Sheila MacRae 1920-2014

[Zoneboy]

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.

Link

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 believed to be 93.

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 re-limned 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.

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 models 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 such 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.

[HuntingtonM15]

Very sad news to hear. My mom and I met her at a convention about 12 years ago. She was such a sweet woman. She told a story about how generous Lucille Ball had been to her.

May she

[McGillicuddy]

Now she's with her daughter, Meredith MacRae.

[Duster76]

Originally Posted by Zoneboy

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.

Link

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 believed to be 93.

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 re-limned 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.

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 models 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 such 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.

With all respects to the dead, I thought MacRae was badly miscast as Alice. I'd didn't think she had any on-screen chemistry with Gleason at all. The Alice character is complex requiring a very gifted actress to pull it off. MacRae could sing and was nice on the eyes but that is all she brought to the table. I haven't seen the episodes from the 60's since I was a kid, but I remember thinking at the time that Jane Kean (Trixie) would have made a better Alice (I also thought Kean was better looking than MacRae).

[Zoneboy]

Originally Posted by Duster76

I remember thinking at the time that Jane Kean (Trixie) would have made a better Alice (I also thought Kean was better looking than MacRae).

Didn't Jackie originally reject Audrey Meadows because he thought she was too pretty? I had a book at one-time that mentioned this and apparently after hearing what he said, Audrey made herself up to look like a mess while standing over a stove and Jackie gave her the part because he said that anyone that would go to that much trouble deserved it. This may not be exactly right but I think I'm fairly close.

[Bill S.]

Strange timing. I was just going to post the link to this article about Sheila I came across recently: http://www.thewrap.com/tv/blog-post/...a-macrea-31269

Originally Posted by Zoneboy

Didn't Jackie originally reject Audrey Meadows because he thought she was too pretty? I had a book at one-time that mentioned this and apparently after hearing what he said, Audrey made herself up to look like a mess while standing over a stove and Jackie gave her the part because he said that anyone that would go to that much trouble deserved it. This may not be exactly right but I think I'm fairly close.

That's the basic gist of it. According to Audrey, Gleason supposedly said, "Any dame with a sense of humor like that deserves the job."

[Marvo301]

Sheila MacRae

[HuntingtonM15]

Such a classy lady.

[PracTz]

I always liked the story she told of when she first played Alice, Mrs. MacRae puddled up while Ralph shouted at her. Mr. Gleason asked her what was the deal with the tears and Mrs. MacRae replied, "This Alice cries."

Without missing a beat, Mr. Gleason snapped back "Not on MY show. If you cry, everyone will hate me!"

Yes, although Alice may have had reason to cry [and Mrs. MacRae definitely did considering how Mr. MacRae was self-destructing], at once Mrs. MacRae understood the Great One's genius behind having Alice staying a tough cookie regardless of how much Ralph blustered and threatened her to the moon!


RIP, Mrs. MacRae, I can only imagine how much you've missed your beloved children who departed this world before you and how good it is to be reunited with them and other loved ones!

[TVFactFan]

still haven't had a chance to see this show

[PracTz]

Originally Posted by TVFactFan

still haven't had a chance to see this show

The ones with Mrs. MacRae? Fairly entertaining on their own [though with more stress on musical numbers than the original] but not as good as the ones with Miss Meadows, IMO. Miss Meadows was the best of the Alices, IMO in that she could act believably frumpy and downtrodden yet that also believably be considered 'The Greatest' by Ralph.
Pert Kelton was fair but seemed TOO frumpy IMO while Mrs. MacRae was okay but perhaps a bit too perky even if she didn't back down from Ralph.
Never have seen Sue Ann Langdon's Alice but from what I've read Gleason didn't consider her any loss when she left the role.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by PracTz

The ones with Mrs. MacRae? Fairly entertaining on their own [though with more stress on musical numbers than the original] but not as good as the ones with Miss Meadows, IMO. Miss Meadows was the best of the Alices, IMO in that she could act believably frumpy and downtrodden yet that also believably be considered 'The Greatest' by Ralph.
Pert Kelton was fair but seemed TOO frumpy IMO while Mrs. MacRae was okay but perhaps a bit too perky even if she didn't back down from Ralph.
Never have seen Sue Ann Langdon's Alice but from what I've read Gleason didn't consider her any loss when she left the role.

Yes I was searching on youtube last night but was unsuccessful

[Bill S.]

Originally Posted by PracTz

Never have seen Sue Ann Langdon's Alice but from what I've read Gleason didn't consider her any loss when she left the role.

I haven't seen Sue Ane Langdon in anything other than the two Honeymooners she did, but it seemed, to me at least, that she was just imitating Audrey Meadows. FYI, an actress by the name of Ginger Jones, who may have been the first Trixie (the footage is still lost), also played Alice during a live promotional tour the cast did in 1952.

[ChrisTV]

This would make Ginger Jones the only person to play both Alice & Trixie.

Here is her statement from "The Honeymooners Lost Episodes" book.

If going by the list that was released on the DVD set, the only episode that she could have played Trixie is "Supermarket Shopping" [Alice's Anniversary] 10/19/51.

Which, BTW, I believe is most likely the same episode as "Pickles."

This would be 2 weeks prior to Elaine Stritch in "The New Television Set" 11/2/51 and 7 weeks prior to Joyce Randolph in "The Ring Salesman" 12/7/51.

On a side note, in "Alice And Ralph Get Dressed For A Date Last Night" 11/30/51, when telling Norton to go to the dance without him & Alice, Ralph tells Norton "You and Millie go ahead without us."

This would seem to make sense that the character of Trixie wasn't well established.

[Bill S.]

Originally Posted by ChrisTV

This would make Ginger Jones the only person to play both Alice & Trixie.

And her appearance as Mrs. Norton would've been during the only known sketch from 1951 that's still missing. Carney would've made his first appearance as Ed Norton during that same show.

Regarding Sheila: In a thread posted over at the Lucy Lounge, a member by the name of "C L A U D E" posted the following:

on a show, a later one, Gleason celebrated his birthday and Sheilah said she would do some imitations, she was like Debbie Reynolds, she could do several. Anyway, she went behind a curtain and instead of Sheilah coming out, Lucy did instead. That's how much Lucy wanted Gleason to do that movie or special with her of Diamond Jim Brady and Lillian Russell.

Anyone know which show they're referring to?