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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.
In 1945 she appeared in her own radio program, and that same year starred in the Broadway musical Are You with It? 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).
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. 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).
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 directed by John Nasht.
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.” 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).
On September 24, 1966, Gray married Andrew J. Crevolin, a California businessman and Thoroughbred racehorse owner who won the 1954 Kentucky Derby. Despite erroneous reports in the media that they divorced, they remained married until his death in 1992. The couple had no children.
Personal Life and Marriage
In November 1962 Gray’s engagement to playboy-entrepreneur James B. Lofland, complete with a 25-carat engagement ring, was announced.“Two to Cooperate in Oil Lease Probe.”Knickerbock News (Albany, NY), 27 June 1963, 3A. 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."“Among Witnesses in Oil Inquiry.” New York Times, 26 June 1963, 50.”Inquiry Hears 4 in Oil Lease Case.”New York Times, 28 June 1963, 42. Separately, Gray sued Lofland for $450,000 alleging “he assaulted her in April 1963 in a dispute that ended their engagement."”Inquiry Hears 4 in Oil Lease Case.”New York Times, 28 June 1963, 42. 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,”Playboy Sent to New Playpen.” Nassau (NY) Newsday, 5 March 1965. to be served concurrently with his 10-year sentencing in California for possessing stolen securities.”Stock-Fraud Case Brings Prison Term.” Los Angeles Independent, 13 April 1965, 23.
Death
Gray died of a heart attack in Manhattan, aged 78. Upon her death, she was cremated and her ashes interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
Filmography
Uncredited Uncredited
Stage work
External links
Categories: Actresses From Chicago, Singers From Chicago, American Film Actresses, American Television Actresses, American Musical Theatre Actresses, Tony Award Winners, 20th-century American Actresses, 1924 Births, 2002 Deaths, Alumni Of The Royal Academy Of Dramatic Art, Burials At Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, Capitol Records Artists, Decca Records Artists, 20th-century American Singers, 20th-century American Women Singers, Metro-goldwyn-mayer Contract Players
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