Quantcast

RIP Marguerite Ray (OG Mamie From "The Young And The Restless")

LaGrandeDame

Where Surry County Lives
Joined
Jan 12, 2013
Messages
43,257
Reaction score
Reactions
244,040 6,062 2,385
282,996
Alleybux
1,580,881
For those of you who started watching Y&R during the Queen Drucilla years, she preceded the Aunt Mamie that you guys knew:
TCDYOAN_EC043-H-2020-1607617463-compressed.jpg


SanfordTV_S1E1_01-EMBED-2020-1607616430-compressed.jpg


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
 
Last edited:

LalaSharp

Team Owner
Joined
Feb 1, 2015
Messages
25,243
Reaction score
Reactions
283,695 13,177 1,668
294,355
Alleybux
363,044
Damn! Y'all just took me back to my grandmother's kitchen. I can name almost everybody in that picture.

Mamie is the root of Y&R's current black families.
 

CC3

The Original Exotical
Joined
Nov 18, 2015
Messages
19,159
Reaction score
Reactions
148,612 2,834 2,664
163,983
Alleybux
1,070,295
No need for Lily to act like she’s got fond memories of Mamie.

The Abbotts and Jill should have plenty of flashbacks.
 

ChihulyGlass

General Manager
Joined
May 18, 2020
Messages
4,712
Reaction score
Reactions
26,600 1,464 715
29,895
Alleybux
258,297
I remember Mamie and Drucilla. I was forced to watch that show as a child. RIP to the original.
 

Capt Burnham

General Manager
Joined
Dec 29, 2014
Messages
3,830
Reaction score
Reactions
33,081 759 597
34,095
Alleybux
1,500
Awww...I remember her from back in the day. Y & R was all that back in the 80s. May she rest in peace.
 

RosesRred

Team Owner
Joined
May 27, 2010
Messages
20,356
Reaction score
Reactions
67,500 598 143
71,805
Alleybux
431,188
I remember Mamie and Drucilla. I was forced to watch that show as a child. RIP to the original.

Me too, girl.

and why did it take me until now to feel some kind of way about the name they writers gave her character. Plus I remember her as being the housekeeper/maid. :cautious:

ETA: She played the nanny, Mamie. But still, they should have named her character something that didn’t sound like ***** from Go e with the Wind.
 

ChihulyGlass

General Manager
Joined
May 18, 2020
Messages
4,712
Reaction score
Reactions
26,600 1,464 715
29,895
Alleybux
258,297
Me too, girl.

and why did it take me until now to feel some kind of way about the name they writers gave her character. Plus I remember her as being the housekeeper/maid. :cautious:

ETA: She played the nanny, Mamie. But still, they should have named her character something that didn’t sound like ***** from Go e with the Wind.


You are right. Mamie was indeed a strange name. I peeped that even as a child. I remember they kept talking about Mamie's famous crab cakes or something like that.
 

DivaLasVegas82

Georgia Peach
Joined
Sep 4, 2012
Messages
66,928
Reaction score
Reactions
674,909 21,182 21,874
693,497
Alleybux
671,256
I had no idea she passed away. May se R.I.P. I wonder if the actress who played Drucilla’s mom is still alive.
 

Rmodelboy

Mr Congeniality
Joined
Feb 13, 2018
Messages
43,011
Reaction score
Reactions
506,903 43,820 1,681
605,075
Alleybux
2,072,149
RIP to Marguerite. I really liked her as Mamie, her strength and warmth. I couldn't understand why they replaced her. I think she had one episode with Victoria Rowell's Drucilla and then Veronica came on
 

Leo The Lion

Roaaaar!!
Joined
Oct 30, 2008
Messages
42,861
Reaction score
Reactions
171,152 5,126 2,375
204,002
Alleybux
396,349
I remember her from Sanford and Son, she played a hooker who wanted to rent from Fred at the Sanford Arms, and then she played Fred's Rich GF in the sequel to S and S...
 

Similar Threads

The Culture

News Alley

Celebrity News

Top Bottom