Carol Raye


Carol Raye also billed as Carole Raye, is a retired English-born actress of film, television, radio and theatre, comedian, singer, dancer and radio and television producer and director. She appeared in the film Strawberry Roan by Maurice Elvey, Waltz Time by Paul Stein, and two films directed by John Harlow, Green Fingers and While I Live. She was best known for her small screen roles, including the popular revue satirical comedy that she created, Mavis Bramston, and the serial Number 96 as Baroness Amanda Von Papenburg, both series created by David Sale, a role she spoke about with co-star Elisabeth Kirkby and Michael Kirby for the DVD release of the series. She retired in 2000
She started her career in the United Kingdom in theatre and television and starring film roles. She worked as a producer and director for the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation in the 1960s, before emigrating to Australia in 1962, she became best known for her television roles there primarily in serials and TV films, later returning to theatre roles, featuring in British period drama's.

Early years

Raye was born the daughter of a Royal Navy Commander R. B. Corkery and his wife, Raye was born in London and trained as a ballet dancer. She was discovered by choreographer Freddie Carpenter at age 16.

Career

Film in England

Raye played lead roles in many musicals and television production in her native Britain. Her theatre roles included Funny Side Up, Fun and Games, The Merry Widow, Dear Miss Phoebe and The Ticket-of-Leave Man. Raye also starred in Song of Romance as well as in the films Strawberry Roan and Waltz Time and the 1947 While I Live and Green Fingers.

Radio producing/directing in Kenya

Raye remarried in 1951, accompanying her second husband as he travelled the world with his work. She worked as producer/director for Kenya Broadcasting Corporation from 1961 to 1964.

Australia in film and television

The family emigrated to Australia in 1964, and Raye got a job working as an assistant to the General Manager at ATN7, that same year and devised the idea for a satirical television series. Starting in November 1964, Raye was one of the three original stars of the highly popular and influential sketch comedy television series The Mavis Bramston Show, with Gordon Chater and Barry Creyton. She also produced the pilot episode and co-produced the series, until her departure from the programme in late 1965. She resumed work on the series for the 1967 and 1968 seasons. The series ended in 1968. In 2014, Raye then 91, wrote to Kerry Stokes, requesting a DVD release of the iconic series.
In the 1970s Raye played the ongoing comedy role of much-married socialite and Baroness Amanda von Pappenburg 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, and she switched to the role of Creative Director for the show's producers. This busy role involved the casting of main regular characters, along with reviewing the scripts and storylines of Number 96.
Raye subsequently acted in the medical soap opera The Young Doctors, playing the guest role of Rosalie Parker, in 1977. She was also a regular panelist on Graham Kennedy's Blankety Blanks and a regular on The Mike Walsh Show. She acted in television and film roles through the 1990s, and into the 2000s with appearances on SeaChange and in commercials.

Return to Theatre

In the early 1980s, Raye had a four-year appointment with the Theatre Board of the Australia Council. She also 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. Raye was a subject of This Is Your Life.

Personal life

On 3 November 1945 Raye married US Army Engineer Captain Clark Spencer, a "prominent Winchester and Marblehead sportsman".
In 1951 she married prominent veterinarian Robert Ayre Smith. They had three children, two of whom followed their mother into theatrical roles. Eldest child Sally Ayre Smith is also a retired TV producer, best known for the ABC series SeaChange, but is now a director of an organic farm produce marketing business. Youngest daughter Harriet started her career in the Sydney Theatre Company office and is also a sometime actress. Robert died in 2016.

Filmography