Deborah Gray

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Deborah Gray and Frances Hargreaves in a scene from Number 96

Deborah Gray is an Australian high fashion model and actor, who burst on to Australian TV screens with her full frontal nude appearances in television soap opera Number 96.

At the time Gray was a highly successful 19-year-old fashion model who'd been signed to Vivien's Management after winning the Teen Model of the Year competition in her hometown of Canberra. Apart from modelling on catwalks and starring in various TV commercials, Number 96 was her first acting role.

The full frontal nude scenes were crucial to the storyline of Gray's Number 96 character, a woman named Miss Hemingway who had a psychological aversion to wearing clothes. The comedic storyline was specifically devised to boost the show's declining ratings in 1977. After more than five years on air the ratings for the once top-rated series had reached an all-time low. The first appearances by Gray screened in April 1977, and over several weeks her character would be seen to be gradually 'cured' of her problem: depicted on screen by Miss Hemingway adding one item of clothing with each appearance in the show. However the immense publicity surrounding Gray's acting debut was not enough to boost the program's ratings sufficiently; Number 96 succumbed to its declining viewing figures and was cancelled in July 1977.

After Number 96 Gray started an all-girl cabaret act named Deborah Gray and the Flames (one of the flames was future Perfect Match hostess Debbie Newsome) ^[1]. Gray went on to appear on the cover of Australian Playboy Magazine and was showcased in its best-selling actor profile and pictorial, and acted in two 1981 feature films, the comedy feature Pacific Banana, and The Best of Friends. Gray sang the title song from Pacific Banana; another musical foray was the song Mellow Loving, a top ten dance hit.

On television she became a popular presenter and entertainer. She played a continuing dramatic role in soap opera The Young Doctors, acted in a guest role in the police drama series Bellamy (1981), and was a regular co-host in an Australian Candid Camera style television series titled Catch Us if You Can.

Today Gray is an internationally best selling author and producer (her 'magickal' themed non-fiction books have been translated into 10 languages) and she produced and presented the 2005 documentary Wish on a Spell, the DVD distributed through mainstream stores throughout USA, Canada and Australia and via the web. Gray also appeared in the documentary Number 96: The Later Years, a special feature included in the 2006 DVD release of the Number 96 feature film.