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Gloria Grahame Profile
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| (Gloria Hallward) |
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| 28 November 23/25/29/33 | is born in Pasadena, California, to Michael Hallward and acting teacher Jeanne (McDougall) Grahame. Her father's family can claim descent from the Plantagenet kings of England. |
| attends Hollywood High School |
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| builds a good reputation on Broadway |
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| 9 May 44 | signs a 7-year contract with MGM. Louis B. Mayer changes her surname to her mother's maiden name, Grahame. |
| dates producer George Englund |
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| Summer 45 | meets singer-actor Stanley Clements on a USO tour in Texas |
| she's competing on her outfit with fellow actress Linda Christian |
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| 29 August 45 | marries Clements in Wichita Falls, Texas |
| 1 May 46 | separates from Clements |
| 11 June 46 | files for divorce |
| July 46 | the Clements reconcile again |
| 21 October 46 | is on the cover of Life |
| starts out with plastic surgery to reduce the ridges in her upper lip |
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| 8 April 47 | files for divorce again; Clements beats her black and blue |
| 9 June 47 | signs with RKO |
| while filming Roughshod, she meets actress Jeff Donnell, who will be her closest female friend until 1955 |
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| 3 November 47 | finally separates from Clements |
| 16 December 47 | is awarded an interlocutory decree but will see Clements for many years to come |
| March 48 | kayoes Stanley Clements with a divorce degree |
| Late 40s | has a relationship with stunt-double Rod Amateau, who almost marries her |
| 1 June 48 | obtains a Nevada divorce from Clements and marries director Nicholas Ray the same day in Las Vegas. Actor J. C. Flippen is best man. Ray directed her in A Woman's Secret. Later he will claim it was a disaster in his life to have met her. |
| 12 November 48 | her son Timothy is born in Los Angeles, only five and a half months after the wedding. She will not work for a year after the birth. Ray gambles at the tables in Las Vegas until he is nearly broke. She spends considerable amounts to pay off his debts. |
| actress Jane Greer becomes a close friend of hers |
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| continues with facial surgery on her teeth and upper lip |
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| April 49 | Howard Hughes refuses lend her to Harry Cohn's Columbia Studios |
| September 49 | there are rumors the Rays are tiffing |
| December 49 | there are rumors she may file for divorce |
| May 50 | the Rays reconcile and take a house in Malibu |
| causes publicity turmoil when she declares she dislikes night gowns and sleeps in the nude |
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| Ray makes disparaging remarks about his wife at Lucey's Cafe, across the street from the Paramount lot |
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| has to decline Shelley Winter's part in A Place in the Sun |
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| while filming In a Lonely Place, she uses Frank Lovejoy to make her husband jealous |
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| 5 September 50 | sends a long telegram to studio boss Hughes pleading with him not to force her to work on Macao |
| October 50 | leaves RKO |
| June 51 | Tony Ray, her husband's seventeen-year old son, visits her in Malibu. They make love that afternoon, but Nick comes home prematurely, and hell breaks loose. Later, Tony Ray will confirm to Dennis Hopper that he lost his virginity to Gloria. |
| July 51 | the Rays separate |
| 17 December 51 | Clements spends his wedding night not with his second bride, but with Gloria |
| 52 | has an affair with co-star Jack Palance while filming Sudden Fear |
| Early 52 | wears the Christmas-present ring of director Stanley Rubin, and he is head man in her life, but they are not engaged. He will later marry actress Kathleen Hughes. |
| April 52 | starts dating writer-producer-director Cy Howard |
| June 52 | has difficulties with her director on the set of The Glass Wall, Maxwell Shane |
| August 52 | takes a trunk full of Wella Balsam with her to the filming of Man On a Tightrope in Munich, Germany. It's her initial visit to Europe. |
| arrives in Germany with a very heavy suitcase. Due to her director, Eliah Kazan, it's filled with exercise weights; she wants to built up her bust. |
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| plastic surgery in West Germany accidentally paralyzes her upper lip. To camouflage the fact that her speech is now seriously impaired, she begins to put tissue paper underneath her upper lip. |
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| 14 August 52 | divorces Ray |
| Late 52 | declares war on her director of Prisoners of the Casbah |
| 6 April 53 | there are false rumors afterwards that she accepted her Academy Award in a drunken state. She refuses to give interviews and gives the statue to her son to play with. |
| 9 September 53 | she and Howard sail to Europe on the Ile de France. She will star in The Good Die Young in England. |
| when she's invited to meet the Queen at a Royal Command Performance and Howard isn't, he scratches her back terribly in anger |
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| November 53 | she and Cy Howard shock Hollywood when word gets out that they have come to a parting of the ways romantically |
| Early 54 | is off to Tijuana, Mexico, to film Naked Alibi |
| 15 August 54 | marries Cy Howard at his mansion on Sunset Boulevard. Gary Cooper, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Laureen Bacall, Kirk Douglas, Tyrone Power and Linda Christian, and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis attend. |
| December 54 | the scars of cosmetic surgery to her lip are visible in the publicity shots for Cobweb |
| looses the lead in Untamed to Susan Hayward |
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| February 55 | refuses a small part in Love Is a Many Splendored Thing. The studio will file a lawsuit two years later. |
| gets into an argument with Howard at a Naples restaurant |
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| September 55 | in Deauville she takes a pair of scissors and cuts all of Howard's clothing. Finally, she and Cy part in Paris and go to live in different places. |
| police grab her when she holds Howard at gunpoint. The weapon is registered to friend, playboy Porfirio Rubirosa. |
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| her make-up for The Man Who Never Was is criticized for being oily-skinned and bizarre |
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| December 55 | Photoplay's Sidney Skolsky considers her miscast in Oklahoma |
| Beginning 56 | becomes pregnant and makes her home in Paris |
| May 56 | visits the Cannes Film Festival |
| 1 October 56 | her daughter Marianna Paulette is born in Neuilly |
| 12 December 56 | arrives with her baby and Howard aboard the United States in New York |
| March 57 | leaves Howard's Sunset Boulevard mansion and moves in with her sister in Van Nuys |
| May 57 | goes to court to divorce Howard. Jerry Geisler represents her. |
| October 57 | the case is heard, and she's completely free. She buys a ranch house in Van Nuys. |
| 58 | resumes her romance with 15-years-younger former step-son, Tony Ray. The two become seriously involved. |
| 13 May 60 | marries Tony Ray in Tijuana, Mexico. The marriage is a very big secret. When Nicholas Ray learns about it, he is sick to his stomach. |
| Summer 60 | returns to the theater with Chekhov's Three Sisters |
| 19 July 62 | files for divorce from Ray and claims grievous mental and physical suffering. The case is dismissed without prejudice a month later. |
| April 63 | her son Anthony Ray, Jr., is born |
| April 64 | her former husband, Cy Howard, goes to court on the way Paulette is raised by Gloria and Tony, who had beaten her without Gloria's knowledge |
| April 64 | collapses onstage in Milwaukee. She's later hospitalized and has a series of shock treatments to forget Howard's tormenting her with tales of the concentration camps. Part of her memory is lost forever. In the meantime, Tony forges her signature on checks totaling $11,000 to meet his gambling needs. |
| June 64 | Howard is given custody of Paulette |
| January 65 | is allowed occasional custody of her daughter |
| July 65 | there are rumors her marriage may be in trouble |
| 21 September 65 | her second son by Tony Ray, James, is born in Hollywood |
| July 66 | is back in court over Paulette and is granted custody in August |
| October 67 | the battle continues as Cy accuses her in court of brainwashing the child, but Gloria retains the custody |
| October 72 | against the wishes of Tony, she's off to Spain for Tarot |
| 24 March 74 | files for divorce from Ray. In court she declares she has cancer in her right breast. To treat the cancer, she changes her diet completely and undergoes heavy radiation. |
| February 75 | while she's in hospital, Tony seizes custody of the boys |
| Late 75 | sells her house to straighten out her financial affairs |
| May 76 | Tony's granted full custody of the boys, but she tries until 1978 to have him pay what he owes her |
| 77 | develops a close friendship with actor Robert Windslow Baker |
| June 78 | has her first stage appearance in the U.K. in Somerset Maugham's Rain. During rehearsals she meets the last big romantic involvement of her life, actor Peter Turner. This affair will last for about two years. |
| Summer 80 | as her inflammatory breast cancer worsens, her health begins to deteriorate |
| 16 October 80 | writes out a will by hand |
| Autumn 81 | Peter Turner takes her to his family in his native Liverpool. They and Paulette decide to take her back to the States. |
| 5 October 81 | returning by plane from Heathrow, England, she dies the same day at St. Vincent's Hospital, Manhattan, from cancer. Her children are with her. |
| 10 October 81 | she's buried at Oakwood Cemetery, Chatsworth, California |
| October 81 | Clements, hospitalized for emphysema, reads a newspaper article on her death and gives up, too |
| Sources: Suicide Blonde by Vincent Curcio, Screen Romances, Movieland, The Beauty and the Billionaire by Terry Moore, Photoplay | |
| Recommended Books: Suicide Blonde by Vincent Curcio | |
| Links: Filmography Find A Grave Classic Movies - Gloria Grahame JSR Pages: Gloria Grahame Brian's Drive-In Theater: Gloria Grahame | |