Meredith MacRae
Encyclopedia
Meredith Lynn MacRae was an American
actress and singer.
and as Sally Ann in My Three Sons
. She also took over the role of "Animal" from Valora Noland
in Bikini Beach
(1964), the third Beach Party film
produced by American International Pictures
.
She made guest appearances on such shows as The Donald O'Connor Show
(1968 version), The F.B.I., The Rockford Files
, Fantasy Island
, Webster
, CHiPS
, Love American Style, and Magnum, P.I.
.
Her game show appearances were numerous and included: Funny You Should Ask, Match Game
, What's My Line?
, I've Got a Secret
, Tattletales
(with then-husband Greg Mullavey), Hollywood Squares
, To Tell the Truth
, Password
(ABC version), $10,000 Pyramid, Mantrap
, Break the Bank, Celebrity Whew!, Beat the Clock
, Card Sharks
, and Family Feud
.
Other movies included Norwood, co-starring with Glen Campbell
and Joe Namath
, and The Census Taker with her second husband, Greg Mullavey.
In the 1980s, she hosted Mid-Morning Los Angeles and was awarded a local Emmy for her interviewing skills. Later, she created and hosted Born Famous, a PBS series on which she interviewed children of celebrities.
In summer stock, in her teens, she appeared with Dan Dailey
in Take Me Along, with Andy Williams
in Bye Bye Birdie and also in Annie Get Your Gun
.
MacRae worked to raise funds for such causes as the Children's Burn Foundation
, the American Cancer Society
and United Cerebral Palsy
. She was also honorary chairperson for the National Council on Alcoholism and spoke to groups all across the country.
After getting the part of Sally Ann in My Three Sons
, she obtained a BA in English from UCLA. She said, "While mom and dad were a little disappointed I didn’t finish college, they didn’t object. But I feel different. I’m not going to give up the idea of college. Next spring, when we take a production break from the series ("My Three Sons"), I’m going right back and pick up where I left off. I know now what a big mistake it would have been to be a high school drop-out. I’ve learned so much that will help me in my career and in life generally."
She was the daughter of show business parents Gordon
and Sheila MacRae
, the sister of Gar and Heather MacRae
. Her only child is daughter Allison Mullavey by her second marriage to actor Greg Mullavey. Her first marriage was to MGM executive Richard Berger. Her third and final marriage was to Fortune 500 CEO Philip Neal.
Meredith credited her parents with instilling a proper work ethic in her and for keeping her feet on the ground. She said, “We lived in a modest home in the San Fernando Valley instead of the fashionable Beverly Hills which the family could have afforded. Mom and Dad didn’t want us to feel superior to the other kids. I had to earn the things I wanted all the way from dolls to party gowns by doing chores around the house and taking care of my younger sister and brothers.
“Lots of kids in my circle automatically got a car when they were 16. Not me. Dad said he would get me a car when I got straight A's two years in a row in school. I slaved away and finally made it. I got the car with the warning that if I didn’t continue with straight A's, it would be taken away.”
and headaches, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor
. She endured surgery and chemotherapy, even volunteering to test a new cancer drug. On July 14, 2000, she died from complications of brain cancer. As per her wishes, her body was cremated and her ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
At the time of her death MacRae was married to Phil Neal, CEO of Avery Dennison Corporation.
The Girls from Petticoat Junction (Meredith MacRae, Linda Kaye Henning
and Lori Saunders
)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress and singer.
Life and career
MacRae was best known for her television roles as Billie Jo on Petticoat JunctionPetticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning; the others are The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.The setting for the series...
and as Sally Ann in My Three Sons
My Three Sons
My Three Sons is an American situation comedy. The series ran from 1960 to 1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on August 24, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of a widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas , raising his three sons.The series was a cornerstone of the CBS...
. She also took over the role of "Animal" from Valora Noland
Valora Noland
Valora Noland is an American actress, notable for her 1960s movie and television work.-Biography:Valora Noland was born in Seattle, Washington December 8, 1941. Her mother had not yet decided upon a name for her new boy or girl, and caught up in the concerns of the hour , let it go for the moment...
in Bikini Beach
Bikini Beach
Bikini Beach is a 1964 teen film directed by William Asher and starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. The film belongs to the beach party genre of movies, popular in the 1960s. This is the third in a series of seven films produced by American International Pictures .-Plot:School is out and...
(1964), the third Beach Party film
Beach Party film
Beach party movies were an American 1960s genre of feature films created by American International Pictures with their surprise 1963 hit, Beach Party, and copied by virtually every other studio...
produced by American International Pictures
American International Pictures
American International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
.
She made guest appearances on such shows as The Donald O'Connor Show
The Donald O'Connor Show
The Donald O'Connor Show is an American musical situation comedy television series starring singer/dancer Donald O'Connor...
(1968 version), The F.B.I., The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
, Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island is the title of two separate but related American fantasy television series, both originally airing on the ABC television network.-Original series:...
, Webster
Webster (TV series)
Webster is an American situation comedy that premiered on ABC on September 16, 1983, and ran on that network until September 11, 1987, but continued in first-run syndication until 1989...
, CHiPS
CHiPs
CHiPs is an American television drama series produced by MGM Studios that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to July 17, 1983. CHiPs followed the lives of two motorcycle police officers of the California Highway Patrol...
, Love American Style, and Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....
.
Her game show appearances were numerous and included: Funny You Should Ask, Match Game
Match Game
Match Game is an American television game show in which contestants attempted to match celebrities' answers to fill-in-the-blank questions...
, What's My Line?
What's My Line?
What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....
, I've Got a Secret
I've Got a Secret
I've Got a Secret is a panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman's own panel show What's My Line?...
, Tattletales
Tattletales
Tattletales is a game show which first aired on the CBS daytime schedule on February 18, 1974. It was hosted by Bert Convy, with several announcers, including Jack Clark, Gene Wood, Johnny Olson and John Harlan, providing the voiceover at various times...
(with then-husband Greg Mullavey), Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares is an American panel game show in which two contestants play tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The "board" for the game is a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants...
, To Tell the Truth
To Tell the Truth
To Tell the Truth is an American television panel game show created by Bob Stewart and produced by Goodson-Todman Productions that has aired in various forms since 1956 both on networks and in syndication...
, Password
Password
A password is a secret word or string of characters that is used for authentication, to prove identity or gain access to a resource . The password should be kept secret from those not allowed access....
(ABC version), $10,000 Pyramid, Mantrap
Mantrap
Mantraps are physical security devices or constructions designed to entrap a human on purpose.-Historical usage:Historically, mantraps were mechanical devices for catching poachers and trespassers. The devices have taken many forms, the most usual being like a large foothold trap, the steel springs...
, Break the Bank, Celebrity Whew!, Beat the Clock
Beat the Clock
Beat the Clock is a Goodson-Todman game show which has aired on American television in several versions since 1950.The original show, hosted by Bud Collyer, ran on CBS from 1950–1958 and ABC from 1958–1961. The show was revived in syndication as The New Beat the Clock from 1969–1974, with Jack Narz...
, Card Sharks
Card Sharks
Card Sharks is an American television game show created by Chester Feldman for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions. Two contestants compete for control of a row of oversized playing cards by answering questions posed by the host and then guessing if the next card is higher or lower in value than...
, and Family Feud
Family Feud
Family Feud is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Two families compete against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to a survey question posed to 100 people...
.
Other movies included Norwood, co-starring with Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...
and Joe Namath
Joe Namath
Joseph William "Joe" Namath , nicknamed "Broadway Joe" or "Joe Willie", is a former American football quarterback. He played college football for the University of Alabama under coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and his assistant, Howard Schnellenberger, from 1962–1964, and professional football in the...
, and The Census Taker with her second husband, Greg Mullavey.
In the 1980s, she hosted Mid-Morning Los Angeles and was awarded a local Emmy for her interviewing skills. Later, she created and hosted Born Famous, a PBS series on which she interviewed children of celebrities.
In summer stock, in her teens, she appeared with Dan Dailey
Dan Dailey
Daniel James Dailey Jr. was an American dancer and actor.-Early life and career:Born in New York City on December 14, 1915, to James J. and Helen Dailey, both born in New York City. He appeared in a minstrel show when very young, and appeared in vaudeville before his Broadway debut in 1937 in...
in Take Me Along, with Andy Williams
Andy Williams
Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...
in Bye Bye Birdie and also in Annie Get Your Gun
Annie Get Your Gun (musical)
Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production...
.
MacRae worked to raise funds for such causes as the Children's Burn Foundation
Children's Burn Foundation
The Children’s Burn Foundation is an American non-profit organization founded in 1985 to meet the physical, psychological and financial needs of children who have been severely burned. Located in Sherman Oaks, California, they were founded by Dr. A. Richard Grossman and McLean Stevenson...
, the American Cancer Society
American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...
and United Cerebral Palsy
United Cerebral Palsy
United Cerebral Palsy is an international nonprofit charitable organization consisting of a network of affiliates. UCP is a leading service provider and advocate for adults and children with disabilities, including cerebral palsy...
. She was also honorary chairperson for the National Council on Alcoholism and spoke to groups all across the country.
After getting the part of Sally Ann in My Three Sons
My Three Sons
My Three Sons is an American situation comedy. The series ran from 1960 to 1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on August 24, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of a widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas , raising his three sons.The series was a cornerstone of the CBS...
, she obtained a BA in English from UCLA. She said, "While mom and dad were a little disappointed I didn’t finish college, they didn’t object. But I feel different. I’m not going to give up the idea of college. Next spring, when we take a production break from the series ("My Three Sons"), I’m going right back and pick up where I left off. I know now what a big mistake it would have been to be a high school drop-out. I’ve learned so much that will help me in my career and in life generally."
She was the daughter of show business parents Gordon
Gordon MacRae
Gordon MacRae was an American actor and singer, best known for his appearances in the film versions of two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Oklahoma! and Carousel and films with Doris Day like Starlift.-Early life:Born Albert Gordon MacRae in East Orange, New Jersey, MacRae graduated from...
and Sheila MacRae
Sheila MacRae
Sheila MacRae is an English actress and author. She was born Sheila Margaret Stephens. She appeared in such films as Pretty Baby , Caged , Backfire , and Sex and the Single Girl ....
, the sister of Gar and Heather MacRae
Heather MacRae
Heather MacRae is an American stage, film and television actress, perhaps best known for her role in the Woody Allen 1972 comedy film Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* ....
. Her only child is daughter Allison Mullavey by her second marriage to actor Greg Mullavey. Her first marriage was to MGM executive Richard Berger. Her third and final marriage was to Fortune 500 CEO Philip Neal.
Meredith credited her parents with instilling a proper work ethic in her and for keeping her feet on the ground. She said, “We lived in a modest home in the San Fernando Valley instead of the fashionable Beverly Hills which the family could have afforded. Mom and Dad didn’t want us to feel superior to the other kids. I had to earn the things I wanted all the way from dolls to party gowns by doing chores around the house and taking care of my younger sister and brothers.
“Lots of kids in my circle automatically got a car when they were 16. Not me. Dad said he would get me a car when I got straight A's two years in a row in school. I slaved away and finally made it. I got the car with the warning that if I didn’t continue with straight A's, it would be taken away.”
Death
In the late 90s after experiencing vertigoVertigo (medical)
Vertigo is a type of dizziness, where there is a feeling of motion when one is stationary. The symptoms are due to a dysfunction of the vestibular system in the inner ear...
and headaches, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor
Brain tumor
A brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...
. She endured surgery and chemotherapy, even volunteering to test a new cancer drug. On July 14, 2000, she died from complications of brain cancer. As per her wishes, her body was cremated and her ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
At the time of her death MacRae was married to Phil Neal, CEO of Avery Dennison Corporation.
Discography
Solo- "Image of a Boy"/"Time Stands Still" — Canjo 103 (1964)
- "Who Needs Memories of Him"/"Goodbye Love" — Capitol 2000 (1967)
The Girls from Petticoat Junction (Meredith MacRae, Linda Kaye Henning
Linda Kaye Henning
Linda Kaye Henning is an American actress who starred on the 1960s sitcom Petticoat Junction.-Early life:Henning was born in Los Angeles, California. The television producer Paul Henning, is her father, and her mother is Ruth Henning. In her youth, Linda Kaye Henning was a student of the ballet...
and Lori Saunders
Lori Saunders
Lori Saunders is an American film and television actress, probably best known for her role as Bobbie Jo Bradley in the television series Petticoat Junction , appearing in 147 episodes. She also appeared as Betty Gordon, one of Mr...
)
- "I'm So Glad That You Found Me"/"If You Could Only Be Me" — Imperial 66329 (1968)
- "Wheeling, West Virginia"/"Thirty Days Hath September" — Imperial 66346 (1968)