Carol Raye (17 January 1923 – 18 June 2022Vale: Carol Raye as Kathleen Mary Corkrey and also billed as Carole Raye) was a British-born actress and comedian of film, television, radio, theatre and revue. She was also a singer, dancer, producer, director and media personality.
Her career spanned some seven decades, firstly as a film star and stage performer in the United Kingdom, in such movies as Song of Romance, Strawberry Roan and Waltz Time, after which she briefly worked in Kenya. She then immigrated to Australia, where she became notable for her small-screen roles, and as the first female television executive at a time when the industry was dominated by men.
Raye was best known as the creator, producer and original star of the iconic TV satire The Mavis Bramston Show, alongside Gordon Chater and Barry Creyton, as well as a semi-regular star of soap opera Number 96, as Baroness Amanda von Pappenburg.
Early life Raye was born in Rotherhithe, south east, London Docklands, Middlesex England, the daughter of Royal Navy commander Reuben B. Corkrey and Ethel McGlashan, an accomplished pianist. The family travelled extensively, including stays in Bermuda and Malta, until her father was stationed at the Portsmouth Navy Base.
Raye's early ambition was to become a dance teacher, and she trained in ballet and ballroom at the Southsea School of Dance.
Career
Britain Raye won her first stage role in No, No, Nanette in 1938, and was discovered the following year by Australian-born choreographer and producer Freddie Carpenter, then operating a dance academy in Soho, who further trained her in dance. Carpenter suggested her for a tour of the musical comedy Bobby Get Your Gun and was also instrumental in creating her stage name.She made her professional debut opposite Bobby Howes and Bertha Bellmore at the Manchester Opera House in 1939. Her breakthrough stage role came only months later, in Funny Side Up at His Majesty's Theatre, which marked her London debut.
Raye began her screen career with starring roles in films including Song of Romance, which was the first British musical film shot in technicolor, and Strawberry Roan (1945) by Maurice Elvey. However it was 1945 musical romance Waltz Time by Paul Stein, as Empress Maria that launched her international screen career. That year in April, she toured the United States with the lead role in a stage production of Bonanza Bound!. She turned down a multi-year Hollywood contract, deciding return to London, where she subsequently appeared in features including Spring Song (1946) directed by Montgomery Tully and two films directed by John Harlow, Green Fingers (1947) and While I Live (1947) as well as several telemovies for the BBC.
Raye also played lead roles in many musicals and television productions in her native Britain. Her theatre roles included Tough at the Top, Fun and Games and The Merry Widow, Dear Miss Phoebe and The Ticket-of-Leave Man.
Kenya Raye having remarried in 1951, and with her husband being offered by the British Government, the opportunity to run a 1000-acre farm in the overseas Kenya Colony, the family settled in Navaisha Town, in the West of Mombasa. Whilst in Kenya, two filmmakers offered Raye the lead role in their film No Rain in Timbura, which would be the first feature produced in that country. She worked briefly as a producer/director and on-screen talent for the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation from 1961 to 1964, making her one of the first faces on British East African television.
Australia After the family emigrated to Australia in 1964, Raye was introduced to the ABC's Charles Moses, who in turn recommended her to Seven Network CEO James Oswin at Sydney station ATN-7, where she took a job as network assistant to the General Manager. She devised the concept of a satirical television series, based on Phillip Street Theatre revues and British TV series The Week That Was. In November 1964, the network gave the green light for The Mavis Bramston Show, in which Raye starred as one of three originals, along 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 show in late 1965. She resumed work on the series for the 1967 and 1968 final seasons.
In the 1970s, Raye played the ongoing comedy role of much-married British socialite and baroness Amanda von Pappenburg, aunt of Don Finlayson (played by Joe Hasham) whom she visits from Heidelberg, Germany, in the top-rated soap opera Number 96. She also portrayed Amanda's lookalike, Claudine. The Duke of Bedford and his wife appeared as guests on the show. After two substantial stints with the series between 1973 and 1974, Amanda was permanently written out of the serial, but Raye remained on as creative director, casting regular characters, and reviewing scripts and storylines.
From 1976 to 1977, Raye appeared in the medical soap opera The Young Doctors, playing the guest role of Rosalie Parker. She also appeared in comedy series Up The Convicts with Frankie Howard and alongside Jack Thompson and Sam Neill in the 1979 film The Journalist.
As a notable media personality, she often appeared on The Mike Walsh Show, was a regular panellist on game show Blankety Blanks and was also the subject of an episode of This Is Your Life.
In the early 1980s, Raye had a four-year appointment with the Theatre Board of the Australia Council. She appeared in many Australian theatre productions, including California Suite, The Pleasure of His Company, Travelling North, The Merry Wives of Windsor, You Can't Take It With You, Noises Off, and Hay Fever.
Raye retired in 2000, following a guest appearance in SeaChange as the mother of Sigrid Thornton’s character. Subsequently she campaigned Seven Network boss Kerry Stokes to release a DVD of The Mavis Bramston Show, although in a DVD release of 32 episodes of Number 96, she provided an audio commentary alongside co-star Elisabeth Kirkby, film and TV critic Andrew Mercado and The Honourable Michael Kirby.
Personal life and death On 3 November 1945, Raye married U.S. Army Engineer Captain Clark Spencer, a "prominent Winchester and Marblehead sportsman" (Massachusetts, USA).
In 1951, she married prominent veterinarian Robert Ayre Smith (1926–2006). 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. Her youngest daughter, Harriet, born in 1961 started her career in the Sydney Theatre Company office and is also an occasional actress.
Raye died peacefully at her home in Macleay Valley on the mid-north coast of New South Wales on 19 June 2022, at the age of 99, after a short illness. Her daughters were by her side. She was survived by her three children and three grandchildren.
Honours Raye was honoured in the 2022 Commonwealth of Australian Queens Birthday Honours List, with an appointment to the Member of the Order of Australia (AM), with the citation For services to the arts as an actress and producer.
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Type1945 Strawberry Roan Molly Lowe Feature film Waltz Time Empress Maria Feature film Dressing Up TV film 1946 Spring Song Janet Hill / Janet Ware Feature film1947 Green Fingers Jeannie Mansell Feature film While I Live (aka Dream of Olwen) Sally Grant Feature film1949 The Good Companions Susie Dean TV film Happy Week-End Polly TV film 1950 Triple Bill TV film 1954 No Rain at Timbura Mrs Carol Massey 1956 Ivor Novello TV film 1979 The Journalist Maggie Feature film 1984 Man of Letters Ursula Panhindle TV film1985 Remember Me Jenny's mother TV film Relatives Aunty Joan Feature film
Television Year Title Role Type 1964–1968 The Mavis Bramston Show Various roles 1965 Today with Carol Raye Host The Peek Snatchers Self 1966 66 And All That Host Australian Playhouse The Woman Teleplay: "Across the Bridge" 1967 The Delightfully Desperate, Daring and Different Doings of Daphne Davenport Daphne Davenport Teleplay1969 The Pennyweathers TV pilot Riptide Lauriana French 1 episode 1970 Tarbuck's Luck Self 1 episode 1973–1975 Number 96 Baroness Amanda Von Papenburg / Claudine 35 episodes 1976 Up The Convicts Lady Fitzgibbon This Is Your Life: Gordon Chater Guest 1 episode 1976–1977 The Young Doctors Rosalie Parker 15 episodes 1977–1978 Graham Kennedy's Blankety Blanks Regular panellist 16 episodes 1977 This Is Your Life: Carol Raye Guest 1 episode 1978 Cappriccio! Host Loss of Innocence Julie Miniseries, 1 episode Chopper Squad Eileen Traill 1 episode Micro Macro Team Leader Exploring the Psychic Mind Host 1987 Rafferty's Rules 1994 Mission Top Secret Mrs. Jessie Burdock (uncredited) 1 episode The Mavis Bramston 30th Anniversary Special Herself TV special 2000 SeaChange June Dawson 1 episode 2022 Pushing the Boundaries: The Mavis Bramston Show TV documentary
Theatre Year Title Role Type Ref. 1938 No, No, Nanette Nanette Southsea Theatre 1939 Bobby Get Your Gun Manchester Opera House 1940 Funny Side Up (aka Laugh Clown Laugh) Ensemble His Majesty's Theatre, London, Opera House Theatre, Blackpool 1941 Fun and Games The Dancer Princes Theatre, West End 1943–1944 The Merry Widow Frou-Frou His Majesty's Theatre, London The Love Racket 1947–1948 Bonanza Bound Belinda Da Vinci US tour 1949 Tough at the Top Ruritanian Princess Adelphi Theatre, London 1950–1951 Dear Miss Phoebe Miss Phoebe Throssel UK tour 1956 Harmony Close Jill Grant Theatre Royal, Birmingham 1957 The Ticket-of-Leave Man May Edwards Arts Theatre, London 1969 Lie Back and Enjoy It Phillip St Theatre, Sydney 1970 This, That and the Other Palace Theatre, Southend-on-Sea 1976 California Suite Hannah Warren / Diana Nichols / Gert Franklyn Ensemble Theatre, Sydney 1977 The Pleasure of His Company Katharine Dougherty Theatre Royal Sydney, Comedy Theatre, Melbourne with AETT 1978 The Mighty 1978 RSL Talent Quest Performer / Guest Judge Whitehorse Pub Theatre, Sydney 1979 Travelling North Frances Nimrod, Sydney, Melbourne Athenaeum, Civic Playhouse, Newcastle with Hunter Valley Theatre Company 1980 The Merry Wives of Windsor Mistress Alice Ford Sydney Opera House with STC 1981 Hay Fever Judith Bliss Playhouse, Newcastle with Hunter Valley Theatre Company 1982 You Can't Take It With You Sydney Opera House with STC Night and Day Ruth Carson Marian St Theatre, Sydney, Canberra Theatre Centre 1982–1983 Noises Off Dotty Otley Australian tour 1984 Agnes of God Mother Miriam Melbourne Athenaeum, University of Sydney with AETT 1985 Stepping Out Vera Australian tour 1989–1990 Hay Fever Australian tour with Peter & Ellen Williams Source:
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