Brett Ferino
08-12-2000, 02:08 PM
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Television actress Meredith MacRae, best known as a talk show host and for her role as Billie Jo in the series ``Petticoat Junction,'' died of brain cancer, her publicist said.
MacRae died at her home in the coastal suburb of Manhattan Beach. She was 56.
The oldest of four children, MacRae, who died Friday, was born into a show business family. Her mother is actress Sheila MacRae, and Meredith MacRae made her screen debut alongside her father Gordon MacRae in the 1953 film ``By the Light Of The Silvery Moon.''
She became a regular as in the series ``My Three Sons'' in the 1960s as a girlfriend of one of the sons. She later had a starring role as Billie Jo Bradley in ``Petticoat Junction.''
In the 1980s, she co-hosted the Los Angeles talk show ''Mid-Morning L.A.''
She is survived by her husband, Phil Neal, her daughter, Allison Mullavey, her mother, a sister and two brothers as well as two stepsons.
MacRae died at her home in the coastal suburb of Manhattan Beach. She was 56.
The oldest of four children, MacRae, who died Friday, was born into a show business family. Her mother is actress Sheila MacRae, and Meredith MacRae made her screen debut alongside her father Gordon MacRae in the 1953 film ``By the Light Of The Silvery Moon.''
She became a regular as in the series ``My Three Sons'' in the 1960s as a girlfriend of one of the sons. She later had a starring role as Billie Jo Bradley in ``Petticoat Junction.''
In the 1980s, she co-hosted the Los Angeles talk show ''Mid-Morning L.A.''
She is survived by her husband, Phil Neal, her daughter, Allison Mullavey, her mother, a sister and two brothers as well as two stepsons.