Neighbours-hoods drove out Mrs Mangel
- Published by David Knox
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Character actress Vivien Gray, who played Neighbours’ sour ‘Mrs Mangel’ from 1986-1988, was forced to leave Australia due to harassment, actor Ian Smith has claimed.
Smith, who plays Harold Bishop, says Gray moved to England to avoid constant bullying by viewers who could not tell her apart from her meddlesome character.
He told Star magazine: “The last I heard was that she moved to England. That dear woman was driven out of her home by the troublesome youths with weak brains who couldn’t distinguish between the character that she played and her as a person.”
Smith, who has played Harold Bishop on the soap for 21 years, added that he had also suffered at the hands of teenage boys.
He said, “I was bullied. Young males are the cause of all problems. They are such gutless wonders. They never do it on their own, they are always in a group.
“They haven’t got two brain cells to rub together and they will never amount to anything. And I feel sorry for the women who have to try and pick a life partner out of that bunch!”
Gray had previously played Ida Jessup, a similarly unpleasant neighbour to The Sullivans.
Source: Digital Spy
2 Responses
To avoid being recognized on Neighbours you move to the UK??
Methinks someone at DigitalSpy looked up an IMDB entry to recreate an old story
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0337003/bio
“Trivia
Dogged by bad luck in her acting career. When she starred in “Prisoner” (1979) virtually all her scenes were cut when someone threatened to sue due to her character being too similar to a real-life person. Then whilst starring in “Neighbours” (1985) she was bullied by members of the public who confused her nasty character with real life, causing her to have enough and give up acting.
Where Are They Now
(August 2007) Retired and now lives in Shoreham-By-Sea, West Sussex, England.”