Ray Meagher – Home and Away’s Alf – might have spent 35 years on the popular Aussie series, but his off-screen life has sometimes seemed to be just like a soap storyline
When Home and Away was launched as a rival soap to high-flying Neighbours back in 1988, nobody could have predicted how it would make huge household names of many of its characters from those early years.
School principal Donald Fisher, lovebirds Shane and Angel, bubbly Marilyn Chambers, caring foster mum Pippa Fletcher and many more all became nearly as familiar to many as their own friends and family.
Another one of those names is grumpy old Alf Stewart – at one time married to another soap stalwart, Ailsa – created as one of the show’s original 18 characters.
But while many of Summer Bay’s residents have since departed or even died – sometimes in real life too, as with tragic Dieter Brummer who played Shane – Alf, along with Marilyn, is still around today, some 35 years later.
In fact Ray Meagher, who has played Alf since Home and Away’s pilot episode, is the sole original cast member and holds a Guinness World Record for being the longest-serving actor in an Australian serial.
By contrast, the actress who plays Marilyn, Emily Symons, has come and gone from the soap since first joining in 1989.
Ray, who celebrated his 79th birthday in July this year, started his career in Australian film and TV in the 1970s, first hosting a late night folk music programme, Around Folk.
He went on to play three different criminals in Prisoner between 1979 and 1980, eventually joining Home and Away for filming in 1987.
In 2010 he won a Gold Australian TV Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television, scooping it again in 2018.
When quizzed on the secret of his success by Australia’s 7 News, he self-deprecatingly said: “Oh, look, I think it’s all accidental. I fell into this profession because I wasn’t qualified to do anything else and along the way it’s just been a bit of common sense, really.
He continued: “So if you get the basic things right, like turning up on time and knowing your lines, that’s a good start, and hopefully you get better at it as time goes on.”
Ray hasn’t spent 35 straight years filming the Australian soap. In 2007 he played the role of Bob the mechanic in the musical production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert in Australia, then taking over the same part in London’s West End in 2010, a role he reprised some years later.
He’s also appeared in more than 17 Christmas pantomimes in the UK, including Aladdin in 2008 and Peter Pan in 2009.
Back in 2013, Ray exclusively told OK! what he liked and disliked about his soap character Alf, opening up on Alf’s sometimes-miserable nature.
“From my point of view, Alf’s a very community-minded person, and he cares deeply about the Bay. If there was a big development coming, and he thought it was going to ruin the coastline, he’d fight against it,” he said.
He continued: “His biggest failing is probably when he was younger, he’d fly off the handle, sometimes without all the facts, and when it was pointed out to him, he’d eventually say sorry, but the apology was very short. If you went to make a cup of tea or had a toilet break, you might miss the Alf Stewart apology!”
It hasn’t all been plain-sailing for Ray. Back in 2019 he was hospitalised for major heart surgery after doctors discovered three serious blockages during a tourine health check.
He underwent a triple heart bypass and took time off to recover.
And in a bizarre mix-up that could have come straight from a soap storyline, Home and Away fans had the shock of their lives two years ago, when they mistakenly assumed that Ray had actually died.
A Facebook link to an online news article celebrating his 77th birthday was interpreted by some as being a write-up following his death, as they saw the phrase ‘tributes are flowing’ and jumped to the wrong conclusion.
“Omg I thought he died. Wow. Just terrify a nation,” said one fan, while another echoed Alf’s infamous catchphrases, saying, “Stone the flaming crows. Strewth I thought he had passed.”
But just in case anyone thought Ray was thinking about slowing down as he approaches 80, in January this year he told The Sun: “I signed a contract last year for another five years! So I’ll definitely see that out.”
So it looks like we’ll be seeing Alf around in Summer Bay for quite a while yet.
