Gloria Grahame

Gloria Grahame

Gloria Grahame Hallward was an American stage, film, and television actress and singer. She achieved her highest profile with Sudden Fear, The Big Heat, Human Desire, and Oklahoma! Her film career began to wane soon afterwards. She was married to actor John Mitchum for more than 20 years. She died of cancer in New York in 1981, at the age of 57.

About Gloria Grahame in brief

Summary Gloria GrahameGloria Grahame Hallward was an American stage, film, and television actress and singer. She achieved her highest profile with Sudden Fear, The Big Heat, Human Desire, and Oklahoma! Her film career began to wane soon afterwards. In 1974, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It went into remission less than a year later and she returned to work. In 1980, the cancer returned, but she refused to accept the diagnosis or seek treatment. Her health, however, declined rapidly, and she developed peritonitis after undergoing a procedure to remove fluid from her abdomen in September 1981. She returned to New York City, where she died in October 1981, aged 57. She long held the record for the shortest performance on screen to win an acting Oscar until Beatrice Straight won for Network with a five-minute performance. She also did her own stunts as Angel the Elephant Girl in Cecil B. Deille’s The Greatest Show on Earth, which won the Oscar for best film of 1952. She was married to actor John Mitchum for more than 20 years. She is survived by her daughter, Joy Hallward, and her son, Reginald Michael Bloxam Hallward.

She died of cancer in New York in 1981, at the age of 57. Her funeral was held in her hometown of Los Angeles, California, on November 14, 2011. She leaves behind a husband, three children, and a son, John Michael Hallward Jr., who was an architect and author. Her daughter also appeared in several films, including Not as a Stranger and The Bad and the Beautiful. She had an elder daughter,Joy Hallward, an actress who marriedJohn Mitchum. She appeared as wealthy seductress Harriet Lang in Stanley Kramer’s Not As a Stranger starring Olivia de Havilland, Robert Mitchum, and Frank Sinatra. Her mother, Jean McDougall, was a British stage actress and acting teacher. She made her film debut in Blonde Fever and then achieved one of her most widely praised roles as the flirtatious Violet Bick, saved from disgrace by George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life. She received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Crossfire. She also starred with Humphrey Bogart in the film In a Lonely Place for Columbia Pictures, a performance for which she gained praise.