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Living on Champagne: Carol Raye
by Sonia Humprey (1983)
As a little girl of four, Kathleen Mary Corkreery took up dancing. Carol’s early life in Portsmouth was filled with music: her mother, Ethel, played the piano, and Carol took lessons. Carol focussed on classical ballet, studying diligently over the years through the Royal Academy examination system. Later she qualified in ballroom and tap dancing as well. Carol was petite, and had a natural ability as a dancer. She pleaded with her parents to leave school when she was 15 to begin her life in dance. At that stage, she had no sense of what a career in dance might involve and thought she would like to teach. Carol had read an advertisement in the Dancing Times for a new dance school to be opened in London by the Australian choreographer Freddy Carpenter. With her mother at the piano Carol auditioned for Carpenter in his Soho rooms, singing a Jessie Matthews song, performing a dance routine and making a strong impression on Carpenter. He agreed she should begin training with him as soon as the summer holidays were over. Just a few weeks later during a later summer holiday in Somerset Carol and her parents listened to the announcement on radio that Britain was at war: it was now September 1939.
As a little girl of four, Kathleen Mary Corkery took up dancing. Carol’s early life in Portsmouth was filled with music: her mother, Ethel, played the piano, and Carol took lessons. Carol focussed on classical ballet, studying diligently over the years through the Royal Academy examination system. Later she qualified in ballroom and tap dancing as well. Carol was petite, and had a natural ability as a dancer. She pleaded with her parents Reuben and Ethel to leave school when she was 15 to begin her life in dance. At that stage, she had no sense of what a career in dance might involve and thought she would like to teach. Carol had read an advertisement in the Dancing Times for a new dance school to be opened in London by the Australian choreographer Freddy Carpenter. With her mother at the piano Carol auditioned for Carpenter in his Soho rooms, singing a Jessie Matthews song, performing a dance routine and making a strong impression on Carpenter. He agreed she should begin training with him as soon as the summer holidays were over. Just a few weeks later during a later summer holiday in Somerset Carol and her parents listened to the announcement on radio that Britain was at war: it was now September 1939.
Returning to London Carpenter had arranged for Carol to audition for a role in a new revue called Funny Side Up. Destined for His Majesty’s Theatre in London, the try out season was to be in Manchester and Carol had several items to perform and would also understudy the leading lady Sally Gray. At the dress rehearsal, Sally injured her leg and Carol appeared in her place on the opening night when every London critic was in the audience and Carol Raye, aged 16, did not disappoint. The notices were outstanding and Carol’s career was launched. Carpenter had also decided that the young Kathleen Mary should adopt a stage name: one that was memorable, shorter and less Irish. He suggested the name Carol Raye and that was that.
Due to her success in Funny Side Up, Carol was quickly signed up for a new musical called Learn to Love, but the German bombing of London began, and the show was postponed. The producers decided to take their cast to Manchester to perform a pantomime through the Christmas season. This was to be Robinson Crusoe in which Carol played the principal girl. No sooner had the pantomime opened at the Palace Cinema than the Germans commenced night bombing Manchester, so from then on the show played only mornings and afternoons.
In a revue called Fun and Games Carol played a leading role and made a huge success with one particular item called ‘The Old Shoe Maker’, a ballet choreographed for her by another Australian Robert Helpmann. It presented a sweet story about a ballerina who comes to ask the old man for his help to mend her favourite ballet shoes. This stopped the show and brought accolades for Carol.
By this time the London theatres had reopened and Carol continued to appear on stage in the West End. Theatres were fitted with air raid sirens and when they sounded members of the audience could leave their seats to take refuge in the nearest underground shelter. Carol recalls that very few people left the theatres at the sound of the siren. Whilst appearing in a revue called The Love Racket at the Victoria Palace Theatre, with the tiny, bespectacled comic actor from Liverpool, Arthur Askey, Carol was mid-way through an intricate solo dance routine in front of a set of mirrors, when she heard a loud bang. Dust and lights dropped from the ceiling. The orchestra stopped and an eerie calm followed. Carol looked around, a few seconds passed and the orchestra sprang to life again. She picked up the dance steps and the show went on. It was only afterwards as she sat alone in her dressing room, that she thought of what might have been. Fortunately, the huge mirrors that lined the stage for her solo dance number, had not shattered, and she had been spared injury. In a theatre nearby others were not so lucky.
In the musical production of The Merry Widow in 1942 Carol was cast as Frou Frou, and danced sequences, once again choreographed for her by Helpmann, and afterwards continued her run of performances in the musical theatre of the wartime West End. She also appeared in a BBC television musical called Evergreen and a television adaptation of J. B. Priestly’s The Good Companions, as well as several films: Waltz Time (1945), Spring Song (1946) and Green Fingers (1947). Waltz Time was successful at the box office and Carol was invited to New York for the opening of the film in the United States. She recalls the breathtaking view of the vivid lights of Manhattan as she arrived by aircraft from London. At the Waldorf Hotel, her breakfast tray held a pat of butter that would have served a family in Britain for a week, such was the austerity of rationing during and after the War. It was unimaginably luxurious and uplifting to be moving amongst the glamorous mid-town entertainers and opened Carol’s eyes to another world.
Carol Raye with Peter Graves in Waltz Time, 1945. Courtesy of Carol Raye.
By this time the London theatres had reopened and Carol continued to appear on stage in the West End. Theatres were fitted with air raid sirens and when they sounded members of the audience could leave their seats to take refuge in the nearest underground shelter. Carol recalls that very few people left the theatres at the sound of the siren. Whilst appearing in a revue called The Love Racket at the Victoria Palace Theatre, with the tiny, bespectacled comic actor from Liverpool, Arthur Askey, Carol was mid-way through an intricate solo dance routine in front of a set of mirrors, when she heard a loud bang. Dust and lights dropped from the ceiling. The orchestra stopped and an eerie calm followed. Carol looked around, a few seconds passed and the orchestra sprang to life again. She picked up the dance steps and the show went on. It was only afterwards as she sat alone in her dressing room, that she thought of what might have been. Fortunately, the huge mirrors that lined the stage for her solo dance number, had not shattered, and she had been spared injury. In a theatre nearby others were not so lucky.
In the musical production of The Merry Widow in 1942 Carol was cast as Frou Frou, and danced sequences, once again choreographed for her by Helpmann, and afterwards continued her run of performances in the musical theatre of the wartime West End. She also appeared in a BBC television musical called Evergreen and a television adaptation of JB Priestley’s The Good Companions, as well as several films: Waltz Time (1945), Spring Song (1946) and Green Fingers (1947). Waltz Time was successful at the box office and Carol was invited to New York for the opening of the film in the United States. She recalls the breathtaking view of the vivid lights of Manhattan as she arrived by aircraft from London. At the Waldorf Hotel, her breakfast tray held a pat of butter that would have served a family in Britain for a week, such was the austerity of rationing during and after the War. It was unimaginably luxurious and uplifting to be moving amongst the glamorous mid-town entertainers and opened Carol’s eyes to another world.
After the War, when Carol’s father retired from the Navy, he bought a pub in rural Berkshire. Carol occasionally helped her parents at the pub during her breaks from the theatre. One lunch time, a tall, good looking young man appeared in the private bar. He had long curly hair and was sporting a purple shirt and leather jerkin. For the time, he looked quite unusual and immediately caught Carol’s eye. Under his arm he was lovingly holding on to a small, bright-eyed terrier. Over a ginger beer the two of them got talking. The man’s name was Robert Ayre-Smith and he invited Carol to go out walking with him. Robert was in his final year at The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. Carol accompanied him to the New Year’s Eve Chelsea Arts Ball that year, arriving late, after appearing in a special BBC television broadcast. When Robert qualified as a veterinary surgeon he worked at Cambridge and then travelled to Baton Rouge, Louisiana on a Fulbright scholarship. Meanwhile Carol was playing the Lead in Dear Miss Phoebe, a musical at the Phoenix Theatre in London; as soon as the show closed Carol sailed on the Queen Mary to New York and then travelled onward by train to Baton Rouge to meet her fiancé. Carol and Robert were married in an enormous, empty Presbyterian church, with only Robert’s professor and his secretary as witnesses. They spent a few days exploring the area in an old car, delighted to be man and wife and embarking on their new life together.
In 1952 Robert joined the Kenya Colonial Veterinary Service. During the ten-year stint in Kenya, Carol gave birth to three children. Over one summer, Carol completed the BBC producers intensive course, learning the rudiments of television production, alongside producers from countries all over the world. It was Carol Raye who made the first announcement on television in Kenya.
She produced five live to air programs a week for KBC, the fledgling national broadcaster in Kenya. Her production work included children’s drama, interview and variety shows, news and current affairs and arts programs. She also appeared in a leading role in a film called No Rains in Timburu (1954).
Carol Raye on set. Courtesy of Seven Studios.
On a sunny autumn afternoon in 1964, Carol and her family arrived by ship into Sydney, marvelling at the sparkling beauty of the harbour and the majestic Harbour Bridge. Robert had joined the CSIRO and the family set up their new home in Beecroft to the north of the city. Carol wasted no time introducing herself to people in the emerging world of television in Sydney. In a meeting with Charles Moses at the ABC she was told that her ideas for programs and her production experience may well appeal to the commercial stations. By the end of March Carol was appointed as Live Programme Consultant at Channel 7. Her brief was to devise a new late-night show to compete with Graham Kennedy’s hugely successful In Melbourne Tonight. Having recently been in London, Carol had in mind a program that mirrored the topical satirical sketch show That was the Week That Was. The British hit television show featured David Frost, Millicent Martin and Bernard Levin. Carol noticed immediately that there was nothing of its kind on television in Australia although there was an appetite for variety and comedy. Carol wanted to make topical satire in the Australian context and she knew she needed a David Frost type character to make it work. Frost was the tall, elegant straight man of the English television show. She also needed a funny man and a woman.
When Carol explained her idea for a show to Jimmy Oswin he was sceptical: ‘I don’t think Australians are ready to laugh at themselves’, and ‘It’s too BBC’, Carol recalled for me. But Carol talked him around and was given 1200 pounds to make the pilot. At the time, she did not know anyone in Australia, and didn’t realise that writers for television might be difficult to find. The industry was in its infancy but as word got out about the proposed program, various writers began to submit work. One of these was Ken Shadie, a mild mannered, modest man who worked in Channel 7’s engineering department. He nervously appeared one day, clutching a script, contributed regularly and eventually became the main staff writer. A young man from Melbourne by the name of David Sale wrote brilliant lyrics based on the news of the day and much later he went on to produce the program. Another great find was Michael Plant, an Australian journalist and screenwriter who had been working in Los Angeles. He joined the team writing sketches and at a later date joined Carol co-producing the show. Looking back, Carol says she marvelled at the number of talented people who were discovered and worked on the show from the start. ‘It was like living on champagne’ she said to me when she recalled the excitement of these days.
'as she saw Barry Creyton and heard him speak she knew she had found her David Frost'
Carol was fortunate to have Tommy Tycho on hand, the Hungarian-born pianist and Channel 7’s musical director, who had spent his war years in a concentration camp, and was making his career in Australia. Tycho could write music to order in an instant from a scrap of a lyric on a piece of paper in the afternoon before recording the show. He improvised for the cast, and he tirelessly arranged and devised orchestral music for the show. Don Burroughs was amongst the musicians Tycho engaged at Channel 7.
In Gordon Chater, the English comic actor, Carol found not only her funny man but also a great friend. Then quite by chance she visited the music hall in Sydney with a prospective sponsor for Channel 7. She settled into her seat and as soon as she saw Barry Creyton and heard him speak she knew she had found her David Frost – her straight man. The 24-year-old Creyton was tall, slim, dark haired and had perfect timing in his comedy routines. Carol was delighted when Barry agreed to join the show. Her efforts to find a woman to sing, dance and perform in the satirical sketches that would form the bedrock of the program proved more difficult. Judi Farr and June Salter were already committed and time was running out to make the pilot. Gordon Chater tried to persuade Carol to appear herself in the pilot. He knew her work from London and was concerned that they finish their pilot quickly so as to show management what they had.
The name of the show came out of a conversation with one of the writers who mentioned that in Melbourne the actors would sometimes refer to a bad actress as a ‘Mavis Bramston’. At the time, overseas non-entities were frequently brought to Australia to appear in lead roles on stage and the joke was a reference to these kinds of actresses. When Carol and the others heard this story they leapt on it for the name of the show. In the publicity for The Mavis Bramston Show there was much made of the fact than an overseas actress would appear.
Carol, Barry and Gordon appeared in the pilot, with Ruth Cracknell as the first guest on the new program. Chater opened the first episode with an announcement. He explained that the team had been expecting an English actress called Mavis Bramston to feature on the show but that when her audition tape arrived it was a bit of a surprise. ‘We will show you’, he said as the cameras shifted to Noeline Brown playing Mavis, walking down the stairs singing in a horribly off-key voice ‘I could have danced all night’. When the ‘tape’ was finished, Barry Creyton explained ‘As you can see, we decided to go ahead without Mavis Bramston. Welcome’. The three performers launched into the tune that became synonymous with the popular show. It was called ‘Togetherness’ and was written by Creyton.
In her office on what they called ‘mahogany row’, where the executives sat, Carol could hear the gales of laughter as James Oswin showed the pilot to the others. Rupert Henderson, the owner of the station, was delighted with the pilot but gave Carol an ultimatum. She wanted to produce the show not to be in it. In his broad Australian accent, he made the situation plain: ‘Well, you’ve gotta’ make up your mind; either you’re on camera or you don’t have a job’. Carol went home to Robert and said ‘What shall I do?’ He said ‘do it, you like doing it, so do it’.
The Mavis Bramston Show was an immediate hit with audiences. Gordon Chater, Barry Creyton and Carol Raye became household names, and the show achieved the highest ratings of any television program screened in Australia at the time. June Salter joined the permanent cast and Maggie Dence became Mavis, travelling around Australia as the logo from the show to promote its sponsor, Ampol. Word reached Carol that Qantas pilots were re-arranging their schedules so that they did not miss the Thursday night broadcast of the one-hour show each week. The humour was topical, sharp and satirical and marked a significant moment for Australian comedy. No subject was off limits. The Vietnam War was satirised, there were jokes about the Pill, the foibles of the Prime Minister, Robert Menzies came in for a pasting, and censorship and social mores were frequent targets; even the death penalty in Victoria was the target of a sketch, with Carol singing a song about Henry Bolte, questioning the barbaric practice in a lyrical lament ‘Dear Henry Bolte, does it have to be this way?’. One of the sketches caused a scandal with Carol playing a housewife ostensibly talking about flower arranging and indicating po-faced how the stalks of flowers shouldn’t droop too much. It was tame stuff by today’s standards but the slightly suggestive nature of the piece led to outrage from the Catholic Archbishop Muldoon and questions were raised in parliament about the show. Looking back Carol laughs remembering that in the early 1960s nobody had even said ‘bum’ on television.
After more than a year co-producing and appearing in a leading role in the show, Carol began to feel the pressure and the strain. With three school-aged children and her husband frequently travelling overseas for his work, arranging and supervising the building of a new house, and with her parents now living in Australia, she felt that the time might be right for a break. Years later she admitted to a reporter that her marriage had taken ‘a beating’ during this period. (1) Two years later Carol agreed to return to the show, which had become less topical and more focussed on revue. She also appeared with Mike Walsh, Barry Crocker and Peter Whitford, in a lavish musical show, with extravagant costumes and elaborate dance numbers, called 66 and All That for Channel 10, and in Beauty and the Beast, the crime series Riptide and several other programs. With her husband’s work increasingly taking him to projects in the Caribbean and other countries, the family decided to move back to the United Kingdom. Carol wrote a column for the Sun-Herald from London, made several guest appearances on BBC television and enjoyed resuming her friendships, and the change of pace in her life.
The Mavis Bramston Show. Courtesy of Seven Studios.
One day she answered the telephone and an American voice on the other end began talking to her about a new television drama set in a block of flats in inner city Sydney that had exploded on to the screens of Australians. The voice belonged to Bill Harmon who was a producer for the Channel 10 series. He invited Carol to return to Australia to join the cast for a few months. Carol hesitated, knowing that the producers of Number 96, Harmon and Don Cash, had a penchant for nudity and racy scenes. Harmon suggested she play a new character, Joe Hasham’s aunt, a character who would inject more humour into the story of a quiet homosexual lawyer and his difficulties. The portrayal of a gay man in a key role was a first for Australian television. Carol knew that David Sale was one of the creators and writers for the series and was tempted by the offer; she levelled with the producer, laughing: ‘Bill I’m too old to get my gear off’. He reassured her that in playing Baroness Amanda von Pappenburg this would not be necessary.
Carol returned to Australia after three years in England, a period in which she had missed her adopted home. She was very happy to be back in Sydney, and soon the whole family returned (including Reuben and Ethel) and set up the family home in Mosman. Her involvement in Number 96 was particularly enjoyable as she re-connected with so many Australian writers and actors. Ken Shadie, Eleanor Whitcombe, Michael Boddy, Robert Caswell, Pat Flower, Johnny Whyte, Bob Ellis and many others wrote episodes of the long-running landmark series. The cast included many actors with whom Carol enjoyed working: Pat McDonald played Dorrie Evans, Elaine Lee appeared as Vera Collins, Ron Shand as Herbert Evans, James Elliott as Alf Sutcliffe, Elisabeth Kirkby as Luce Sutcliffe and Sheila Keneally as Norma. In 1974 Carol joined the production house Cash/Harmon and worked on casting and production for a couple of years. This was the job she had always intended to do before Mavis Bramston took off, but she relinquished it in order to look after her parents in their final years.
Carol took a break after caring for her parents, who had both been ill and died within months of one another. For the first time in her life she did not have any plans or TV contracts. Her children were working and had lives of their own. Out of the blue, Carol received a call from Hayes Gordon at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney. The actor and director had established an independent theatre company in 1958 in a boatshed. A Bostonian, Gordon, had studied Method acting in New York before moving to Australia after the War, and he also ran an acting school from their small harbour-side theatre complex in Kirribilli with Zika Nester. The theatre focussed on producing contemporary plays and Hayes wanted to put on Neil Simon’s new comic suite of four short plays called California Suite. Carol played four characters and thoroughly enjoyed being back on stage after so many years working on television. She told me that ‘The waves of energy and excitement you get back from a live audience you can’t get anywhere else’. The following year Carol appeared in The Pleasure of His Company with Douglas Fairbanks Jr, David Langton, David Goddard, Christine Amor and Stanley Holloway with whom she had worked in Manchester during the war. Carol appeared frequently on stage in the years that followed, starring in the premiere of David Williamson’s poignant play Travelling North in 1979, and then in the classic comedy Noises Off, once more working with her old friend Barry Creyton. Williamson’s play portrays an older couple who move from Melbourne to Queensland together. At the time, Carol and her on-stage lover, played by Frank Wilson, were asked about the morality of the play and the actors insisted that Williamson was drawing attention to the double standard between older and younger people.
Gordon Chater, Carol Raye and Barry Creyton rehearsing for the Mavis Bramston Show. Courtesy of Carol Raye.
Carol appeared as a founding and regular panel member on Graham Kennedy’s popular Blankety Blanks game show with Stuart Wagstaff, Barry Creyton, Noeline Brown, Kate Fitzpatrick and Ugly Dave Gray who puffed on a cigar throughout every show. She discovered Kennedy to be a true ‘creature of television’ and one of ‘the funniest ad-libbers in the world once the camera came on’. Carol lent sophistication and glamour to the panel; she was witty, breezy and affably cooperative with Kennedy’s comic regime. Carol appeared with Barry Creyton in a weekly short sketch on the Mike Walsh Show live to air. The two of them were so busy they never seemed to have time to rehearse but the sketches, written by Creyton, were a success and they continued to appear in many episodes. In one sketch Carol played Margaret Thatcher with stiff coiffed hair, an oversized handbag and pearls, complimenting Australians on their wonderful ‘kangaroo butter’ and declaring that she had just told the Prime Minister, Mr Peacock how much ‘we in Britain, love your kangaroo butter; it’s beyond me how you milk the kangaroos but we love your kangaroo butter’. Creyton as interviewer reminds her that the Prime Minister is Malcolm Fraser, whereupon ‘Thatcher’ tells him that she was told Peacock would be Prime Minister by the time she arrived in Australia.
Creyton: Who leaked that?
Thatcher: Mr Peacock... (looking perturbed) ‘Don’t tell me they put him out to stud?
Creyton: No, he couldn’t get his popularity poll up.
Thatcher: (smiling agreeably) Dennis has that trouble too.
This memorable sketch continues with Carol assaying Thatcher with flair. Alluding to the tensions with Argentina over the Falkland Islands Creyton says: Mrs Thatcher, is Britain ready for war? Thatcher says emphatically ‘Oh yes, we’re dying to get rid of all those old ration cards’. Creyton says ‘And so all of your mighty warships are steaming towards the Falklands? ‘Yes, it is’ affirms Thatcher, looking somewhat sheepish, and going on to explain that the Queen has lent them her royal yacht to carry munitions. She tells him that he might consider coming along to join the war effort: ‘Lots of your kind are coming, even Vanessa Redgrave. Creyton says: Vanessa Redgrave has joined the British Army?’ ‘ No, no says Raye as Thatcher, she’s joined the Argentinian Army’.
By this stage Carol was a celebrated entertainer with frequent invitations to play in various stage and television productions. She preferred the rhythm and regularity of the theatre and was beginning to enjoy a slightly less pressured life on a small farm in the valley of Wattagen State Forest, living in an old country cottage. Carol fought hard with her local progress association to prevent an open cut mine in her district, ran for the Senate and worked for the NSW Liberal Party for some years. In 1983 at the age of 60 she sought pre-selection for the seat of Mosman in the NSW State parliament competing with Malcolm Turnbull. Neither Raye nor Turnbull gained pre-selection but in the months she spent in seeking the endorsement of the party she explained the work of performers and their intense discipline to many reporters, and articulated the importance of women gaining seats in parliament. Later Carol served on the Theatre Board of the Australia Council, the first actor to be appointed to that Board.
By this stage Carol was a celebrated entertainer with frequent invitations to play in various stage and television productions. She preferred the rhythm and regularity of the theatre and was beginning to enjoy a slightly less pressured life on a small farm in the valley of Wattagen State Forest, living in an old country cottage. Carol fought hard with her local progress association to prevent an open cut mine in her district, ran for the Senate and worked for the NSW Liberal Party for some years. In 1983 at the age of 60 she sought pre-selection for the seat of Mosman in the NSW State parliament competing with Malcolm Turnbull. Neither Raye nor Turnbull gained pre-selection but in the months she spent in seeking the endorsement of the party she explained the work of performers and their intense discipline to many reporters, and articulated the importance of women gaining seats in parliament. Later Carol served on the Theatre Board of the Australia Council, the first actor to be appointed to that Board.
Carol took a break after caring for her parents, who had both been ill and died within months of one another. For the first time in her life she did not have any plans or TV contracts. Her children were working and had lives of their own. Out of the blue, Carol received a call from Hayes Gordon at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney. The actor and director had established an independent theatre company in 1958 in a boatshed. A Bostonian, Gordon, had studied Method acting in New York before moving to Australia after the war, and he also ran an acting school from their small harbour-side theatre complex in Kirribilli with Zika Nester. The theatre focussed on producing contemporary plays and Hayes wanted to put on Neil Simon’s new comic suite of four short plays called California Suite. Carol played four characters and thoroughly enjoyed being back on stage after so many years working on television. She told me that ‘The waves of energy and excitement you get back from a live audience you can’t get anywhere else’. The following year Carol appeared in The Pleasure of His Company with Douglas Fairbanks Jr, David Langton, David Goddard, Christine Amor and Stanley Holloway with whom she had worked in Manchester during the war. Carol appeared frequently on stage in the years that followed, starring in the premiere of David Williamson’s poignant play Travelling North in 1979, and then in the classic comedy Noises Off, once more working with her old friend Barry Creyton. Williamson’s play portrays an older couple who move from Melbourne to Queensland together. At the time, Carol and her on-stage lover, played by Frank Wilson, were asked about the morality of the play and the actors insisted that Williamson was drawing attention to the double standard between older and younger people.
Carol has appeared in numerous stage productions since that time and in guest roles on television. Her last role before she retired was playing the mother of the protagonist in the popular television series SeaChange. It was a particularly rewarding experience, in part, because Carol’s daughter Sally produced the series. In recalling how much she enjoyed this television series, she observed that Australian comedy has broadened and deepened in the years since she first created and produced Mavis Bramston, and that Seachange was rare and refreshing in its charm, warmth, romance and affirming qualities of pathos and gentle humour. Carol Raye is often remembered for her major contribution to the landmark Mavis Bramston Show. She also contributed to significant and innovative theatre both on the stage and television over four decades, including Travelling North and Number 96. Raye’s fine understanding of satirical comedy, and her ability to charm and entertain gently is an enduring and precious gift.
Image Credits
Header image: Carol Raye aged 16. Courtesy of Carol Raye.
Image one: Carol Raye with Peter Graves in Waltz Time, 1945. Courtesy of Carol Raye.
Image two: Carol Raye on set. Courtesy of Seven Studios.
Image three: Carol Raye on the set of the Mavis Bramston Show. Courtesy of Seven Studios.
Image four: The Mavis Bramston Show. Courtesy of Seven Studios.
Image five: Gordon Chater, Carol Raye and Barry Creyton rehearsing for the Mavis Bramston Show. Courtesy of Carol Raye