Lorrae Desmond

Lorrae Desmond (2 October 1929 – 23 May 2021) born as Beryl Hunt, was an Australian Gold Logie-award-winning singer, recording artist, radio and television presenter, character actor, and playwright, with a career that spanned over 55 years both locally and the United Kingdom.

She started her career in England, in the vein of entertainer Cicely Courtneidge. She carved out a career as a variety performer, as a singer and radio/television presenter, primarily at the BBC, where she had her own shows during the years of World War II.

Returning to Australia she became a popular presenter and remains best known to early local television audiences as hostess of the musical variety program ''The Lorrae Desmond Show'' from 1960 until 1964, while as a variety entertainer and vocalist she made numerous cabaret and TV appearances including ''In Melbourne Tonight'', ''The Graham Kennedy Show'', '' The Kamahl Show'', ''The Ted Hamilton Show'' and appeared on ''Parkinson in Australia'', and ''The Jack Benny Show''.

She was subsequently asked to tour South Vietnam with the Entertainment Unit during the Vietnam War, she also toured the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, Kenya and Somalia, where she became known for her live singing performances, billed as a forces sweetheart, she in the style of Vera Lynn and Anne Shelton, in which she was honoured with the MBE for services to entertainment.

She started taking roles in local soap operas and serials starting from the late 1960s, including a guest role in Crawford Productions staple series ''Homicide'', and a guest role in ''Number 96'', after which she was given a more permanent role in the ill-fated series ''Arcade'' in 1980.

However she became famous for her long-running role in the television series '' A Country Practice'', as original character of nurse Shirley Gilroy appearing in 816 episodes from 1981 to 1992.

In 1997, she briefly guest starred in '' Home and Away'' as Isobel Dupre, the mother of Donald Fisher (Norman Coburn).

She had worked as a theatre lyricist, writing the play ''Honey'' in 2001, based on the novel '' Smoky Joe's Cafe'' by the author Bryce Courtenay.

Biography

Early life

Desmond was born on 2 October 1929, in the Southern Highlands town of Mittagong, New South Wales, to Alice and Des Hunt. She left Mittagong after the fire season, and briefly lived on an island on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland. After leaving Mittagong Primary School, she trained as a hairdresser, but inspired by Dame Gracie Fields decided she wanted to become an entertainer. By the age of 10, she had travelled to Britain with her family.

Music, performing career and radio in Britain

She started her career in England in 1945, as a teenager of a mere 15 as a singing cigarette girl and became a celebrity there. She performed as both a solo artist and with backing group "The Rebels", whilst making studio recordings and featured in everything from theatre, cabaret, pantomime, and radio. She had her own shows including several for the BBC
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