For 34 years, Ray Meagher has been a regular on Home and Away.
And the veteran soap star, who portrays Alf Stewart on the show, stated on Monday that he helps actors who are in need on the show.
‘I don’t take somebody under my wing unless I can see that they’re genuinely struggling,’ the 77-year-old said to TV Week.
‘I don’t go around telling people how to act.’ However, I’m hoping that some of my methods will rub off on others.
‘By that, I don’t mean anything to do with acting, but showing there on time, being ready and prepared at all times, and never taking a sick day,’ he explains.
Ray previously stated that he never had children since he was so focused on his acting career.
In a rediscovered interview with The Daily Telegraph, the soap star stated he chose not to start a family because of the nature of his performing work.
‘As a young freelance actor, I used to wonder if I’d be able to eat myself, let alone feed anyone else,’ he remarked.
‘It’s a strange old job, very insecure, and employment-wise, it’s a fairly questionable old profession.’
Ray is a stepfather to his wife Gilly’s 40-year-old daughter Rebecca.
He stated he sees Rebecca once every two weeks for breakfast or lunch and talks to her at least once a week.
Ray was recently taken aback when, at the age of 77, he was 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.
That year, the actor stunned the industry by defeating a bevvy of favourites, including Rebecca Gibney and Rove McManus, to take home the top prize.
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.’
