Sheila MacRae obit

'Honeymooners' Star Sheila MacRae Dies

 

 She was not on the list.

The actress starred as Alice in a later version of the Jackie Gleason comedy. She had a popular nightclub act with her husband, "Oklahoma!" star Gordon MacRae, before their divorce.

Sheila MacRae, the English actress and comedienne who starred as Alice Kramden in a 1960s re-creation of the hit TV series The Honeymooners, has died. She was 92.

MacRae, who played Ralph Kramden's wife from 1966-70 on CBS' The Jackie Gleason Show, died Friday at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, N.J., a spokesman for the nursing care facility confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

MacRae revived the role made famous by Audrey Meadows, who starred in the 1950s version of The Honeymooners. MacRae made a final appearance as Alice in a 1973 Gleason special.

An accomplished singer, dancer and impressionist, MacRae was married to Oklahoma! singer-actor Gordon MacRae and was the mother of Petticoat Junction actress Meredith MacRae, who died of brain cancer in 2000 at age 56. In the wake of her daughter's death, she did not perform for years.

Born Sheila Margaret Stephens in London, she was sent by family to live on New York's Long Island just before the outbreak of World War II.

In 1941, she married Gordon MacRae, who recorded such hits as "Rambling Rose," "So in Love" and "It's Magic" and hosted his own TV show in the mid-1950s. They often performed together and were on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 when The Beatles also appeared.

MacRae appeared in such films as Caged (1950), Backfire (1950), and Sex and the Single Girl (1964).
That exposure boosted their careers, and they performed in nightclubs all over the world --including a show in front of Queen Elizabeth at the London Palladium -- until they separated in 1965.

The pair finalized their divorce in 1967, and she married TV producer Ronald Wayne that same year. (They divorced in 1970.) She wrote a 1992 autobiography, Hollywood Mother of the Year, that told of her years on the road and her turmoil with her first husband.

MacRae appeared as herself in a 1955 episode of I Love Lucy, titled "The Fashion Show," in which Lucille Ball modeled fashions with other celebrities' wives, and was in such films as Backfire (1950), Caged (1950), Pretty Baby (1950) and Bikini Beach (1964).

In a recurring role on daytime TV, she played Madelyn Richmond on General Hospital and later appeared as a pushy publicist on Search for Tomorrow. She was a popular quiz show performer, appearing often on What's My Line?

She starred on Broadway in Absurd Person Singular, which debuted in 1974, starred Off-Broadway in O.K. and toured in national productions of Luv, Plaza Suite, Twigs, Redhead and The Typist and the Tiger.

On the Los Angeles stage, McRae was a Drama Logue Award winner in 1983 for An American Farce and received critical acclaim for L'Acheteuse. More recently, she performed in a show titled An Evening With Sheila MacRae, a recounting of her life.

She and Gordon MacRae had four children. 

 

Murder, She Wrote (TV Series)

Susan Wells

- Lone Witness (1993) ... Susan Wells (as Sheila Mac Rae)

 1990-1991 Parenthood (TV Series)

Marilyn Buckman

- Fun for Kids (1991) ... Marilyn Buckman (credit only)

- Gil vs. the Deck (1990) ... Marilyn Buckman

- Thanksgiving with a T That Rhymes with B That Stands for Basketball (1990) ... Marilyn Buckman

- Take My Parents, Please (1990) ... Marilyn Buckman

- Small Surprises (1990) ... Marilyn Buckman (credit only)

- Hollow Halloween (1990) ... Marilyn Buckman

- Cards and Cars (1990) ... Marilyn Buckman (credit only)

- Love Stinks (1990) ... Marilyn Buckman

- I Never Invested for My Father (1990) ... Marilyn Buckman

- The Plague (1990) ... Marilyn Buckman

- My Dad Can Beat Up Your BMW (1990) ... Marilyn Buckman

- Pilot (1990) ... Marilyn Buckman

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 1986 The Perils of P.K.

 1986 The Naked Cage

Bank Teller (as Sheila Stephenson)

 1981 Goldie and the Boxer Go to Hollywood (TV Movie)

Cuddles

 1980 The Secret War of Jackie's Girls (TV Movie)

Phyllis

 1979 The Love Boat (TV Series)

Helen Taylor

- The Harder They Fall/The Spider Serenade/Next Door Wife (1979) ... Helen Taylor

 1966-1970 The Jackie Gleason Show (TV Series)

Alice Kramden / The Old Woman in a Shoe / The Old Woman in the Shoe / ...

- The Honeymooners: Operation Protest (1970) ... Alice Kramden

- The Honeymooners: We're Off to See the Wizard (1970) ... Alice Kramden

- Double Trouble (1969) ... Alice Kramden

- The Honeymooners: The Match Game (1969) ... Alice Kramden

- The Honeymooners: The Sun and Raccoon Capital (1969) ... Alice Kramden

1966 The Trials of O'Brien (TV Series)

Mitzi Kortner

- The Partridge Papers (1966) ... Mitzi Kortner

 1965 How to Stuff a Wild Bikini

Secretary (as Sheila Stephenson)

 1964 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (TV Series)

Nurse

- The Project Strigas Affair (1964) ... Nurse (as Sheila Stephenson)

 1964 Bikini Beach

Secretary (as Sheila Stephenson)

 1963 General Hospital (TV Series)

Madelyn Richmond (1991)

 1954-1962 The Red Skelton Hour (TV Series)

Kate / Southern Belle-Showboat Skit

- How the West Was Lost (1962) ... Kate

- Mississippi Showboat (1954) ... Southern Belle-Showboat Skit

 1960-1961 The Ed Sullivan Show (TV Series)

Singer / Musical Comedy Duo

- Episode #15.8 (1961) ... Singer

- Episode #14.4 (1960) ... Musical Comedy Duo

- Episode #13.44 (1960) ... Singer

- Episode #13.32 (1960) ... Singer

 1960/I No Place Like Home (TV Movie)

Sheila MacRae

 1957 Lux Video Theatre (TV Series)

Virginia Brush

- One Sunday Afternoon (1957) ... Virginia Brush

 1955 I Love Lucy (TV Series)

Sheila MacRae

- The Fashion Show (1955) ... Sheila MacRae (as Mrs. Gordon MacRae)

 1953 Hollywood Opening Night (TV Series)

- The Romantic Type (1953)

 1951 Search for Tomorrow (TV Series)

Mildred Lascoe (1984)

 1950 Katie Did It

Irene (uncredited)

 1950 Pretty Baby

Peggy (as Sheila Stephens)

 1950 Caged

Helen (as Sheila Stevens)

 1950 Backfire

Bonnie Willis (as Sheila Stephens)