Neighbours’ Daphne found!
Neighbours’ Daphne FOUND! One of the show’s original cast, she has fallen in love with a fulfilling real-life role
When Australia first met Elaine Smith, she was playing a spiky haired stripper in Neighbours – but these days she is far more comfortable in front of a small audience of excitable eight-year-old kids.
The much-loved former Ramsay St resident is now a Year 3 teacher at a Sydney primary school, where she’s currently working on a major new production – the kids’ annual Easter hat parade.
“I found all the attention pretty overwhelming,” explains Elaine, who played Daphne Clarke from 1984 until 1988, when she asked that her character be killed off because she so regretted becoming a household name.
“We were plucked from obscurity and thrown together in this show. I didn’t know what it was about it, but it just worked. People would shout ‘stripper’ at me in the street!”
Of course Daphne became much more than a stripper when audiences fell in love with the character, who was torn between Des Clarke (Paul Keane) and Shane Ramsay (Peter O’brien) before eventually choosing Des. The couple went on to have what is still celebrated as one of Australia’s most-loved TV marriages, while off-screen Elaine was dating Peter, who she broke up with shortly after leaving the soapie.
The residents of Ramsay St poured out their troubles to Daphne in the cafe that carried her name. She had a baby with Des, before she famously died in his arms following a car crash that left her in a coma for days – after Elaine insisted she didn’t want to be famous anymore.
She went on to appear on The Flying Doctors, State Coroner, Always Greener, Home and Away and All Saints, before returning to university to earn a degree in teaching, and turning her back on the fame she found so difficult.
Now the mother of twin daughters and a much-loved teacher at the inner-city school, Elaine, who turns 55 next month, has no regrets about dropping back into obscurity.
“I’m a private person,” she says.