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Home and Away Alf star’s life – hospital dash, sport career U-turn and nurse wife

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Ray Meagher holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-running soap opera star in Australia thanks to his more than 30 years as Home And Away’s beloved Alf Stewart.

The 77-year-old actor’s status as one of Australia’s most storied TV actors has been solidified by the soap opera’s dramatic storylines and never-ending turns.

While it’s difficult to picture Ray’s career leading him anywhere other than Summer Bay, some of his followers may not be aware that he nearly became a prominent sports figure for an Australian rugby side.

Let’s look at the Gold Logie Award winner’s life off-camera, which has many of its own dramatic storylines, as he prepares to commemorate 35 years on the popular show.

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Athletic career

Ray Meagher explained in 2019 how his career could have gone in a drastically different direction despite setting a Guinness World Record for being Australia’s longest-serving soap star.

The now-77-year-old had tried out for Australia’s national rugby union team, the Wallabies, before joining the long-running Channel Seven series.

Ray played club rugby in Queensland when he was a young adult, and then he played in a few games at the state level before being called to try out for the Wallabies during their 1969 tour of South Africa.

Ray’s prospects of donning the green and gold jersey were ended during this trial when one of the selectors just shook his head in reference to him.

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Ray told Confidential, “I didn’t deserve to go anyway, but I think it’s a really humorous story.” After his sporting aspirations came to an end, Ray opted to join a friend in a pantomime, where he caught the acting bug.

What follows is history.

Mrs. Nurse

You can tell they belong together since Ray thinks they do!

In a low-key, private ceremony, the actor wed his longtime partner and former nurse Gilly Meagher in 2010. He has always said she “saved his life.”

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Speaking of his wedding, he acknowledged that since both of them had previously been married, they kept it short.

Ray told New Idea, “When you’ve both been there before, you don’t want fuss and carry-on and all that.”

“We simply went ahead and did it before gradually telling a select group of individuals who were important to us. It makes both of us very pleased.”

Ray claims he never had his own family because he put his work first, despite the fact that his soap opera character Alf has fathered four children on the show. He does, however, get along well with his stepdaughter.

I enjoy that I get to talk to my stepdaughter Rebecca, who is in her early 40s, at least once a week and go out to breakfast or brunch with her when the Home And Away schedule allows, which is about once every two weeks.

When Ray underwent a triple heart bypass in 2019, Gilly’s background as a nurse was crucial to his recovery.

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Hospital dash

The Home And Away star had chest pain when he was sent to the hospital in 2019, and there, doctors discovered three significant coronary artery blockages.

He received a triple heart bypass right afterwards, and even though the procedure was judged successful, Ray underwent another procedure seven months later due to continued discomfort.

It was simply the result of terrible lifestyle for 40 years and excessive enjoyment, he admits.

Ray didn’t let the extensive operation slow him down; eight weeks later, he was back at work.

He declares, “I’m a pretty pragmatist sort of a man; I just get on with it.

Ray has cut back on some of his vices and now makes sure to get his daily steps in, but he isn’t willing to let a few health scares ruin the fun.

He acknowledges, “I drink a lot less beer now, but I still occasionally have a little bit more than is considered good.

“You know when you get together with friends and have a little chat and a drink or two? I occasionally still enjoy those nights.”

Ray attributes a lot of his recovery to Gilly, his wife of ten years and a former nurse, in addition to a few lifestyle changes.

He describes his devoted wife as “a life-saver.” Additionally, she now keeps me on the straight and narrow.

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