Last year I did a post on fathers and their actor children. This year I decided to focus on just one father and daughter: Gordon MacRea and his oldest daughter Meredith. I found a very sweet duet of the two singing “Count Your Blessings” from the movie “White Christmas” (1954).

You may know Meredith as a ditzy blonde from various beach films or the perfect Billie Jo on the TV show “Petticoat Junction”- I have to admit, when I was in 4th grade she was my least favorite sister because she sang too much.

I adore Gordon MacRea and he is one of my favorite singers. Unfortunately, his career was cut short due to alcohol problems.

Once in the 1980s, Gordan MacRea was doing a performance in my hometown of Greenville, S.C.  Due to his alcoholism, he was so drunk during the concert that he couldn’t remember the lyrics during the song. So sad 😦 My mother told me that Meredith wrote a letter to the paper thanking his fans for attending and apologizing that her father was unable to perform.

I think Meredith really loved her father and tried to help him out as much as she could. I’ve seen clips of the two of them in the 1970s on gameshows and she was very loving towards him and still called him daddy.

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