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Aggie Grey was born in Western Samoa in 1897 and died in 1988. She was a well-known hotelier and founder of Grey Investment Group and Aggie Grey's Hotel.http://www.pacificislandtravel.com Hotel in Apia (Upolu)
In her adult life she became popular on the Samoan social scene.The Samoans: A Global Family By Frederic Koehler Sutter Page 14 Aggie Grey: West Point Hotelier, Legend. Apia, Upolu, Samoa She founded her hotel in 1933, and became one of Samoa's most popular and well known figures. She hosted many notable actors, including Dorothy Lamour, Marlon Brando, Gary Cooper, William Holden, Raymond Burr and Robert Morley who stayed at her hotel. Her hotel was involved with the production and housing of the crew on the American film production of Return to Paradise (1953) starring Gary Cooper.
She was friends with American writer James Michener and she and her sister Mary Croudace (Aunty Mary) were widely believed to be possible models for his character Bloody Mary that he created in Tales of the South Pacific (1946). The book was adapted into Broadway's musical theatre blockbuster South Pacific (1949) by Richard Rodgers and Hammerstein (collectively known as Rodgers and Hammerstein), and subsequently the 1958 film South Pacific.
Aggie Gray's sister Mary Croudace ran "The Casino" a boarding-house in Apia, and was reputed to have been the lover of a Marine general in the war. Mr Croudace, reputed to have been a New Zealand official, was long gone.
The Aggie Grey Hotel is now three resorts, two on Upolu island in Samoa, in Apia and Aggie's Lagoon and one resort, Le Méredien in Tahiti. In 2013 Aggie Grey's became part of the Sheraton chain.
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