LaGrandeDame
Where Surry County Lives
For those of you who started watching Y&R during the Queen Drucilla years, she preceded the Aunt Mamie that you guys knew:
Marguerite Ray, 'The Young and the Restless' Actress, Dies at 89 | Hollywood Reporter
Ray was the first actress to play Mamie Johnson on the soap, as well as its first Black regular character, and also had a notable role in 'Sanford.'
Marguerite Ray, the first actress to play Mamie Johnson on CBS' long-running soap The Young and the Restless, has died. She was 89.
Ray died on Nov. 18 in Los Angeles according to a death notice in the East Bay Times.
Born in New Orleans, Ray began her acting career in the 1960s after spending time in Europe. She is best known for The Young and the Restless, taking on the role of Mamie Johnson in 1980 and played the character until 1990. In playing Mamie, the nanny who raised the Abbott children, Ray became the first Black performer to be a series regular on the show. The role was later taken over by Veronica Redd.
She also had a notable role in Sanford, playing upper-class widow Evelyn Lewis in the short-lived sequel to Sanford & Sons that lasted two seasons from 1980 to 1981, and Jane Matthews on Dynasty for three episodes in 1989. Ray also appeared in a host of other television shows, including Quincy M.E., The Rockford Files and Ironside, in a career that spanned five decades. Her last credit was the Bill Bellamy sit-com Men, Women & Dogs in 2001.
Outside of acting, Ray was an active board member of a number of advocacy groups including the Kwanza Foundation, Jenesse Center and The Actors Fund.
Ray is survived by her sister, Jacqueline (James) Jackson, sister-in-law Cynthia Ray, and a host of nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews.
Marguerite Ray, 'The Young and the Restless' Actress, Dies at 89 | Hollywood Reporter
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