Grayson Hall

Grayson Hall
Grayson Hall
Born	Shirley Grossman; September 18, 1922; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	August 7, 1985 (aged 62); Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
Other names	Shirley Grayson
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1950s–1985
Height	5 ft 6 in (168 cm)
Spouses	; Bradbart "Ted" Brooks (m. 1946; div. 1949) ; Sam Hall (m. 1952⁠–⁠1985)
Children	1

Grayson Hall (born Shirley Grossman; September 18, 1922 – August 7, 1985) was an American television, film and stage actress. She was widely regarded for her avant-garde theatrical performances from the 1960s to the 1980s. Hall was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe Award for the John Huston film The Night of the Iguana (1964).

Hall played multiple prominent roles on the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows (1966–71) and appeared on One Life to Live (1982–83). In 2006, a biography titled Grayson Hall: A Hard Act to Follow was released.^[2]

Early life

Hall was born Shirley Grossman in Philadelphia in 1922,^[3] the only child of Eleanor and Joseph Grossman. Her father was from Latvia and her mother, who had acted in the Yiddish theatre, was from South Africa. Both were from Jewish immigrant families.^[1]

When Hall was eight, her parents separated, but they never divorced. Hall became interested in acting as an escape from a painful childhood, and auditioned for plays in New York City while still attending Simon Gratz High School in North Philadelphia. She enrolled at Temple University but did not matriculate. She landed her first professional job with a summer stock company on Long Island in 1942.

In 1946, she married fellow actor Ted Brooks in Philadelphia.^[4] They separated in 1949 and she returned to New York. In 1952, she married writer Sam Hall. Their son Matthew was born in 1958. She had always used the stage name Shirley Grayson, but Sam Hall called her Grayson "like an old Army buddy," as she said in an interview. She eventually adopted Grayson Hall as her professional name.^[1]

Career

Hall enjoyed an active stage career in New York City. Her theater credits include roles in off-Broadway productions of influential avant-garde plays including Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello (Phoenix Theatre, 1955). She also appeared as the madam Irma in the first New York production of The Balcony by Jean Genet for more than a year at the Circle in the Square Theatre Downtown in Greenwich Village.^[5]^[6]

Having guest-starred on various television programs during the mid-1950s, Hall made her film debut in 1961 in Run Across the River. She also appeared in Satan in High Heels as a cabaret club owner, but she later disavowed the film.

In September 1963, Hall traveled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to play the role of Judith Fellowes in John Huston's film version of The Night of the Iguana, based on the original play by Tennessee Williams.^[7] She was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Supporting Actress for her performance.

Hall portrayed a kidnapped bank teller in Walt Disney Productions' That Darn Cat! in 1965. She appeared on an episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. in 1967.

Dark Shadows

Hall's best-known television role was as Dr. Julia Hoffman on Dark Shadows. She portrayed the loyal confidant and friend of the vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid). Other key roles that she played on the show were those of Countess Natalie Dupres; Magda Rakosi, a Gypsy; Hoffman, a Mrs. Danvers–type housekeeper; Julia Collins; and Constance Collins, sister of Brutus Collins.^[8] She also appeared in both Dark Shadows feature films: in House of Dark Shadows again as Dr. Julia Hoffman, and in Night of Dark Shadows as a new character, housekeeper Carlotta Drake.

Later career

After Dark Shadows ended, Hall portrayed reporter Marge Grey on All My Children for a short period in 1973. She continued acting on stage in Jean Genet's The Screens (1971–72) and in Happy End (1977) with Meryl Streep and Christopher Lloyd.^[9]

In the 1970s, Hall appeared on several television films, including Gargoyles (ABC), filmed in New Mexico with Cornel Wilde, and the Dan Curtis television film The Great Ice Rip-Off (ABC) with Lee J. Cobb and Gig Young. She starred in the mystery film The Two Deaths of Sean Doolittle (ABC), which was written by her husband Sam Hall.

Hall appeared in the Broadway premiere of The Suicide (1980) with Derek Jacobi and appeared opposite Geraldine Page, Carrie Nye and Madeleine Sherwood in an off-Broadway revival of The Madwoman of Chaillot.^[7]

Her last onscreen role was as Euphemia Ralston (Delila's scheming mother) on the soap opera One Life to Live from July 1982 until April 1983.^[5]

Death

After a six-month battle with lung cancer, Hall died at New York Hospital in Manhattan in 1985 at the age of 62. A simple marker near her Rhinebeck, New York home reads "Grayson Hall — August 7, 1985."^[10]

Selected filmography

	Title	Role	Notes
1951	Lights Out	Laura Holloway	Episode: "For Release Today" Credited as Shirley Grayson
1955	Danger		Episode: "The Operator" Credited as Shirley Grayson
1959	The United States Steel Hour	Secretary	Episode: "Wish on the Moon" Credited as Shirley Grayson
1962	Satan in High Heels	Pepe
1964	The Parisienne and the Prudes	Decorator
1964	Route 66	Mrs. Reston	Episode: "Follow the White Dove with the Broken Wing"
1964	The Night of the Iguana	Judith Fellowes	Nominated: Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated: Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
1965	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre	Miss Fitzhugh	Episode: "Back to Back"
1965	That Darn Cat!	Margaret Miller
1966	Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?	Miss Maxwell	English title: Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?
1966	The Trials of O'Brien	Louise Malcolm	Episode: "A Horse Called Destiny"
1967	The Man from U.N.C.L.E.	Judy Merril	Episode: "The Pieces of Fate Affair"
1967	The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.	Mrs. Fowler	Episode: "The High and the Deadly Affair"
1967–1971	Dark Shadows	Dr. Julia Hoffman Natalie du Pres Magda Rakosi Julia Hoffman (PT) Julia Collins Constance Collins	474 episodes
1970	Night Gallery	Ann Brigham	Episode: "The House/Certain Shadows on the Wall"
1970	End of the Road	Peggy Rankin
1970	House of Dark Shadows	Dr. Julia Hoffman
1970	Adam at Six A.M.	Inez Treadly
1971	Night of Dark Shadows	Carlotta Drake	Alternative title: Curse of Dark Shadows
1972	Gargoyles (TV movie)	Mrs. Parks
1973	All My Children	Marge Grey	Unknown episodes
1974	Kojak	Mrs. Campbell	Episode: "Hush Now, Don't You Die"
1975	Pick-up		Voice, uncredited
1982–1983	One Life to Live	Euphemia Ralston	Unknown episodes

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Jamison, R.J. (2006). Grayson Hall: A Hard Act to Follow. iUniverse. pp. 4–5. ISBN 0-595-40462-6.
^ Grayson Hall: A Hard Act to Follow. Goodreads. Archived September 3, 2021, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
^ Hall also gave 1923 and 1925 as her year of birth on various documents, but elementary school and census records substantively establish 1922 as the correct year.
^ Marriage, announcement (May 26, 1946). "Newspapers.com". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 35. Archived from the original on September 25, 2022.
^ ^a ^b Grayson Hall at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
^ "Lortel Archives"
^ ^a ^b Grayson Hall at the Internet Broadway Database
^ Scott, K.L. (2000). Dark Shadows Almanac (2nd ed.). Pomegranate Press. ISBN 978-0-938817-18-5.
^ Napoleon, Davi (1991). Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater. Iowa State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8138-1713-2.
^ Jamison, R. J. (August 7, 2006). Grayson Hall: A Hard Act to Follow. iUniverse. ISBN 9780595848324 – via Google Books.