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Dolores Gray

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Dolores Gray
Born(1924-06-07)June 7, 1924
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
DiedJune 26, 2002(2002-06-26) (aged 78)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actress, singer
Years active1941–1989
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1966; died 1992)​
AwardsTony 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 the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical twice, winning once.

Early life

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Both her mother and father were vaudeville actors, which is how they met. Gray's parents divorced when she was a young child. She had an older brother, Richard Gray who also had a career in Hollywood. While attending Polytechnic High School she was in the Girls' Glee Club. She was discovered by Rudy Vallee, who gave her a guest spot on his nationwide radio show.

Career

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Her career commenced as a cabaret artist in restaurants and supper clubs in California and in Reno, Nevada.[1] In Los Angeles in 1941 she appeared at the Pirate’s Den[2] and Hollywood Playhouse.[3] Later that year San Francisco engagements included one at Stairway to the Stars.[4] Gray returned to Los Angeles in early April 1942;[5] she headlined at Slapsy Maxie’s late that year.[6] In Los Angeles, on 1 April 1943, she was the vicitim of a drive-by sidewalk shooting, fracturing her left humerus.[7] That July, she sang at the city’s Biltmore Bowl.[8]

In 1945 she appeared in her own radio program.[1] While she was appearing in Annie Get Your Gun in London (1947–1950), she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1948. As a fundraiser to help rebuild the RADA theatre, she appeared as Nell Gwyn in In Good King Charles's Golden Days at Drury Lane Theatre (Oct 1948).[1]

Gray was briefly signed with MGM, appearing in Kismet (1955), It's Always Fair Weather (1955) and The Opposite Sex (1956).

Portraying a singing and dancing stage actress, she appeared with Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall in the film Designing Woman (1957), as his former romantic interest. During her music career, she sang Marilyn Monroe's part on the Decca Records soundtrack album of There'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 at The Talk of the Town in February 1963.[1] Among her many stage roles, she appeared in Two on the Aisle (1951), Carnival In Flanders (1953); Destry Rides Again (1959); Sherry! (1967); and 42nd Street (1986). She also performed the lead role in Annie Get Your Gun in its first London production (1947).[9] Gray won the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for her role in Carnival in Flanders, even though this Broadway musical, with a script by Preston 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 film Holiday in Paris: Paris directed by John Nasht.[citation needed]

She was best known for her theatre roles. In 1973 she took over from Angela Lansbury in the London production of Gypsy at the Piccadilly Theatre. In 1987 she starred in the London production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies at the Shaftesbury Theatre to great acclaim and appeared in the Royal 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 show The Good Old Days – chairman Leonard Sachs had also appeared in Follies 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.”[10] In 1988 she appeared in the Doctor 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 title Warm Brandy (T897).[citation needed]

Personal Life and Marriage

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In November 1962 Gray’s engagement to playboy-entrepreneur James B. Lofland, complete with a 25-carat engagement ring, was announced.[11] 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."[12][13] Separately, Gray sued Lofland for $450,000 alleging “he assaulted her in April [1963] in a dispute that ended their engagement."[14] 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,[15] to be served concurrently with his 10-year sentencing in California for possessing stolen securities.[16]

On September 24, 1966, Gray married Andrew J. Crevolin, a California businessman and Thoroughbred racehorse owner who won the 1954 Kentucky Derby.[17] Despite erroneous reports in the media that they divorced, they remained married until his death in 1992. The couple had no children.

Death

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Gray died of a heart attack in Manhattan, aged 78.[18] Upon her death, she was cremated and her ashes interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.[19]

Filmography

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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

Stage work

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Who's Who in the Theatre (1981) Gale, Gale Biography In Context
  2. ^ “Three Girls Headline Pirates Den Show,” Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, 19 April 1941, 4.
  3. ^ “Seat Sales Boom As Musical Opening at Hand.” Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, 30 August 1941, 4.
  4. ^ “At Stairway.” Oakland Tribune, 11 December 1941, 18.
  5. ^ T.E.Y. “With the Lamplighter After Dark.” Los Angeles Daily News, 13 April 1942, 16.
  6. ^ (Slapsy Maxie’s advertisement), Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, 9 December 1942, 7.
  7. ^ ”Night Club Singer Wounded by Bullet.” Oakland Tribune, 1 April 1943, 1.
  8. ^ T.E.Y. “With the Lamplighter After Dark.” Los Angeles Daily News, 16 July 1943, 33.
  9. ^ Ruhlmann, William. "Annie Get Your Gun (Original London Cast) (Bonus Tracks) – Original Soundtrack, AllMusic Review". www.allmusic.com. Ann Arbor, USA: Rovi Corporation. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
  10. ^ Phillips, Michael (July 3, 2002). "Chicago-born Dolores Gray blessed us with her voice". Chicago Tribune.
  11. ^ “Two to Cooperate in Oil Lease Probe.”Knickerbock News (Albany, NY), 27 June 1963, 3A.
  12. ^ “Among Witnesses in Oil Inquiry.” New York Times, 26 June 1963, 50.
  13. ^ ”Inquiry Hears 4 in Oil Lease Case.”New York Times, 28 June 1963, 42.
  14. ^ ”Inquiry Hears 4 in Oil Lease Case.”New York Times, 28 June 1963, 42.
  15. ^ ”Playboy Sent to New Playpen.” Nassau (NY) Newsday, 5 March 1965.
  16. ^ ”Stock-Fraud Case Brings Prison Term.” Los Angeles Independent, 13 April 1965, 23.
  17. ^ "The Spokesman-Review". news.google.com – via Google News Archive Search.
  18. ^ Goldman, Ari L. (June 29, 2002). "Dolores Gray, 78, Sultry Star Of Stage and Movie Musicals – Obituary". The New York Times. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
  19. ^ Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476625997 – via Google Books.
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Archives at
LocationLibrary of Congress Music Division Edit this on Wikidata
SourceDolores Gray collection, circa 1944-2002
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