Anecdotes

She was tone-deaf and sang without dubbing in only one film Oklahoma! (1955), where her songs were edited together note-by-note from other recordings.

Unhappy with the tilt of her upper lip, she often stuffed cotton along her gumline to straighten it out. The effect was cosmetically less than flattering and made it difficult for her to speak. A leading man, after kissing her, ended up with a mouth full of cotton.

Her marriage to Anthony Ray was her longest and most successful union. Her 1960 marriage to former stepson Nicholas Ray caused a great scandal in Hollywood, which led to both her career slowdown and a bitter child custody battle with her former husbands.

Is portrayed by Annette Bening in Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017).

Grahame spent her last days in the Liverpool, England home of her friend Peter Turner and his family. She was flown back to New York by her children just hours before her death at St. Vincent's Hospital, Manhattan, aged 57, from stomach cancer and peritonitis. She predeceased her nonagenarian parents; her father died in 1982 and her mother died in 1984. A 1987 biography of Grahame was entitled "Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool".

Gloria's grandfather Reginald Francis Hallward gave Oscar Wilde the idea for 'The Picture of Dorian Gray.'

Reportedly did not get on with Humphrey Bogart during the filming of Le violent (1950) as Bogart had campaigned for the part of Laurel Gray to be given to his wife Lauren Bacall, which was instead given to Grahame.

Gloria was descended from royalty. Her father's family descended from King Edward III through John of Gaunt; her mother's, from the Scottish Kings of the Hebrides.

Gloria's children: Timothy Ray (born 12 November 1948) by Nicholas Ray; Marianna Paulette Howard (born 1 October 1956), by Cy Howard, and Anthony Ray Jr. (born 30 April 1963) and James Ray (born 21 September 1965) by Anthony Ray.

She has appeared in five films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: La vie est belle (1946), Le violent (1950), Les ensorcelés (1952), Règlement de comptes (1953) and Oklahoma! (1955).

Years after the fact, she claimed that opting to accept a tiny percentage for the "Oklahoma!" soundtrack album instead of a larger flat fee was the only smart business decision she ever made.

Was the 37th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Les ensorcelés (1952) at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences 25th Annual Academy Awards (1953) on March 19, 1953.

Campaigned for the Judy Holliday role in Comment l'esprit vient aux femmes (1950) and Shelley Winters role in Une place au soleil (1951).

Appeared in three Oscar Best Picture nominees; La vie est belle (1946), Feux croisés (1947) and Sous le plus grand chapiteau du monde (1952), with the last winning in 1952.

She was the first actress to enter Actor's studio after already receiving an Academy Award statuette.

Grahame was preparing to appear as Amanda in a production of "The Glass Menagerie when she was initially stricken with cancer.

Grahame's parents first emigrated from the UK to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in 1911, then moved to Los Angeles, California in 1915. Jean (or Jeanne) McDougall (1890-1984), a Lochranza, Scotland-born stage actress and acting coach, known professionally as Jean Grahame (Gloria's grandmother's maiden name) and London-born decorator, architect and author Reginald Michael Bloxam Hallward (aka Michael Hallward; 1889-1982) both survived their younger daughter. Their first child, actress Joy Hallward (1911-2003), was Gloria's older sister.

Her film output totalled 39 feature films, 4 TV-movies and 2 miniseries.

A painting of Grahame was hanging in the Ellington Room of the Manhattan Plaza, where Grahame maintained an apartment during her last five years according to a January 1990 article about the actress that appeared in "Films in Review.".

Grahame's first husband, actor Stanley Clements, passed away just eleven days after her death in 1981.

She was the first actress seen winning her Academy Award on television (March 19, 1953, the first time the Oscar presentation was televised).

Buried at Oakwood Memorial Park, 22601 Lassen, Chatsworth, California. Pioneer Section Lot 242, Space 8.

Peter Turner wrote a book about his life with Gloria that was made into the movie Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017). Which starred Annette Bening as Gloria Grahame, Jamie Bell as Peter Turner and himself as Jack.

On August 17, 2021, she was honored with a day of her filmography during the Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars.

Her son Timothy Ray was also since 1960 to 1974 her brother in law, after her marriage with Anthony Ray, Timothy's half brother, who was before her step-son.

After the critical acclaim she received for "Crossfire," RKO purchased her contract from MGM.

A very close friend of Jeff Donnell. They met on the set of Roughshod (1949), and appeared together the next year in Le violent (1950).

Claimed never to watch her own rushes or her old movies on TV.

Profiled in "Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames" by Ray Hagen and Laura Wagner (McFarland, 2004).

Her partner Peter Turner was almost three decade younger than her.

Paternal granddaughter of Reginald (1858-1948) and Adelaide (née Bloxam) Hallward (1860-1925). Both were born and raised on the Isle of Wight, England and died in Shorne, Kent, England.

Is one of 15 Oscar-winning actresses to have been born in the state of California. The others are Fay Bainter, Jo Van Fleet, Liza Minnelli, Tatum O'Neal, Diane Keaton, Sally Field, Anjelica Huston, Cher, Jodie Foster, Helen Hunt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Marcia Gay Harden and Brie Larson.

In Italy, a great deal of her films were dubbed by Rina Morelli, but occasionally she was also dubbed by Renata Marini, most notably in Les ensorcelés (1952); Lydia Simoneschi; Andreina Pagnani, in Fritz Lang's Désirs humains (1954) and Wanda Tettoni in Feux croisés (1947).

Named "Star of the Month" on Turner Classic Movies for November 2023.