Vivean Gray

Jean Vivra Gray (20 July 1924 – 29 July 2016), known professionally as Vivean Gray, also credited as Vivian Gray and Viven Gray, was an English television and film actress. She starred in the films Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Last Wave, but her best-known roles were in TV soap operas, after having appeared in numerous roles for Crawford Productions, she had regular roles in serials, The Sullivans, as Ida Jessup for its entire run from 1976 to 1983; in Prisoner, as Edna Pearson 1984, and in Neighbours, as Nell Mangel from 1986 to 1988. Gray left the acting profession in 1988, and returned to her native England to Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, where she lived a quiet and private life. Early life Gray was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England on 20 July 1924. Gray was the daughter of Allan Gray and Doris (nee Simpson), who had been married the previous year in Grimsby, Lincolnshire. She was the eldest of four children. Her father was a fish and chip shop owner at Grimsby Docks, and, just before WW2, the family moved to New Malden in Surrey where he owned the newly built Fish and Chip shop at 12, The Triangle. She initially worked as a local reporter, photographer's assistant and as a sales assistant in a department store, and later became a nurse, and served with the Women's Land Army. In 1952 she visited Australia on holiday. Her acting career stemmed from work with an amateur theatrical group.