Pat McDonald

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L to R: Bunney Brooke as Flo, Dina Mann as Debbie, Sheila Kennelly as Norma, Frances Hargreaves as Marilyn, and Pat McDonald as Dorrie in the final episode of Number 96.
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L to R: Bunney Brooke as Flo, Dina Mann as Debbie, Sheila Kennelly as Norma, Frances Hargreaves as Marilyn, and Pat McDonald as Dorrie in the final episode of Number 96.

Pat McDonald (1 August 192210 March 1990) was an Australian actress best known for two long-running soap opera roles. She played comical gossip Dorrie Evans in Number 96 in the 1970s and the wise Fiona Thompson in Sons and Daughters in the 1980s. In both series she was featured throughout the show's entire run: about five and a half years in both cases.

Prior to finding fame as Dorrie, McDonald had appeared in an episode of police drama The Long Arm. She won several Logie Awards as Best Actress for playing Dorrie, and a Gold Logie for Australia's most popular female personality in 1974. After Number 96 she played a regular role in short-lived Australian situation comedy series The Tea Ladies (1978).

During the 1970s she was involved in a live-in lesbian relationship with Number 96 co-star Bunney Brooke. The two actors openly appeared in magazine article spreads that toured the suburban Sydney home they shared, and they freely discussed their international summer holidays together in press articles, although the true nature of the relationship was not explicitly stated.

McDonald died from cancer.

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