Gloria Grahame (born Gloria Penelope Hallward; November 28, 1923 – October 5, 1981) was an American actress. She began her acting career in theater, and in 1944 made her first film for MGM. Many biographies indicated she was born Gloria Grahame Hallward but she adopted the surname Grahame, her mother’s acting name, as her professional name. She was raised a Methodist.
Grahame made her Broadway debut on December 6, 1943 at the Royale Theatre as Florrie in Nunnally Johnson’s The World’s Full of Girls, which was adapted from Thomas Bell’s 1943 novel Till I Come Back to You. She was signed to a contract with MGM Studios under her professional name after Louis B. Mayer saw her performance. Another Broadway role was in April-May 1944’s Highland Fling. She made her film debut in Blonde Fever (1944) and then achieved one of her most widely praised roles as the vixenish Violet Bick, saved from disgrace by George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). MGM felt unable to develop her potential as a star, and her contract was sold to RKO Studios in 1947.
Grahame was often featured in film noir pictures as a tarnished beauty with an irresistible sexual allure. During this time, she made films for several Hollywood studios. She received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Crossfire (1947).
Grahame starred with Humphrey Bogart in the film In a Lonely Place (1950) for Columbia Pictures, a performance for which she gained praise. Though today it is considered among her finest performances, it was not a box-office hit, and Howard Hughes, owner of RKO, admitted that he never saw it. When she asked to be lent out for roles in Born Yesterday (also 1950) and A Place in the Sun (1951), Hughes refused and instead made her perform a supporting role in Macao (1952).
Despite appearing for only a little over nine minutes on screen, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in MGM’s The Bad and the Beautiful (also 1952); she long held the record for the shortest performance on screen to win an acting Oscar until Beatrice Straight won for Network (1976) with a five-minute performance.
Here, a selection of 20 stunning vintage portraits of a very young Gloria Grahame in the 1940s:
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