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Iconic, prodigious Australian multi-talent in all media whose career spanned more than six decades as actress, writer, narrator, puppeteer, stage manager and director, dancer and pianist. She was also an adept ventriloquist who performed on Michael Parkinson's show in 1983, a trained hairdresser and make-up artist. The daughter of an amateur magician and ventriloquist, Lorraine Bayly was used to performing in public from early childhood, playing classical piano on Sydney radio by the age of eleven. Having taken free drama classes with acting coach Hayes Gordon, she made her professional stage debut at Rockdale Town Hall in New South Wales in a 1954 production of The Desert Song. Five years later, Bayly joined the Sydney Ensemble Theatre as a founding member, remaining a regular cast member until a year before her retirement in 2015. Her roles on the stage have included Mona in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (played by Dolly Parton on screen) and Linda Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (opposite Max Cullen as Willy Loman).

By the late 70s, Bayly had become Australia’s most highly paid television actress, often playing roles that made her appear older than her actual age. She was one of the original presenters of the children’s program Play School (1966), guested as different characters in action shows like Hunter (1967), Division 4 (1969), Homicide (1964) and Spyforce (1971) and then successfully auditioned for the role of matriarch Grace in the wartime soap The Sullivans (1976). The warmth she injected into her character endeared her to Australian viewers and ensured her lasting popularity. Wanting to resume her theatrical career, however, Bayly left the show after two and a half years having appeared in a whopping 594 episodes.

Bayly was seen only infrequently on the big screen, perhaps best remembered as Sigrid Thornton’s feminist aunt in The Man from Snowy River (1982). Back on television, her next starring turn (1983-84) was as a liberal, reform-minded solicitor in Carson's Law (1983), set in 1920s Melbourne. According to producer Ian Crawford, the series was written specifically for her and became lauded for its high production values and crisp dialogue. Bayly won back-to-back Silver Logie Awards as Most Popular Australian Lead Actress for both The Sullivans and Carson’s Law. By the late 90s, now in the supporting cast, Bayly had her final recurring role in the soap opera Neighbours (1985) as meddling busybody Faye Hudson.

Lorraine Bayly retired from acting in 2016 for medical reasons. She passed away at a Sydney nursing home on February 28 2026 at the age of 89.

She was awarded A.M. (Member of the Order of Australia) in the 2001 Queen&#39;s New Years Honours List for her services to charity and entertainment industry in Australia.

Starring in the Australian touring production of &quot;Calendar Girls&quot; opening at the Theatre Royal, Sydney on 29 April. (April 2010)

Cremorne, New South Wales, Australia (January 2009)

Television debut was in 1960, performing comedy sketches as Leonard Teale&#39;s daughter on The Bobby Limb Show.

Bayly&#39;s partner of 20 years was journalist Steve O&#39;Baugh, Los Angeles bureau chief for News Limited. Originally from Tennessee, O&#39;Baugh had moved to Australia in 1965. He died from a heart attack related to kidney disease on 27 January 1996 at the age of 47 in Los Angeles.

At 60, she learned to play the saxophone so well that she ended up playing on stage. At 70, she took up tennis and qualified for the 2009 World Masters Games only two years later.

Father was a policeman who was also an amateur magician and ventriloquist, mother was a homemaker.

Trivia

Lorraine Bayly

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