Grayson Hall

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Grayson Hall (September 18, 1922 – August 7, 1985) was an American television, film and stage actress. She was widely regarded for her avant garde theatrical performances in the 1960s-80s. Hall was nominated in 1964 for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for the John Huston film The Night of the Iguana. She was also lead actress in the Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows (1966-1971), and appeared on One Life to Live in 1982-83.

Life and career

Born Shirley Grossman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Hall became interested in acting as a teen and began auditioning for plays while still in high school. She studied at Temple University and later Cornell University, before dropping out in 1942 to pursue a career in acting. Her first professional acting job came in the summer of 1942 doing summer stock in Long Island. In 1946, she married fellow actor Ted (Bradbart) Brooks. The marriage ended in 1949, and in 1952, she married writer Sam Hall. Their only child, Matthew, was born in August 1958. Early in her career, she used the stage name Shirley Grayson. Sam Hall, disliking the name Shirley, called her 'Grayson', "like an old Army buddy", she told a reporter. She eventually adopted it as her professional name.

Having guest starred on various television series during the mid-1950s, Hall made her film debut in 1961 in Run Across the River. In September 1963, Hall traveled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to play the role of Judith Fellowes in John Huston's version of The Night of the Iguana, based on the original Tennessee Williams play. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Judith Fellowes, a latent lesbian vocal instructor from a Texas women's college. In the original play, the character was not sympathetic but Huston rewrote the character, wanting more complexity and sympathy.

Hall's best-known television role was that of Dr. Julia Hoffman, on Dark Shadows, where she portrayed a friend of the vampire, Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid). Other key roles that she played on the show were those of Countess Natalie Dupres; Magda Rakowski, a Gypsy; and Hoffman, a Mrs. Danvers-type housekeeper. After the series ended in 1971, Hall continued acting on stage as Warda in Jean Genet's The Screens (1971-72) and The Lady in Gray/The Fly in Happy End (1977) which co-starred Meryl Streep and Christopher Lloyd. Her last onscreen role was that of Euphemia Ralston in the soap opera One Life to Live in 1982.

Death

Hall died of lung cancer in New York City on August 7, 1985.

Filmography

Bibliography

• Grayson Hall: A Hard Act to Follow, by R.J. Jamison, iUniverse, 2006. ISBN 0-595-40462-6

External links

• Grayson Hall at the Internet Movie Database
• Grayson Hall at the Internet Broadway Database
• Grayson Hall at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Grayson Hall at Find a Grave