RIP Elizabeth MacRae

 

Elizabeth MacRae Dies: ‘General Hospital’ & ‘Gomer Pyle: USMC’ Actor Was 88

DEADLINE

By Armando Tinoco

May 28, 2024

 

Elizabeth MacRae, known for her recurring roles in General Hospital and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., has died. She was 88.

MacRae died on May 27 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where she grew up.

After graduating, MacRae pursued a career in acting and auditioned for Otto Preminger’s production of Saint Joan in 1956. Although she didn’t land a role, she continued to pursue acting. She moved to New York City where she studied with Uta Hagen at the Herbert Berghof Studio and gained experience in off-Broadway productions.

MacRae landed her first television role playing a witness in the courtroom series The Verdict Is Yours. Over a career that spanned 25 years, MacRae would be featured in television shows like Route 66, Surfside 6, Rendezvous, The Fugitive, Judd for the Defense, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, I Dream of Jeannie, The Andy Griffith Show, and many more.

One of her most prominent roles was in Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., where she played Gomer’s girlfriend Lou-Ann Poovie.

MacRae also appeared in soaps like General Hospital, where she played Meg Baldwin starting in August 1969. She remained on the ABC daytime soap until 1973, when the character was killed off. Other soaps MacRae starred in were Another World, Days of Our Lives, Guiding Light, and Search for Tomorrow.

MacRae’s film credits include Live in a Goldfish Bowl, Everything’s Ducky, The Incredible Mr. Limpet, and Frances Ford Coppola’s The Conversation.

She continued to work in television and featured in shows like Kojak, Barnaby Jones, and Rhoda. MacRae’s last film credit was in 1989, where she played a reporter on Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives!

Following her acting career, MacRae and her husband, Charles Day Halsey Jr., moved to North Carolina and, years later, returned home to Fayetteville.

She is survived by five stepchildren, Terry Halsey, Peter Halsey, Hugh Halsey, Cate Halsey, and Alex Halsey Topper.

MacRAE, Elizabeth (Elizabeth Handon MacRae)

Born: 2/22/1936, Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.A.

Died: 5/27/2024, Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S.A.

 

Elizabeth MacRae’s westerns – actress:

Maverick (TV) – 1961 (Emily Todd)

The Wild Westerners – 1962 (Crystal Plummer)

Gunsmoke (TV) 1962, 1964, 1965 (April, Fanny) [singer]

Death Valley Days (TV) 1963 (Myra Engles)

Stoney Burke (TV) – 1963 (Paula)

The Virginian (TV) – 1965 (Molly Weams)

Bonanza (TV) – 1968 (Lila Holden)

Rawhide (TV) – 1968 (Sally-Ann Rankin)