Dolores Gray | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1924-06-07)June 7, 1924 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Died | June 26, 2002(2002-06-26) (aged 78) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, singer |
| Years active | 1941–1989 |
| Spouse | |
| Awards | Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical Carnival in Flanders (1954) |
Dolores Gray (June 7, 1924 – June 26, 2002) was an American actress and singer. She was nominated for theTony Award forBest Lead Actress in a Musical twice, winning once.
Both her mother and father were vaudeville actors, which is how they met. Gray's parents divorced when she was a young child.[1] She had an older brother, Richard Gray who also had a career in Hollywood. While attendingPolytechnic High School she was in the Girls' Glee Club. She was discovered byRudy Vallee, who gave her a guest spot on his nationwide radio show.
Her career commenced as a cabaret artist in restaurants and supper clubs in California and in Reno, Nevada.[2] In Los Angeles in 1941 she appeared at the Pirate’s Den[3] and Hollywood Playhouse.[4] Later that year San Francisco engagements included one at Stairway to the Stars.[5] Gray returned to Los Angeles in early April 1942;[6] she headlined atSlapsy Maxie’s late that year.[7] In Los Angeles, on 1 April 1943, she was the vicitim of a drive-by sidewalk shooting, fracturing her left humerus.[8] That July, she sang at the city’s Biltmore Bowl.[9]
In 1945 she appeared in her own radio program,[2] and that same year starred in the Broadway musicalAre You with It?[10] While she was appearing inAnnie Get Your Gun in London (1947–1950), she studied at theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1948. As a fundraiser to help rebuild the RADA theatre, she appeared asNell Gwyn inIn Good King Charles's Golden Days atDrury Lane Theatre (Oct 1948).[2]
Gray was briefly signed withMGM, appearing inKismet (1955),It's Always Fair Weather (1955) andThe Opposite Sex (1956).
Portraying a singing and dancing stage actress, she appeared withGregory Peck andLauren Bacall in the filmDesigning Woman (1957), as his former romantic interest. During her music career, she sangMarilyn Monroe's part on theDecca Records soundtrack album ofThere's No Business Like Show Business (1954).
She appeared at the London Palladium in 1958 while doing a concert tour of Europe and in cabaret atThe Talk of the Town in February 1963.[2] Among her many stage roles, she appeared inTwo on the Aisle (1951),Carnival In Flanders (1953);Destry Rides Again (1959);Sherry! (1967); and42nd Street (1986). She also performed the lead role inAnnie Get Your Gun in its first London production (1947).[11] Gray won theTony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for her role inCarnival in Flanders, even though this Broadway musical, with a script byPreston Sturges, ran for only six performances. She therefore holds a record that is unlikely to be broken: briefest run in a performance which still earned a Tony. She is the first person to have sung the English version of the French song “C'est si bon”, for the short filmHoliday in Paris: Paris directed byJohn Nasht.[citation needed]
She was best known for her theatre roles. In 1973 she took over fromAngela Lansbury in the London production ofGypsy at the Piccadilly Theatre. In 1987 she starred in the London production ofStephen Sondheim'sFollies at the Shaftesbury Theatre to great acclaim and appeared in theRoyal Variety Performance of that year with a show-stopping performance of the song'I'm Still Here" from the show. In 1978 she also appeared on BBC TV's long-running variety showThe Good Old Days – chairmanLeonard Sachs had also appeared inFollies as theatre owner Dimitri Weismann, introducing Miss Gray, one of “The Weismann Girls”. Theatre critic Michael Phillips wrote that Gray's voice sounded like “a freight-train slathered in honey.”[12] In 1988 she appeared in theDoctor Who 25th anniversary story “Silver Nemesis,” playing an American tourist.
Apart from the many soundtrack albums she appeared on, Gray recorded one album of songs in 1957 for Capitol Records with the titleWarm Brandy (T897).[citation needed]
In November 1962 Gray’s engagement to playboy-entrepreneur James B. Lofland, complete with a 25-carat engagement ring, was announced.[13] An investment enterprise of Lofland’s would later be investigated, and on 27 June 1963 Gray appeared before the New York Supreme Court concerning the matter, though she testified that “she had no inkling of any possible fraud in the operation until she read about it in the newspapers."[14][15] Separately, Gray sued Lofland for $450,000 alleging “he assaulted her in April [1963] in a dispute that ended their engagement."[16] Lofland eventually “admitted masterminding a scheme of selling $3,000,000 of worthless oil leases to his high society friends” and was sentenced to 33-60 months imprisonment for grand larceny and perjury,[17] to be served concurrently with his 10-year sentencing in California for possessing stolen securities.[18]
On September 24, 1966, Gray marriedAndrew J. Crevolin, a California businessman andThoroughbred racehorse owner who won the 1954Kentucky Derby.[19] Despite erroneous reports in the media that they divorced, they remained married until his death in 1992. The couple had no children.
Gray died of aheart attack inManhattan, aged 78.[20] Upon her death, she wascremated and her ashes interred atHoly Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.[21]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | Lady for a Night | Dolores, a Singer | Uncredited |
| 1944 | Mr. Skeffington | Performer | Uncredited |
| 1955 | It's Always Fair Weather | Madeline Bradville | |
| Kismet | Lalume | ||
| 1956 | The Opposite Sex | Sylvia Fowler | |
| 1957 | Designing Woman | Lori Shannon |
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