At the age of 77, Ray Meagher was as surprised as anyone to be nominated for another Gold Logie.
Ray, one of the industry’s longest-serving actors, who has participated in every season of Home and Away from the show’s inception in 1988, assumed his ‘golden days’ were finished after his most recent huge triumph in 2010.
The actor, who has played Alf Stewart for 34 years, stunned the industry when he won the award over a plethora of favourites, including Rebecca Gibney and Rove McManus.
Now he’s been nominated for the top award once more, and he’ll be a hot candidate alongside Sonia Kruger and Tom Gleeson at the Gold Coast awards presentation on June 19.
The gold statuette will also be contested by Julia Morris and Hamish Blake.
Ray told TV Week about his nomination, which was announced on May 15. ‘It felt really fantastic, but it was also a bit of a surprise,’ he said.
‘When I got it, I kind of assumed my golden days were finished 12 years ago.’
‘I don’t think of myself as a Gold Logie nominee. There are always more deserving individuals.’
And, as self-deprecating as ever, the soap icon insists he’ll be discreetly rooting for Sonia Kruger to win the Gold Logie.
Sonia, who had never been nominated for a Gold Logie before, was taken aback when she found out she was in the running in early May.
The Big Brother presenter, who spoke on The Morning Show with hosts Kylie Gillies and Larry Emdur, claimed she was taken aback by the nomination, which came 30 years after she initially rose to popularity as Tina Sparkle in Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom.
‘It was truly bizarre; I was in complete amazement when I received the news.’ “I had to be put in the recovery posture,” she explained, “which for me is reclining on my daybed with an Aperol Spritz in my hand.”
‘I’m roughly 100 to one in sporting bets [of winning the Gold Logie] – a complete outsider.’
‘So, I’m wondering if I can bet on myself, right?’ Is it unethical to jimmy the system in this way, is this insider trading?’
