Carol Raye

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Carol Raye ^[1] (born 17 January 1923) born as Kathleen Mary Corkery and also billed as Carole Raye, is a British-born retired film star, television, radio and theatre actress, comedian, singer, dancer and radio and television producer and director, as well as a TV network assistant. She is known for her career in the United Kingdom and Australia.

Born in London, England, the daughter of Royal Navy commander R.B. Corkery and his wife.^[1] She trained as a ballet dancer, and was discovered at sixteen by choreographer and producer Freddie Carpenter, who further trained her in dance.^[2]

Career in Britain[]

British film star[]

She started her career in her native United Kingdom with starring roles in films including Song of Romance, which was the first British musical film shot in technicolour,^[3] Strawberry Roan by Maurice Elvey, Waltz Time by Paul Stein, Spring Song directed by Montgomery Tully and two films directed by John Harlow, Green Fingers and While I Live' and Alastair Scobie's, No Rain at Timbura, filmed in Kenya and released in 1954

British television and theatre[]

Raye played lead roles in many musicals and television production in her native Britain. Her theatre roles included Funny Side Up, Fun and Games,^[2] The Merry Widow,^[4] Dear Miss Phoebe^{[5][better source needed]} and The Ticket-of-Leave Man.

Raye remarried in 1951,^[6] accompanying her second husband as he travelled the world with his work. Whilst in Kenya, she worked briefly as a producer/director for the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation from 1961 to 1964.

Career in Australia[]

The Mavis Bramston show[]

The family having emigrated to Australia in 1964, Raye took a position working as network assistant to the General Manager at Seven Network studio ATN7, it was here she devised the idea for a satirical television series. Starting in November 1964, Raye created and also starred in television series The Mavis Bramston Show, she was one of 3 originals with Gordon Chater and Barry Creyton. She also produced the pilot episode and co-produced the series (with Michael Plant), until her departure from the programme in late 1965. She resumed work on the series for the 1967 and 1968 final seasons.^[7]

Number 96[]

In the 1970s, Raye played the ongoing comedy role of much-married socialite and Baroness Amanda von Pappenburg, the aunty of Don Finlayson (played by Joe Hasham) whom she visits from Heidelberg, Germany, in the top-rated soap opera Number 96, After two substantial stints with the series in the 1973–74 period, Amanda was permanently written out of the serial, but Raye remained with the serial, switching to the role of creative director for the show's producers. That busy role involved the casting of regular characters, along with reviewing the scripts and storylines.^[8]

Having been a Baroness on the series, the real Duke of Bedford and his wife appeared as guests in the series.

Other TV shows[]

In 1976-77, Raye subsequently acted in the medical soap opera The Young Doctors, playing the guest role of Rosalie Parker. She was a regular panelist on Graham Kennedy's Blankety Blanks (1977–78) and on The Mike Walsh Show. She acted in television and film roles through the 1990s, and into the 2000s, with appearances in SeaChange and in commercials.

Theatre[]

In the early 1980s, Raye had a four-year appointment with the Theatre Board of the Australia Council.^[9]

She has appeared in many Australian theatre productions, including California Suite, Pleasure of His Company, Travelling North, The Merry Wives of Windsor, You Can't Take It With You, Noises Off and Hay Fever.^[7] Raye was a subject of This Is Your Life.

Raye retired in 2000, since then she has campaigned Seven Network boss Kerry Stokes to release a DVD of "Mavis", although in a release to DVD of Number 96, she provided an audio commentary alongside film and TV critic Andrew Mercado, co-star Elisabeth Kirkby and The Honourable Michael Kirby.

Marriages[]

On 3 November 1945,^[1] Raye married^[10] US Army Engineer Captain Clark Spencer, a "prominent Winchester and Marblehead sportsman" (Massachusetts, USA).^[11]

In 1951, she married prominent veterinarian Robert Ayre Smith (1926-2006).^[6] They had three children, two of whom followed their mother into theatrical roles. Her eldest child, Sally Ayre Smith, is a former television producer, best known for the ABC series SeaChange, but is now a director of an organic farm produce marketing business.^[12] Her youngest daughter, Harriet, started her career in the Sydney Theatre Company office^[9] and is also an occasional actress.^{[13][better source needed]}

Filmography (movies, theatrical releases)[]

Telemovies and serials[]

References[]

External links[]

• Carol Raye at IMDb