Coleen Gray (born Doris Jensen;[1] October 23, 1922 – August 3, 2015) was an American actress. She was best known for her roles in the films Nightmare Alley (1947), Red River (1948), and Stanley Kubrick's The Killing (1956).
Early years
Born to Danish parents[2] in Staplehurst, Nebraska,[3] Gray grew up on a farm. After graduating from Hutchinson High School as Doris Jensen, she studied art, literature, and music at Hamline University, and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts.[1] She travelled to California, and worked as a waitress in a restaurant in La Jolla. After several weeks there, she moved to Los Angeles and enrolled at UCLA. She also worked in the school's library and at a YWCA while a student.[4]
Stage
She had leading roles in the Los Angeles stage productions Letters to Lucerne and Brief Music, which won her a 20th Century Fox contract in 1944.[5]
Film appearances
When I attended the University, I daydreamed about being a movie star. I would do my dressing room in Early American and give lovely presents to my make-up man and hairdresser for making me look so lovely, and so on. When I got my contract at 20th I was in seventh heaven, but I found out that a movie career is mostly hard work laced with disappointments.[6]
Coleen Gray, The Boston Sunday Post November 9, 1947
After playing a bit part in State Fair (1945),[1] she became pregnant and briefly stopped working, only to return a year later as the love interest of the character played by John Wayne in Red River (1948), which was shot in 1946 but held for release until 1948. Gray appeared in two 1947 films noir: in Kiss of Death as Victor Mature's ex-con character's wife and Richard Widmark's character's target; and in Nightmare Alley as Tyrone Power's character's carnival performer wife, "Electra."[5] In 1947, Gray used her musical abilities as she sang her part live while filming (rather than having her voice dubbed) opposite Bing Crosby in Riding High, directed by Frank Capra.[1]Riding High was not a success and Fox ended her contract in 1950.
Gray appeared in The Late Liz (1971), and acted in the films Forgotten Lady (1977), and Mother (1978) with Patsy Ruth Miller. Mother had a premiere at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Both Mother and Forgotten Lady were written for Gray by Brian Pinette, who also served as director and producer. She appeared in the religious film Cry From the Mountain (1986, in the USA), directed by James F. Collier.[8][9]
Gray married Rod Amateau, a screenwriter, on August 10, 1945; they divorced on February 11, 1949, and had one daughter, Susan.[10] Gray's second husband was William Clymer Bidlack, an aviation executive. They were married from July 14, 1953,[11] until his death in 1978. The union produced a son, Bruce Robin Bidlack.[12]
In 1979, Gray married widowed Biblical scholar Joseph Fritz Zeiser;[13] they remained together until his death in March 2012. They worked together in Presbyterian causes and the non-profit organization, Prison Fellowship, founded in 1976 by Chuck Colson.[14]
Gray was a member of the board of directors at her alma mater, Hamline University.[1] She was also active within the following organizations: WAIF, the child adoption organization as president, The March of Dimes, American Cancer Society, American Red Cross, American Mental Health Association, Los Angeles Epilepsy Society, Junior Blind, The Bel-Air Republican Women's Group, and the Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts of the United States of America.[21]
