Elizabeth Helen McRae (née Kersley; born 1 August 1936) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

actress, best known for her portrayal of Marjorie Brasch (née Neilson) in the television

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

Shortland Street ''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital, first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992. It is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously ...

'', and, in the last decade, as Jean Marlowe, in the internationally distributed TV series ''

The Brokenwood Mysteries ''The Brokenwood Mysteries'' is a New Zealand television detective drama series that premiered on Prime in 2014. Each of the first six series comprises four distinct episodes. Series 7 began streaming on 29 March 2021 on Acorn TV, comprises six ...

''.

Biography

Born in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

in 1936, McRae was educated at

Wellington Girls' College Wellington Girls' College was founded in 1883 in Wellington, New Zealand. At that time it was called Wellington Girls' High School. Wellington Girls' College is a year 9 to 13 state secondary school, located in Thorndon in central Wellington. H ...

from 1950 to 1954 and was head prefect in her final year. She graduated from Victoria University College with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in 1958, and married architect Don McRae in Wellington the following year. The couple's children include actress, scriptwriter and director Katherine McRae. Her first theatrical role was in Nola Millar's 1955 production of ''Richard II'' at Wellington's Unity Theatre, which also featured

Tim Eliott Timothy James Gordon Eliott (25 March 1935 – 22 April 2011) was a New Zealand actor. Biography Eliott was born in Eltham, South Taranaki, New Zealand on 25 March 1935. His mother died when he was one and he was brought up by aunts and grandpar ...

in his acting debut. McRae made her television debut on the

NZBC The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) was a publicly owned company of the New Zealand Government founded in 1962. The Broadcasting Act 1976 then reformed NZBC as the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ). The corporation was ...

in the children's mini-series ''

The Games Affair ''The Games Affair'' (1975), directed by Bruce Clark, was New Zealand's first children’s television series. ''The Games Affair'' was a six-part fantasy-thriller series broadcast by the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation where 3 teenagers uni ...

'' in 1974, and went on to appear in many other New Zealand television programmes including '' Mortimer's Patch'', ''

Mercy Peak ''Mercy Peak'' was a New Zealand television series that ran for three seasons on local network TV One, between 2001 and 2004. The series rated well in New Zealand (especially in its second series) and won multiple awards for its cast. Though an ...

'', '' Terry and the Gunrunners'', and ''

Go Girls ''Go Girls'' is a New Zealand comedy-drama television series that centers on four adult friends, three female and one male, living on Auckland's North Shore. In the fifth season it was the same premise, but this time centered on five adult fr ...

''. However, it is for her recurring role as receptionist-turned-MP Marjorie Brasch on the long-running New Zealand television soap opera ''Shortland Street'' that she is most well-known. McRae played the role from the soap's first episode in 1992, speaking the show's first line, until 1996, with further appearances in 1998, 2002, and on the 20th anniversary episode in 2012. McRae's film acting credits include '' Never Say Die'' (1988), ''

An Angel at My Table ''An Angel at My Table'' is a 1990 biographical drama film directed by Jane Campion. The film is based on Janet Frame's three autobiographies, ''To the Is-Land'' (1982), ''An Angel at My Table'' (1984), and ''The Envoy from Mirror City'' (1984 ...

'' (1990), '' 30 Days of Night'' (2006) and, in 2010, ''Rest for the Wicked'', in which she played the lead role of Lillian. McRae was named best actress in a radio drama production at the 1982 Mobil New Zealand Radio Awards, and was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to theatre, in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McRae, Elizabeth 1936 births Living people Actresses from Wellington City People educated at Wellington Girls' College Victoria University of Wellington alumni New Zealand television actresses New Zealand film actresses New Zealand stage actresses New Zealand voice actresses New Zealand soap opera actresses Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit 20th-century New Zealand actresses 21st-century New Zealand actresses