Gloria Grahame

About the Gloria Grahame

Gloria Grahamewas an American actress. She began her acting career in theater, and in 1944 made her first film for MGM. Many biographies indicated she was born Gloria Grahame Hallward but she adopted the surname Grahame, her mother’s acting name, as her professional name. She was raised a Methodist.

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. Often cast in film noir projects, Grahame was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Crossfire (1947), and later won the award for her work in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952). After starring opposite Humphrey Bogart in In a Lonely Place (1950), she achieved her highest profile with Sudden Fear (1952), The Big Heat (1953), Human Desire (1954), and Oklahoma! (1955), but her film career began to wane soon afterwards. She returned to work on the stage, but continued to appear in films and television productions, usually in supporting roles.

In 1974, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It went into remission less than a year later and Grahame returned to work. In 1980, the cancer returned, but Grahame refused to accept the diagnosis or seek treatment. Choosing instead to continue working, she traveled to the United Kingdom to appear in a play. Her health, however, declined rapidly. At her family’s insistence, she returned to New York, dying the same day, October 5, 1981, at St. Vincent’s Hospital at the age of 57.