Carol Raye^[3] AM (17 January 1923 – 18 June 2022^[2] 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,^[4] and as the first female television executive^[5] at a time when the industry was dominated by men.^[1]

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.^[2]

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.^[3] The family travelled extensively, including stays in Bermuda and Malta, until her father was stationed at the Portsmouth Navy Base.^[1]

Raye's early ambition was to become a dance teacher, and she trained in ballet and ballroom at the Southsea School of Dance.^[6]

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.^[6] Carpenter suggested her for a tour of the musical comedy Bobby Get Your Gun and was also instrumental in creating her stage name.^[1]She made her professional debut opposite Bobby Howes and Bertha Bellmore at the Manchester Opera House in 1939.^[1] Her breakthrough stage role came only months later, in Funny Side Up at His Majesty's Theatre, which marked her London debut.^[7]

Raye began her screen career with starring roles in films including Song of Romance, which was the first British musical film shot in technicolor,^[8] 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.^[4]

Raye also played lead roles in many musicals and television productions in her native Britain.^[4] Her theatre roles included Tough at the Top, Fun and Games and ^[6] The Merry Widow,^[9] Dear Miss Phoebe^[10] and The Ticket-of-Leave Man.^[11]

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.^[12] 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.^[1] 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.^[13]

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.^[14]

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.^[15][2] She also portrayed Amanda's lookalike, Claudine.^[16] 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.^[15]

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.^[5]

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.^[2]

In the early 1980s, Raye had a four-year appointment with the Theatre Board of the Australia Council.^[17] 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.^[14]

Raye retired in 2000, following a guest appearance in SeaChange^[18] as the mother of Sigrid Thornton’s character.^[5] Subsequently she campaigned Seven Network boss Kerry Stokes to release a DVD of The Mavis Bramston Show,^[19] although in a DVD release of 32 episodes of Number 96, she provided an audio commentary alongside co-star Elisabeth Kirkby,^[20] film and TV critic Andrew Mercado and The Honourable Michael Kirby.

On 3 November 1945,^[3] Raye married^[21] U.S. Army Engineer Captain Clark Spencer, a "prominent Winchester and Marblehead sportsman" (Massachusetts, USA).^[22]

In 1951, she married prominent veterinarian Robert Ayre Smith (1926–2006).^[12] 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.^[23] Her youngest daughter, Harriet, born in 1961^[24] started her career in the Sydney Theatre Company office^[17] 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.^[24][7]

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.^[4][25]

Source: ^[37]

• Carol Raye at IMDb
• Carol Raye discography at Discogs