Vivean Gray

Vivean Gray born Jean Vivra Gray on 20 July 192429 July 2016 is an English actress who found her niche playing gossipy characters in Australian television series In her early life she lived in England but moved to Australia after she had trouble finding any acting opportunities She portrayed mathematics teacher Miss McGraw in Peter Weirs film adaptation of Picnic at Hanging Rock 1975 She played two longrunning characters in Australian soap operas Mrs Ida Jessup in The Sullivans for its entire run and Mrs Nell Mangel in Neighbours She appeared in Prisoner as genteel poisoner Edna Pearson in 1984 After the initial showing of her episodes in Australia a woman claimed the story was based on her real life experience of being accused of poisoning her husband and threatened to sue the producersGrundy Television As a result any material that coincided with the womans story was removed for subsequent episode screeningsincluding the full Australian DVD release of Prisoner In 2010 a special DVD release of the full uncut Edna story was released but only in the UK Gray left her role of Mrs Mangel after receiving abuse from Neighbours fans who could not distinguish fact from fiction In the story Mrs Mangel moved to St Albans England Gray returned to England and has since retired and leads a very private life