00:00She graced our TV screens for decades, perhaps best known and loved as Nurse Shirley Gilroy
00:06in a country practice. Tonight, Loray Desmond is being remembered as a singer and actress
00:11with an enormous heart, after she died at the age of 91.
00:16Loray Desmond was the most familiar of familiar faces.
00:23Did I drag you away from anything important?
00:26For 11 years.
00:27Of course I'm older, I'm your mother.
00:29Shirley Gilroy on Channel 7's A Country Practice.
00:32You'd be a pretty sophisticated sort of woman, I suppose.
00:35No, I'm not, Frank.
00:36Brian Wenzel played TV husband Frank.
00:39We got on really well, it just went lovely all the time.
00:44She was a good mate.
00:45Remembered today as a vital part of the Seven family, a highly talented, respected and generous
00:51actor, a pioneer in the Australian television industry.
00:55Before Wandan Valley, her showbiz career started in Britain, returning to Australia
01:02in the 60s with her own show.
01:04That was unheard of for a woman to have her own TV show.
01:07And she was glamorous, stylish, she could sing.
01:14Becoming the first woman to win a Gold Logie.
01:17My guest from Australia, Miss Loray Desmond.
01:21A talent that took her to America and Europe, but she was perhaps most proud of her five
01:26tours to Vietnam, entertaining Aussie troops.
01:29Up there in Nui Dat, after it poured with rain, that's why I'm standing in the mud with
01:35the fellas, I thought I might as well join them.
01:36She was a beacon.
01:37She was a beacon for people to admire.
01:40We all loved her so, so very much.
01:44Hello everyone.
01:45Earlier this year, awarded an Order of Australia.
01:48Do what you want to do.
01:51Always do what you want to do.
01:54Because if you're doing what you want to do, you'll win.
01:58Paul Caddack, 7 News.
