Editing Grayson Hall

{{short description|American actress (1922–1985)}}
{{for|the American banker|O. B. Grayson Hall Jr.}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2009}}
{{Use mdy dates | date = December 2022}}
{{Use American English | date =December 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name                  = Grayson Hall
| image                 = Grayson Hall.jpg
| imagesize             = 
| caption               = 
| birthname             = Shirley Grossman
| birth_date            = {{Birth date|1922|9|18|mf=y}}<ref name="hallbio" />
| birth_place           = [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], U.S. 
| death_date            = {{Death date and age|1985|8|7|1922|9|18|mf=y}}
| death_place           = [[Manhattan]], New York City, U.S.
| height                = 5 ft 6 in
| othername             = Shirley Grayson 
| occupation            = Actress
| yearsactive           = 1950s&ndash;1985
| spouse                = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Bradbart "Ted" Brooks|1946|1949|end=div}}
* {{marriage|[[Sam Hall (writer)|Sam Hall]]|1952|1985}}
}} 
| children              = 1
}}

'''Grayson Hall''' (born '''Shirley Grossman'''; September 18, 1922 &ndash; 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]] at the [[37th Academy Awards]] and a [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture|Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress]] at the [[22nd Golden Globe Awards]] for the [[John Huston]] film ''[[The Night of the Iguana (film)|The Night of the Iguana]]'' (1964).

Hall played multiple prominent roles on the [[gothic fiction|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.<ref>[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228826.Grayson_Hall ''Grayson Hall: A Hard Act to Follow'']. [[Goodreads]]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210903072504/https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228826.Grayson_Hall |date=September 3, 2021 }}. Retrieved December 17, 2016.</ref>

==Early life==
Grayson Hall was born Shirley Grossman in [[Philadelphia]] in 1922,<ref>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.</ref> 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.<ref name="hallbio">{{Cite book |last=Jamison |first=R.J. |title=Grayson Hall: A Hard Act to Follow |publisher=iUniverse |year=2006 |isbn=0-595-40462-6 |pages=4–5}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Marriage |first=announcement |title=Newspapers.com |newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=26 May 1946 |page=35 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58375300/the-philadelphia-inquirer/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925003303/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58375300/the-philadelphia-inquirer/ |archive-date=2022-09-25}}</ref> They separated in 1949 and she returned to New York. In 1952, she married writer [[Sam Hall (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.<ref name="hallbio" />

==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 (New York City)|Phoenix Theatre]], 1955). She also appeared as the [[Procuring (prostitution)|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|Circle in the Square Theatre Downtown]] in [[Greenwich Village]].<ref name="iobdb" /><ref>"Lortel Archives"</ref>

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 Pepe, 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 (film)|The Night of the Iguana]]'', based on the original play by [[Tennessee Williams]].<ref name="ibdb">{{IBDB name|80513}}</ref> She was nominated for an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] in the category of [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]] at the [[37th Academy Awards]] for her performance.

Hall portrayed Margaret Miller, a kidnapped bank teller in [[The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney Productions]]' ''[[That Darn Cat!]]'' in 1965. She appeared on "The Pieces of Fate Affair", 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]]. S''he 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 du Pres; Magda Rakosi, a Gypsy; Hoffman, a [[Mrs. Danvers]]–type housekeeper; Julia Collins; and Constance Collins, sister of Brutus Collins ([[Louis Edmonds]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scott |first=K.L. |title=Dark Shadows Almanac |publisher=Pomegranate Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-938817-18-5 |edition=2nd}}</ref>  She also appeared in both ''Dark Shadows'' feature films: in ''[[House of Dark Shadows]]'' (1970) again as Dr. Julia Hoffman, and in ''[[Night of Dark Shadows]]'' (1971) 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 (musical)|Happy End]]'' (1977) with [[Meryl Streep]] and [[Christopher Lloyd]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Napoleon |first= Davi |title= Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater |publisher= [[Iowa State University Press]] |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-8138-1713-2}}</ref>

In the 1970s, Hall appeared on several [[television films]], including ''[[Gargoyles (TV film)|Gargoyles]]'' ([[American Broadcasting Company|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 theatre|Broadway]] premiere of ''[[The Suicide (play)|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]]''.<ref name="ibdb" />

Her last onscreen role was as Delilah Ralston ([[Shelly Burch]])'s scheming mother Euphemia Ralston on the soap opera ''[[One Life to Live]]'' from July 1982 until April 1983.<ref name="iobdb">{{iobdb name|15055}}</ref>

==Death==
After a six-month battle with [[lung cancer]], Hall died at [[New York Hospital]] in Manhattan in 1985 at the age of 62, only six weeks before her 63rd birthday. A simple marker near her [[Rhinebeck, New York]], home reads "Grayson Hall—August 7, 1985."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jamison |first=R. J. |date=August 7, 2006 |title=Grayson Hall: A Hard Act to Follow |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dnkw6qoGDQAC&pg=PA187 |publisher=iUniverse |isbn=9780595848324 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Selected filmography==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1951
| ''[[Lights Out (1946 TV series)|Lights Out]]''
| Laura Holloway            
| Episode: "For Release Today"<br />Credited as Shirley Grayson
|-
| 1955
| ''[[Danger (TV series)|Danger]]''
| 
| Episode: "The Operator"<br />Credited as Shirley Grayson
|-
| 1959
| ''[[The United States Steel Hour]]''
| Secretary
| Episode: "Wish on the Moon"<br />Credited as Shirley Grayson
|-
| 1962
| ''[[Satan in High Heels]]''
| Pepe
|
|-
| 1964
| ''The Parisienne and the Prudes''
| Decorator
|
|-
| 1964
| ''[[Route 66 (TV series)|Route 66]]''
| Mrs. Reston
| Episode: "Follow the White Dove with the Broken Wing"
|-
| 1964
| ''[[The Night of the Iguana (film)|The Night of the Iguana]]''
| Judith Fellowes
| Nominated: [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress]]<br />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
| ''[[Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?]]''
| Miss Maxwell 
|
|-
| 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]]''
| [[Julia Hoffman|Dr. Julia Hoffman]]<br />Natalie du Pres<br />Magda Rakosi<br />Julia Hoffman (PT)<br />Julia Collins<br />Constance Collins
| 474 episodes
|-
| 1970
| ''[[Night Gallery]]''
| Ann Brigham 
| Episode: "The House/Certain Shadows on the Wall"
|-
| 1970
| ''[[End of the Road (1970 film)|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 film)|Gargoyles]]''
| Mrs. Parks
| Television film
|-
| 1973
| ''[[All My Children]]''
| Marge Grey
| Unknown episodes
|-
| 1974
| ''[[Kojak#1973 series|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==
{{reflist|40em}}

==Further reading==
*  [https://www.amazon.com/Barnabas-Company-Cast-Classic-Shadows/dp/1475910347/ Hamrick, Craig & Jamison, R. J. ''Barnabas & Company: The Cast of the TV Classic Dark Shadows'' (revised 2012)] iUniverse, amazon.com; accessed October 31, 2012.

==External links==
*[http://www.graysonhall.net Grayson Hall official website]
* {{IMDb name|0355621}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{iobdb name|15055}}
* {{playbill person}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Grayson}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:Actresses from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Actresses from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:American film actresses]]
[[Category:American people of Latvian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:American people of South African-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:American soap opera actresses]]
[[Category:American stage actresses]]
[[Category:Broadway theatre people]] 
[[Category:Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Jewish American actresses]]
[[Category: Off-Broadway]]
[[Category:People from Rhinebeck, New York]]