Gloria Grahame (November 28, 1923 – October 5, 1981) was an Academy Award-winning American film actress.

Gloria Hallward, an acting pupil of her mother (stage actress and teacher Jean Grahame), acted professionally while still in high school. In 1944 Louis B. Mayer saw her on Broadway and gave her an MGM contract under the name Gloria Grahame. Her debut in the title role of Blonde Fever (1944) was auspicious, but her first public recognition came on loan-out in It's a Wonderful Life (1946). Though her talent and sex appeal were of star quality, she did not fit the star pattern at MGM, which sold her contract to RKO in 1947. Here the same problem resurfaced; her best film in these years was made on loanout, In a Lonely Place (1950), and soon after that she left RKO. The 1950s, her best period, brought Gloria a supporting actress Oscar and typecast her as shady, inimitably sultry ladies in seven well-known film-noir classics, but marital and child-custody troubles combined with a "difficult" reputation on the set of Oklahoma! (1955) to sideline her film career from 1956 onward. In 1960 she resumed stage acting, combined with TV work and, from 1970, some mostly inferior films. Gloria was described as a serious, skillful actress; spontaneous, honest, and strong-willed; imaginative and curious; incredibly sexy but insecure about her looks (prompting plastic surgery on her famous lips); loving appreciative male company; "a bit loony." Her busiest period of British and American stage work ended abruptly in 1981 when she collapsed from cancer symptoms during a rehearsal.

Gloria Hallward was born on November 28, 1923, in Los Angeles, California. She was the daughter of Michael Hallward, an architect, and Jean MacDougall, an actress whose stage name was Jean Grahame. Her mother later became her acting coach. Descended from royalty--King Edward III through her father's side--she was bred for acting at an early age. By the time Gloria was a teenager she had little interest in school; she quit Hollywood High School just short of graduation to join a touring show called "Good Night Ladies". Later she appeared in a couple of Broadway plays, where she was spotted by MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer in 1944. He was impressed enough to offer her a contract with MGM at $250 a week. Her first role was that of Sally Murfin in Blonde Fever (1944), but it was a few years later that her role as Violet in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) set her apart from other actresses. She played the part of the the local temptress who sets her sights on James Stewart (I), and was done for Columbia while she was on loanout from MGM. Although Gloria was extremely talented and sexy, MGM felt she didn't fit its rigid star pattern and sold her contract to RKO. After appearances in such films as It Happened in Brooklyn (1947) and Song of the Thin Man (1947), Gloria hit paydirt as Ginny Tremaine in Crossfire (1947) for RKO. This was the film that would shoot her into superstardom. She was nominated for an Academy Award but lost out to Celeste Holm for Gentleman's Agreement (1947). After another stellar performance in Greatest Show on Earth, The (1952), Gloria was nominated for yet another Oscar in Bad and the Beautiful, The (1952), in which she played Rosemary Bartlow, the wife of a novelist turned screenwriter, opposite Dick Powell (I). Her performance was absolutely outstanding, and this time she took home the Oscar. The film itself won four additional awards, making it the year's most honored movie. That same year saw her star in Macao (1952) and Sudden Fear (1952), both very well received. The 1950s was a wonderful decade for Gloria, as she appeared in several more hits, including the epic musical Oklahoma! (1955). Then, as with many other performers, her career slowed. She made Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), her last film until Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966). She suffered through another paucity of roles until she landed a part in Todd Killings, The (1971). Gloria was not idle during this period, however. She went back to stage work and did guest appearances on TV. She ultimately made it back to the screen, but the films were not particularly well received (or up to her previous standards). Her last two films were Melvin and Howard (1980) and Nesting, The (1981). Gloria Grahame, one of Hollywood's most serious and skilled actresses, contracted cancer and died in New York City on October 5, 1981, at the age of 57. She was, without a doubt, one of the finest actresses ever to grace the screen. She did, indeed, remind legions of fans of the girl next door.