Larrikin actor Scott McRae bursts out laughing when asked what it was like to be a teen idol on E Street, the saucy Australian TV soap that also helped kickstart the careers of Bruce Samazan, Marcus Graham and Simon Baker.
“I definitely know I was well behind Bruce and Simon, but whatever … I’ll take it,” Scotty declares in an exclusive interview with New Idea, reflecting on those heady days in the early ’90s when the show exploded on our screens.
“I remember years later taking [my daughter] Maddie to school and her teacher went, ‘Oh my God, I had you on the back of my door as a pin-up.’ Moments like that are quite funny.
“I was never into that side of it. Some people are and good luck to them. It was nice to be liked, but it wasn’t why I was in the business. I enjoyed the craft and the whole camaraderie among the cast and crew.”
How did E Street end?
E Street wasn’t an instant success when it premiered in 1989. But thanks to its genetically blessed cast, which included Toni Pearen and Melissa Tkautz, and ever-increasingly juicier storylines, it eventually became a massive hit before it was axed in 1993.
Scotty played lawyer James Newman in the soap. He later won a lead role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage musical Cats.
“One minute I was doing E Street and the next I was prancing around in a cat suit,” remembers Scotty. He also hosted kids shows, Vidiot and Now You See It, and appeared in Water Rats, Sea Patrol and All Saints.
He even co-starred with Hollywood legends Robert Wagner, Stefanie Powers and James Brolin in a Hart to Hart telemovie filmed in Australia.
“It was a pretty wild ride,” Scotty, 61, recalls.
But it was when Scotty lucked into a new career as a travel show presenter that life took another great turn.
Who is Scott McRae’s wife?
The then-divorced dad of two fell in love with a hair and make-up artist working at WIN Television in Wollongong, NSW.
“Neither Sam nor I were looking for a relationship, but it just organically happened. Once we’d been on a few dates, I knew she was the girl for me. I’ve been blessed ever since,” he says.
Scotty and Sam, who have been together ever since that first date 16 years ago, tied the knot six years ago. They share four children between them, including Scotty’s camera-editor son Max, 19, and daughter Maddie, 24, who works in the disability sector.
“I’m very blessed,” he says.
What is Scott McRae up to now?
Scotty also now runs his own travel company, The Travelling Guy, and regularly hosts small group tours in Africa and Asia, using the insider knowledge he gained hosting shows such as Postcards Australia and A Taste of Travel.
Seeing the world, playing music with his band, Sons of Beaches, and sharing his life with Sam, 55, and their kids fills Scotty with happiness. He even relishes getting older – if not wiser.
“I still feel 15, that’s the problem, and I still act like it half the time, and that’s probably a worse problem,” he says. “And yes, some people still remember
me from E Street!”
