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Gloria Grahame
from the trailer for The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
Born	Gloria Hallward November 28, 1923(1923-11-28) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	October 5, 1981 (aged 57) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1944–1981
Spouse(s)	Stanley Clements (1945–1948) Nicholas Ray (1948–1952) 1 child Cy Howard (1954–1957) 1 child Anthony Ray (1960–1974) 2 children

Gloria Grahame (November 28, 1923 – October 5, 1981) was an American actress.

Grahame began her acting career in theatre, and in 1944 she made her first film for MGM. Despite a featured role in It's a Wonderful Life (1946), MGM did not believe she had the potential for major success, and sold her contract to RKO Studios. Often cast in film noir projects, Grahame received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Crossfire (1947). She won this award for her work in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952). She achieved successes with Sudden Fear (1952), Human Desire (1953) and The Big Heat (1953) and Oklahoma! (1955), but her film career began to wane.

She returned to theatrical work, and for the remainder of her life she appeared in films and television productions, usually in supporting roles. Diagnosed with stomach cancer in 1980, Grahame refused to accept the diagnosis and travelled to England to work in a play. Her health rapidly failed and she returned to New York City, where she died in 1981.

Early life

Grahame was born Gloria Hallward in Los Angeles, California. Her father, Reginald Michael Bloxam Hallward, was an architect and author. Her mother, Jeanne McDougall, who used the stage name Jean Grahame, was a British stage actress and acting teacher who taught Gloria acting during her childhood and adolescence. She had one sibling, Joy Hallward (1911-2003), an actress who married the brother of Robert Mitchum.

She was signed to a contract with MGM Studios after Louis B. Mayer saw her performing on Broadway for several years.

Career

Changing her name to Gloria Grahame, she made her film debut in Blonde Fever (1944) and scored one of her most widely praised roles as the promiscuous Violet, who is saved from disgrace by George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (1946). MGM was not able to develop her potential as a star and her contract was sold to RKO Studios in 1947.

Grahame was often featured in film noir pictures as a tarnished beauty with an irresistible sexual allure. During this time, she made films for several Hollywood studios. She received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Crossfire (1947).

in her Academy Award winning role in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

Grahame starred with Humphrey Bogart in the 1950 film In a Lonely Place, a performance which garnered her considerable praise. Though today it is considered among her finest performances, at the time it didn't help her career; it wasn't a box-office hit and Howard Hughes, owner of RKO Studios, admitted that he never saw her first starring role. When she asked to be loaned out for roles in Born Yesterday and A Place in the Sun, Hughes refused and made her do a supporting role in Macao. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952).

Other memorable roles included the scheming Irene Nieves in Sudden Fear (1952), the femme fatale Vicki Buckley in Human Desire (1953), and mob moll Debby Marsh in The Big Heat (1953). In a horrifying scene, especially for its time, she is scarred by hot coffee thrown in her face by Lee Marvin's character. The act does not actually appear in the movie, merely events before and after.

Grahame was often regarded as a difficult actress to work with, and her career began to wane after her quixotic, but successful casting in the musical movie Oklahoma! (1955). Grahame was seen as difficult to cast with the demise of film noir; her characters were not evil, but too naughty to be innocent. She began a slow return to the theater, but returned to films occasionally to play supporting roles, mostly in minor releases. She appeared on television too, including an episode of the ABC sitcom, Harrigan and Son, starring Pat O'Brien.

Grahame has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures, at 6522 Hollywood Boulevard.

Personal life

Grahame had a string of stormy romances and failed marriages during her time in Hollywood, which took a toll on her career, as did a two-year hiatus taken after the birth of her daughter in 1956.^[1] Marital and child custody problems hampered her performance on the set of Oklahoma!. Additionally, the actress's concern over ridges in her upper lip led her to pursue plastic surgery and dental operations that caused visible scarring and ultimately rendered the lip largely immobile due to nerve damage, which affected her speech.^[2]

She married:

• Stanley Clements (1926-1981), actor, married August 1945, divorced 1 June 1948.^[3][4]
• Nicholas Ray, director, married 1 June 1948, separated 1951, divorced 1952. The couple had one child, Timothy (born November 1948, aka David Cyrus Howard during his mother's third marriage).^[1][5] Their marriage ended when Ray found Grahame in bed with his 23 year old son by his first marriage, Anthony, whom she later married.^[2][6][7]
• Cy Howard, writer, married 1954, divorced 1957. They had one daughter, Marianna Paulette (born 1956).
• Anthony Ray, her former stepson, married May 1960, divorced 1974. The Rays had two sons, Anthony Jr (born 1963) and James (born 1965).

Finding film roles difficult to obtain in Hollywood, Grahame returned to the theater and continued to work as a stage actress.

In the late 1970s, Grahame travelled to England, performing plays, and there she met Liverpool actor Peter Turner with whom she had a romantic relationship. They moved to the USA and lived in New York and California, where their affair ended. Turner moved back to England.

Death

In 1980, Grahame was diagnosed with stomach cancer but she refused surgery, insisting that she did not have cancer. In 1981, she traveled to England to perform in a play. While in England, she had fluid from her stomach drained, which resulted in a perforated bowel. This became apparent after she collapsed during a rehearsal for the play.

Peter Turner heard the news that Grahame was ill and staying in a hotel in Lancaster, England. Turner, accompanied by members of his family, collected her from the hotel and took her to his family home in Aigburth, Liverpool, where he and his family nursed her until some of her children arrived to take her back to New York where she died at the age of 57.

She is interred in Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California, as Gloria H Grahame.

Bibliography

• Suicide Blonde: The Life of Gloria Grahame by Vincent Curcio, NY: William Morrow, 1989.
• Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool by Peter Turner, NY: Grove Press, 1987.

Filmography

References

External links

• Gloria Grahame at the Internet Movie Database
• Gloria Grahame at the TCM Movie Database
• Gloria Grahame at Find a Grave
• Gloria Grahame Article by Donald Chase.
• Gloria Grahame Film Reference