Grayson Hall

Grayson Hall
Hall in 1964
Born	Shirley Grossman (1922-09-18)September 18, 19221 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	August 7, 1985(1985-08-07) (aged 62) New York City, New York, U.S.
Other name	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 actress. She was widely regarded for her avant-garde theatrical performances from the 1960s to the 1980s, and was known to television audiences for playing multiple prominent roles on the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows (1966–71). She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe in the same category for her performance in the John Huston film The Night of the Iguana (1964).

Grayson Hall was born Shirley Grossman in Philadelphia in 1922,² 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.³ 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

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.⁴⁵

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, based on the original play by Tennessee Williams.⁶ She was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Supporting Actress at the 37th Academy Awards for her performance.

Hall portrayed Margaret Miller, a kidnapped bank teller in 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.

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 du Pres; Magda Rakosi, a Gypsy; Hoffman, a Mrs. Danvers–type housekeeper; Julia Collins; and Constance Collins, sister of Brutus Collins (Louis Edmonds).⁷ 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.

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.⁸

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.⁶

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 1983.⁴

After suffering from lung cancer for six months, 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."⁹

In 2006, a biography titled Grayson Hall: A Hard Act to Follow was released.¹⁰