Deborah Gray

Deborah Gray (born 1958) is a former Australian high fashion model and actress who is now best known as an internationally best selling author of non-fiction spell books and jazz singer.

Gray was born in Canberra where as a teenager she won the Teen Model of the Year competition, after which she was picked up for a modelling contract with Viviens Management. She appeared on catwalks, leading fashion magazine covers and starred in TV commercials.

In 1977 at the age of 19, she branched out into acting and burst onto TV screens and into Australian TV history with her role on the television soap opera Number 96. In the show's story Gray's character of Miss Hemingway has a psychological aversion to wearing clothes so seeks help from Number 96's resident psychologist. The comedic storyline was specifically devised to boost the show's declining ratings in 1977; after more than five years on air the ratings for the once top-rated series were falling and the producers responded by going back to the show's original point of controversy: its nudity.

The first appearances by Gray screened in April 1977. Initially she would appear striding into a room and slipping off her expensive mink coat to reveal nothing at all underneath. Over several weeks her character would be seen to be gradually "cured" of her problem, depicted on screen by Miss Hemingway adding one item of clothing with each appearance in the show. However the immense publicity surrounding Gray's acting debut was not enough to boost the program's ratings sufficiently; Number 96 succumbed to its declining viewing figures and was abruptly cancelled in July 1977.

After Number 96 she continued her acting career as a popular television and film actress, and was considered a leading sex symbol at the time. She played a continuing dramatic role in soap opera The Young Doctors, acted in a guest role in the police drama series Bellamy (1981), and was a regular co-host in an Australian Candid Camera style television series titled Catch Us If You Can. Gray started an all-girl cabaret act named Deborah Gray and the Flames (one of the flames was future Perfect Match hostess Debbie Newsome). Gray went on to appear on the cover of Australian Playboy Magazine and was showcased in its best-selling actor profile and pictorial, and acted in two 1981 feature films, the comedy feature Pacific Banana, and The Best of Friends. Gray co-wrote and sang the title song from Pacific Banana with fellow co-star Luan Peters. Other musical forays at the time were the song Mellow Loving, a top ten dance hit, Love Song of O, and the European top 40 hit No Time to Lose which was released by the German Hansa Label/Coconut Records.

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