Carol Raye was a British-born Australian multitalented entertainer.
Raye’s career span some seven decades from the late 1930s, firstly as a film star and theatre performer in the United Kingdom in which she would star, and often dance and sing, in such movies as;
- Song of Romance and
- Strawberry Roan and Waltz Time.
After that, Raye briefly worked in Kenyam, before immigrating to Australia, where she became notable for her small screen roles.
Sadly, Raye died on 19 June 2022 aged 99, a week after she was awarded an Order of Australia.
Carol Raye Children
Raye was married to prominent veterinarian Robert Ayre Smith (1926-2006). Did Carol Raye have children? Raye and Smith had three children, two of whom followed their mother into theatrical roles.
Raye’s 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
Raye’s youngest daughter, Harriet, started her career in the Sydney Theatre Company office and is also an occasional actress.
Raye was best known as the producer and original star of the iconic TV satire The Mavis Bramston Show alongside Gordon Chater and Barry Creyton.
Raye was also widely known as a semi-regular star of soap opera Number 96 as Baroness Amanda von Pappenburg, a wealthy socialite from Heidelberg, Germany, who regularly arrives at the iconic “96” to visit her nephew Don Finlayson, portrayed by Joe Hasham.