Sheila Margaret MacRae (née Stephens; 24 September 1921 – 6 March 2014) 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 ''I Love Lucy'' is an American sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes spanning six seasons. The series starred Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz, along with Vivian ...

'', "The Fashion Show", in which she asks Lucy to participate in a

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

fashion show organized by Don Loper and featuring actors' wives as models. In her first continuing role on television, between 1966 and 1970, MacRae played Alice Kramden on 52 episodes of ''

The Jackie Gleason Show ''The Jackie Gleason Show'' is a series of American network television shows that starred Jackie Gleason, which ran from 1952 to 1970, in various forms. ''Cavalcade of Stars'' Gleason's first variety series, which aired on the DuMont Televisio ...

'', taking over the role from

Audrey Meadows Audrey Meadows (born Audrey Cotter; February 8, 1922 – February 3, 1996) was an American actress who portrayed the deadpan housewife Alice Kramden on the 1950s American television comedy ''The Honeymooners''. She was the younger sister of H ...

. She went on to have her own short-lived television series (''The Sheila MacRae Show''), and to play Madelyn Richmond in 1991 on the long-running soap opera ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera created by Frank and Doris Hursley which has been broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC since April 1, 1963. Originally a half-hour seria ...

''.

Personal life

Sheila Margaret Stephens was born in London in 1921, 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. 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 ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Run ...

'' (as Miss Adelaide, a character that she took to Broadway in the 1965 revival). They were the parents of two daughters, actresses Heather and Meredith MacRae, and two sons, William Gordon MacRae and Robert Bruce MacRae. One of Sheila's four children, Meredith, predeceased her. She later married Ronald Wayne, a television producer. MacRae became a naturalized United States citizen on 20 March 1959 in California.

Death

MacRae, a devout Christian Scientist, died suddenly on 6 March 2014, in

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of Engle ...

, aged 92, 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. She was soon cremated.

References

External links

* * 1921 births 2014 deaths Actresses from London English emigrants to the United States American Christian Scientists American female dancers American women singers American film actresses American musical theatre actresses American soap opera actresses American television actresses English female dancers English women singers English film actresses English musical theatre actresses English soap opera actresses English television actresses Naturalized citizens of the United States {{England-screen-actor-stub English Christian Scientists