Sheila MacRae
This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2014) |
Sheila MacRae | |
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MacRae in 1974 | |
Born | Sheila Margaret Stephens 24 September 1921 London, England, UK |
Died | 6 March 2014 Englewood, New Jersey, U.S. | (aged 92)
Other names | Sheila Margaret Stevens |
Occupation(s) | Actress, producer, singer |
Years active | 1950–1993 |
Spouse(s) | Gordon MacRae (m.1941–1967; divorced) Ronald Wayne (m.1967–1970; divorced) |
Children |
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Sheila MacRae (24 September 1921 – 6 March 2014)[1] was an English-born American actress, singer and dancer.
Career
MacRae appeared in such films as Caged (1950), Backfire (1950) and Sex and the Single Girl (1964). On television, MacRae played herself in an episode of I Love Lucy, "The Fashion Show" in which she asks Lucy to participate in a Hollywood fashion show organized by Don Loper and featuring actors' wives as models.
In her first continuing role on television,[2] between 1966 and 1970 MacRae played Alice Kramden on 52 episodes of The Jackie Gleason Show, taking over the role from Audrey Meadows. She went on to have her own short-lived television series (The Sheila MacRae Show), and to play "Madelyn Richmond" on the long-running soap opera General Hospital.
Personal life
Sheila Margaret Stephens was born in London in 1921,[1] but evacuated with her parents to Long Island, New York in 1939, shortly before the onset of World War II. She finished high school when she was 15.[3]
She married actor and singer Gordon MacRae in 1941; the couple divorced in 1967. They often appeared on the stage together, in musicals such as Bells Are Ringing (in a 1964 production), and Guys and Dolls (as Miss Adelaide, a character that she took to Broadway in the 1965 revival).[1] They were the parents of two daughters, actresses Heather and Meredith MacRae, and two sons, William Gordon MacRae and Robert Bruce MacRae. Two of Sheila's four children, Meredith and Robert, predeceased her.[4]
She later married Ronald Wayne, a television producer.[3]
MacRae became a naturalized United States citizen on 20 March 1959, in California.[5]
Death
MacRae, a devout Christian Scientist, died suddenly on 6 March 2014, in Englewood, New Jersey, aged 92,[1] at the Lillian Booth Actor's Home. She had suffered from dementia, but was otherwise in good health and had been hospitalized for a minor surgical procedure, when her death came suddenly from natural causes, said her daughter, Heather.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d New York Times obituary, 9 March 2014.
- ^ "Sheila MacRae To Play Alice Kramden". Biddeford-Saco Journal. 25 June 1966. p. 12. Retrieved 29 April 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Sheila projects aura of strength". The Salina Journal. 14 July 1974. p. 15. Retrieved 29 April 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Sheila MacRae, the Queen of Hollywood Past, Is With the Angels". Huffington Post. 7 March 2014.
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(help) - ^ Naturalization information, ancestry.com; accessed 9 March 2014.
External links
- MacRae appearance on What's My Line on 30 September 1962
- Sheila MacRae at IMDb
- Sheila MacRae at the Internet Broadway Database
- Use dmy dates from August 2012
- 1921 births
- 2014 deaths
- Actresses from London
- Disease-related deaths in New Jersey
- American people of English descent
- American Christian Scientists
- American female dancers
- American female singers
- American film actresses
- American musical theatre actresses
- American soap opera actresses
- American television actresses
- English dancers
- English female singers
- English film actresses
- English musical theatre actresses
- English soap opera actresses
- English television actresses
- English screen actor stubs