Meredith MacRae

Meredith Lynn MacRae was born on May 30, 1944, in Houston, Texas, on a military base where her father was stationed. She was American and of Caucasian ethnicity, with blonde hair and blue eyes, standing 5'4" tall and weighing 121 lbs. Her father, Gordon MacRae, was a 1950s singer and movie idol, and her mother, Sheila MacRae, was an actress and comedienne known for playing Alice Kramden on The Jackie Gleason Show. Meredith began acting at age eight, appearing in the film By the Light of the Silvery Moon, which starred her father.

She attended UCLA, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. In 1964, she married Richard Berger, former president of MGM; they divorced four years later. Meredith starred in two classic family sitcoms, Petticoat Junction and My Three Sons, and guest-starred on shows like Fantasy Island, Magnum, P.I., The Rockford Files, and Webster. She also appeared in several movies and had a brief singing career.

In 1969, she married actor Greg Mullavey; they had a daughter, Allison, born in 1974, and divorced in 1992. In 1995, she married Philip Neal, Chairman and CEO of Avery-Dennison. In 1999, she was diagnosed with cancer, and she passed away in 2000 from complications of surgeries and medication reactions. Her life was marked by talent and resilience.