tombstone,” “Exit to Eden,” and “Fly Away Home.” Delany is also known for her talent as a voice actress, providing the voice for several characters in the DC Animated Universe. This includes the voice of Andrea Beaumont, or Phantasm,  in “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm” and Lois Lane in “Superman: The Animated Series” and “Justice League.”

Another standout role for Delany was when she appeared as Katherine Mayfair on “Desperate Housewives” from 2007 to 2010. She then went on to star as Megan Hunt in the hit television series “Body of Proof” from 2011 to 2013. Delany has always had a steady stream of work. From 2014 to 2017, she starred in the Amazon series “Hand of God.”

In 2023, Delany is 67 and has never been married or had any children. She spends her time doing charity work when she isn’t acting and has an avid love for travel. The star says that she works out regularly to stay healthy. Read on to learn more about Delany’s life and to see how stunning she looks today.

Delany was born on March 13, 1956, in New York City. She is the daughter of Mary and Jack Delany and has a sister named Corey and a brother named Sean. Throughout her childhood, Delany went to several Broadway plays with her family and attended films. This is when she first fell in love with acting and knew it would be her career when she got older. 

Growing up in Stamford, Connecticut, Delany later attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. In her senior year, she was a member of her school’s first co-educational class, which included several people who would grow up to have prominent careers. These include software executive Peter Currie, artist Julian Hatton, poet Karl Kirchwey, writer Nate Lee and editor Sara Nelson. Delany has expressed that she has fond memories of her time at Phillips Academy.

Delany played the lead role of Nellie Forbush in her school’s musical production of “South Pacific.” She said to her school newspaper in 1974 about the role, “It was just a little awkward to be Nellie at first because she hesitates to marry Emile since he had once lived with a Polynesian woman – I don’t agree with her reasoning so that made things a bit hard at the beginning.” Delany graduated that year Cum Laude, an honor that was awarded to 80 out of 378 graduating seniors.

Following graduation from high school, Delany attended Wesleyan University, where she majored in Theater. She performed in several productions while she was a student there and graduated in 1978. After college, the star moved back to New York City, where she scored a role on the daytime soap opera, “As the World Turns.”

In an interview with USA Today, the actress revealed that during her teens and early 20s, she had an eating disorder. Delany said: “I binged. I starved. I was one step from anorexia—a piece of toast and an apple would be all I would eat in a day.” The star said that she is healthy now, and the issue has been dealt with for many years.

Life as an Actress

From 2014 to 2017, Delany starred in the Amazon series, “Hand of God,” in which she portrays the role of Crystal Harris, a woman who is struggling alongside her husband, played by Ron Perlman, as their son lies in a coma. The chemistry between Perlman and Delany is incredible and makes for great TV. Delany said of her relationship with the actor: 

“We just both like to act. There’s no drama around the drama. We just like doing what we do and that’s it. Sometimes I would come back to my trailer and there would be like chocolate bars sitting on my little station and he would like leave me little gifts like that because he knew I liked chocolate. So sweet.”

One of Delany’s more recent projects was acting in a military police procedural in 2019 called “The Code.” The actress told AARP in an interview: 

“I liked that my character (Col. Elsa Turnbull, the commanding officer of the Marine Corps Judge Advocate Division, one of the highest‐ranking female officers in the Corps) was the boss. She’s running things. Obviously, the military has been very good to me. I’ve never played a lawyer before (in a regular role). I find it challenging because it’s not the way my brain works. On China Beach, I was a nurse, which was a very different function that comes from empathy.

“The Code” is just one of many television series that Delany has appeared on throughout her career. “I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve never had a lull in my career. I attribute that to just that I love what I do. This show is on CBS, traditionally their audience is older, so I’m kind of in the age range of their audience, and networks are trying to build younger audiences. But I feel like saying, ‘Hey, why not give the audience that you have what they want?’ That should be a strong focus,” Delany said.

Falling in love with acting as a child, there wasn’t really any other dream job for Delany. However, there is one profession the star thinks she could excel at. Delany told AARP: 

“My alternative was to be a private detective (if acting didn’t take off). I’m actually really good at it. I read a lot of crime novels when I was a kid, John D. MacDonald and Ross Macdonald. My favorite character growing up on television was Honey West — I don’t know if you remember Anne Francis. It had such an impact on me that I wanted to be her. In fact, I was her for Halloween. I had a little mole and everything. So I wanted to do that. I went on a tour of Quantico when I was a kid and they didn’t have female FBI agents. So I thought, ‘I’ll be a private detective.’”

Hopefully, one day Delany can play a private detective on TV and make both of her dreams come true.

Delany loves to travel, and one of the places she loves to visit, and shoot movies, is France. The star has a good size following in the country, and she has even filmed a miniseries called “Une chance de trop,” based on the Harlan Coben novel “No Second Chance.” The series was filmed in France and released in 2015. In an interview with the Associated Press, Delany shared:

“When I did ‘Desperate Housewives,’ (it was) huge in France. They love that version of America. They think it’s hilarious and they also love women in France and they love older women, which was nice. I would go there to do press for ‘Housewives’ and they really appreciated me, in a way more than in America, I have to say. They just appreciate women who are getting older and they think you’re getting better like wine, you know?”

Delany described her experience working in Europe, saying, “Harlan (the book’s author) is a friend because I went to high school with his brother. He knew that I wanted to work in France and he said, ‘Well, maybe you’d like to come and do a little part of this American at the end of the series.’ And it’s true what they say about shooting in France — they eat, they drink, everybody drinks at lunch and sits together and they sing songs.” 

The actress added, “It’s convivial and at night the whole cast, we would go out and eat and drink and work on the script, and then you just show up at seven in the morning and you do your job. It’s rich, you know?” 

Delany also said that she is studying the French language as well. “I got a French agent and it just spurred me on to want to work more in France. So I now have a French tutor and I’m hoping to work there. It’s kind of been my dream,” she shared. We hope Delany is able to keep finding work in France and can grow her connection to the country and her fans in Europe.

Personal Life

Outside of working and doing charity work for organizations like the Scleroderma Research Foundation, Delany enjoys some time to herself. The star has never been married or had children, but that seems to be her personal choice. She used to date actors Treat Williams and Henry Czerny. After her 50th birthday, Delany said she was open to the idea of finding a husband and would even consider adoption. 

Delany shared, “I would say that for the first time in my life I’m ready to get married. I turned 50 and I’m ready to get married. I’m a slow learner. I don’t know who he is yet but I’m ready. He has to be smart, funny and kind. I think the children thing is over for me but there’s always adoption.” The right man must not have come along, but that doesn’t hold back Delany from living a happy life. With few attachments, the actress is free to travel to her heart’s content.

Apparently, France isn’t the only place that Delany likes to visit, either for work or pleasure. She told AARP:

“I’ll go anywhere. I just did this miniseries in Brazil about Theodore Roosevelt. l played his wife Edith. This is the third project I’ve done there. I love going to Europe. I’ve been to most of Southeast Asia. Paris is probably my favorite city of all. I just discovered Scandinavia. I still have things that I want to go see. I feel like I got to do it because time is running out.”

Another one of Delany’s passions is art. She told Hollywood Soapbox, “I travel all over the world to look at art. It’s what I do for fun, so I do know a lot of artists. I’m involved with the Hammer Museum out in LA, and we take these trips. I just got back from South Africa a week before we started rehearsal to look at art there, and we’ve been all over the world. I don’t really even collect art because then you would have to monetize it. I just want to appreciate it because it makes me so happy.”

Dana Today

Now that Delany is in her 60s, she is focused on her health and wellness. The star has really aged gracefully! She said in the same interview from 2019, “I have done my yoga every day, for over 30 years. If I can’t do it one day, I really feel the difference. If I know I’m shooting the next day, I don’t have wine the night before. That’s depleting. I’m so lucky I come from a family of good sleepers. I love eight hours. I can go more.”

In an interview with Prevention magazine from 2010, Delany shared that she tries to stay very healthy, and her diet is mainly vegetables, tofu, fish, gluten-free pasta, and bread. She also mentioned that she would never get plastic surgery. Delany elaborated: 

“I won’t do it, no. My hat’s off to Jamie Lee Curtis. She’s so smart, and she doesn’t dye her hair or anything. And Meryl Streep still looks like herself. Diane Keaton, too. I think the really great actresses don’t worry about that kind of thing.”

It is great that there are other actresses that Delany can look up to. Hopefully, she will also be a role model for young girls who want to get into acting.

Despite never getting plastic surgery, there is one cosmetic procedure that Delany has tried. Unfortunately, she did not see positive results. “I had never heard of Botox. My dermatologist was saying, ‘You should try it.’ He injected my forehead, hit a nerve, and created a huge hematoma. The nerve has been dead ever since. It affected the muscle in my right eye, so my eye has started to droop a little bit,” Delany explained to Prevention.

The gorgeous star is still known for her signature red hair and beautiful smile. At 67, Delany is still turning heads and landing roles, with no sign of slowing down. She has had a long career, beginning in 1974 and working consistently ever since. We wish her the best and all the luck in her future, both for her career and personal life.

Are you a fan of Dana Delany’s work? How do you think she looks at 67? Let us know, and be sure to send this on to your loved ones.