Lorrae as Isobel DuPre
Lorrae Desmond, (MBE) [1](2 October 1929 – 23 May 2021) played Donald Fisher's mother Isobel DuPre in 1997[1].
Biography[]
Lorrae was born Beryl Hunt[2] on 2 October 1929 in Mittagong NSW. When she was 10 her family moved to England and it was there that she began her career. At first she was a variety performer and even featured on radio shows on the BBC during WWII. She later performed for Australian soldiers in Vietnam, quite similar to what Vera Lynn had done during WWII[3]. When she returned to Australia she performed in or presented a series of variety shows.
In the 1970s Lorrae moved into acting. In 1980 she appeared in over 30 episodes of the short-lived soap Arcade. A year later she was cast as Shirley Dean Gilroy in A Country Practice. She appeared in over 800 episodes of the show before she decided to leave. Her character was killed off in a plane crash in 1992.
Lorrae appeared in 16 episodes of Home and Away in 1997. Although she was only 7 years older than actor Norman Coburn, she was cast as his onscreen mother. Not that it mattered - Isobel was far more young at heart than her rather serious son.
She won a Gold Logie in 1962 for the The Lorrae Desmond Show. She won a Silver Logie in 1984 for her role in A Country Practice. In January 2021, just months before her death, she was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia [4]