meredith lynn macrae was born on may 30 1944 in houston texas to gordon and sheila mcrae
who were both very famous singers and actors at the age of eight meredith started her own acting
career and appeared in the film by the light of the silvery moon in 1953 which starred her father
she attended ucla and obtained a bachelor of arts degree in english meredith first became famous
playing the part of sally ann morrison douglas on my three sons she played mike's love interest for
three seasons from 1963 to 1965. she left the show to further explore her career macrae is
perhaps most famous for replacing ganila hutton in the part of billy joe bradley on petticoat
junction in 1966. in movies she appeared in bikini beach in 1964 ski party in 1965 norwood in 1970
my friends need killing in 1976 sketches of a strangler in 1978 and the census taker in 1984.
she made guest appearances on such tv shows as the dean martin show the fbi the mike douglas show
the rockford files fantasy island webster chips love american style and magnum p.i meredith was
also very popular on game shows appearing in everything from what's my line to family feud
in the 1980s she hosted a talk show in los angeles which ran for eight years and was awarded a local
emmy award macrae worked to raise funds for such causes as the children's burn foundation the
american cancer society and united cerebral palsy mccrae married richard berger former president
of mgm in 1964 but they divorced in 1968. in 1969 she married actor greg mullavy famous for the soap
opera satire mary hartman mary hartman they had one child named allison before divorcing in 1992.
her third and final marriage was in to philip m neal chairman and ceo of avery dennison in january
1999 mcrae began to experience vertigo and a loss of short-term memory initially her doctors thought
her symptoms were from perimenopause she returned to her doctor complaining of severe headaches
and was told they were most likely due to muscle spasms this time she went for a second opinion and
was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer emergency surgery was performed to remove the brain tumor
during the operation she suffered cardiac arrest and was resuscitated though her cancer was
terminal she agreed to be part of an experimental cancer drug program she had an allergic reaction
to the medication that caused swelling of the brain two more surgeries were required to relieve
the pressure her imbalance resulted in a fall that caused her to suffer a fractured hip sadly
on july 14 2000 mcrae died at her manhattan beach home from complications of brain cancer
she was only 56 years old she was cremated and her ashes were scattered in the pacific ocean off the
coast of california meredith mcrae died 14 years after her father gordon macrae and 14 years before
her mother sheila macrae thanks for watching subscribing and leaving a comment we appreciate it