Elizabeth MacRae, whose career was defined by her work on popular television shows such as Gomer Pyle, USMC and the soap opera General Hospital, has died at the age of 88.
MacRae died peacefully at her home in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Monday, May 27, she said. obituary.
Although the actress was best known for her television work, she appeared in a handful of films throughout her career, including a widely acclaimed late-career triumph opposite Gene Hackman in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 paranoid thriller, The Conversation.
MacRae was born in 1936 in Columbia, South Carolina, and by 1956 had decided to focus on becoming an actress.
A 1956 audition for director Otto Preminger’s Saint Joan was a failure, but she credited the legendary filmmaker for encouraging her to pursue acting and encouraging her to seek professional acting training.
Elizabeth MacRae, whose career was defined by her work on popular television shows such as Gomer Pyle, USMC and the soap opera General Hospital, has died at age 88; in Judd’s photo for the defense (1969)
MacRae died peacefully at his home in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Monday, May 27, according to his obituary; photographed in 1959 at Rendezvous
Later that year she moved to New York City and began studying with actress Uta Hagen at the Herbert Berghof studio, honing her craft in performing on stage.
In 1958, MacRae moved to Los Angeles to begin auditioning for television shows, while continuing to take acting classes.
He earned his first television appearance that year with an uncredited role in The Verdict Is Yours.
He followed with roles in Rendezvous and the influential crime series Naked City, and in 1961 he had guest appearances in Maverick and The Asphalt Jungle.
MacRae appeared in several classic television series including Route 66, The Fugitive, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, I Dream Of Jeanie, The Andy Griffith Show and many more.
Beginning in 1966, she began one of her best-known roles as the girlfriend of the main character, Lou-Ann Poovie, in the Gomer Pyle comedy series, USMC.
According to a Los Angeles Times report at the time, MacRae was cast as a bad singer, supposedly because of her own poor voice, but she and star Jim Nabors had such winning chemistry that she became a recurring figure on the show. series like Gomer’s. bride.
He appeared in 15 episodes, the last in 1969, the year Nabors left the series for new projects.
When MacRae’s career began to slow down in the 1970s, she turned to other soap operas, including Another World, Days Of Our Lives, Guiding Light and Search For Tomorrow.
In the middle of that decade, the actress earned some of the best reviews of her career for a major supporting role in The Conversation.
The film was written, directed and produced by Francis Ford Coppola between the first and second Godfather films.
Despite failing a 1956 audition for Otto Preminger’s Saint Joan, the legendary filmmaker encouraged her to continue acting classes. She moved to New York that year, before moving to Los Angeles in 1958 and landing her first television gigs; seen in 1959 at Rendezvous
MacRae appeared in several classic television series, including Route 66, The Fugitive, Gunsmoke (pictured, in 1962), Bonanza, I Dream Of Jeanie, The Andy Griffith Show and many more.
From 1966 to 1969, MacRae had one of her best-known roles as the girlfriend of the main character, Lou-Ann Poovie, in the Gomer Pyle comedy series, USMC. She appeared in 15 episodes; Pictured with star Jim Nabors in 1968.
Meredith only starred in nine feature films, but 1974’s The Conversation earned her some of the best reviews of her career. The film directed by Francis Ford Coppola won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival
The film was nominated for three Oscars. MacRae played a woman who spends the night with security expert Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) and gets him to talk to her about a deadly past failure.
Gene Hackman plays surveillance expert Harry Caul, hired by a mysterious figure known as The Director (Robert DuVall) to spy on his wife (Cindy Williams) and her lover (Frederic Forrest).
MacRae appeared as Meredith, a woman who spends the night with Harry and is the only person in the film who can get him to drop his defenses and open up about a deadly past failure.
The Conversation was a commercial failure, but it won the Palme d’Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and received three Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Sound.
The film is now recognized as one of the milestones in Coppola and Hackman’s careers.