‘I’ll cherish our memories forever’
A teary Paula shares special recollections of her beautiful sister
Wiping away tears of grief, Australian TV treasure and seven-time Logie winner Paula Duncan smiles warmly as she reveals her beloved sister Carmen got her final wish – to be out of hospital and with her cherished family on Christmas Day.
“As cancer took its cruel, final grasp, that’s all Carmie talked about in the months leading up to Christmas, how she desperately wanted to be out of hospital and home with her family, even just for a few hours,” says Paula.
“Carmie got her final wish. It meant the world to her to be with her adored family – her son Duncan, daughter Amelia, and her grandkids Miffie, Erin and Barrett
– for Christmas.”
CLASSY ACT
“She was so weak, could barely walk and was down to 40kg, but to see her laughing and enjoying the festive love brought everyone to tears,” adds Amelia.
“Mum was always such a classy inspiration, but was especially so on our last Christmas together. Despite being in her final weeks, she rallied like the trouper she was. Mum had been in hospital since April 2018.”
“She always loved a flaming Christmas pudding with lashings of brandy butter, so she tucked into a big slice, and enjoyed several glasses of French champagne as carols rang through the house. It was beautiful, and a memory we’ll cherish forever.”
A showbiz sensation for more than 50 years, 76-year-old Carmen lost her gruelling battle with a rare form of cancer on February 3 with her two children by her side.
Her loving sister Paula, 66, says the highlight of Carmen’s impressive and much revered stage and screen career – which saw her starring in iconic TV series like Number 96, Cop Shop and A Country Practice – was playing arch-bitch Iris Wheeler on the legendary US soap Another World in the ’80s.
LEADING THE WAY
“Carmie was not only a striking beauty with an amazing talent, she was a trailblazer. Long before the likes of Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman hit the Hollywood big time, Carmen was there waving the Aussie flag,” Paula, who last saw Carmen the day before her passing, tells Woman’s Day.
“The room was crowded with friends.
I was on one side of the bed and our older brother Warren was on the other. I kissed her gently on the forehead and said goodbye.
“On my way home I just kept thinking how courageous, stoic, brave, dignified and gracious Carmie had been throughout her final cancer ordeal. I have never seen anyone in such horrendous pain. It was cruel beyond belief.”
If there is one consolation as she mourns the loss of her sister, Paula says Carmen will now be reunited with their beloved brother Bob, who died after battling lung cancer in 2017.
“Our lives have always been a rollercoaster and, like all sisters, sometimes our relationship had been strained,” says Paula.
“But we’ve always had great love and respect for one another. I will miss her terribly. If it wasn’t for Carmie I probably wouldn’t have become an actress, I’d probably still be a gemologist at Angus & Coote.”
‘We always had great love and respect for one another’