Grayson Hall (September 18 1922 – August 7 1985) was an Oscar-nominated American actress .
Hall was born Shirley Grossman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was widely regarded for her avant garde theatrical performances in the 1960s-70s. She was also lead actress in the Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows (1966-1971), and appeared on One Life to Live in 1982-83. Both her husband Sam Hall, and their son, Matthew Hall, were writers for the show at the time.
Grossman married Ted (Bradbart) Brooks in approximately 1946, they divorced a few years later. She later married writer Allison Samuel Hall (aka "Sam Hall") on January 12, 1952. Their only son, Matthew, was born in 1958. Early in her career, she used the stage name Shirley Grayson. Her husband called her 'Grayson', "like I was his Army buddy" and it accidentally became her screen and public name.
In September 1963, Grayson Hall traveled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to play the role of Judith Fellowes in John Huston's version of The Night of the Iguana, based on the original Tennessee Williams play. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as a latent lesbian character. In the original play, her character is usually non-sympathetic (basically, a villain); Grayson's film performance provided a few endearing and powerful moments creating a complex characterization notable as an early gay character in American cinema. Though the other actors in this film turn in quite good performances, Ms. Hall was the only actor nominated for an Oscar from Huston's 1964 film.
Perhaps Hall's best-known role was that of "Dr. Julia Hoffman", on Dark Shadows, where she portrayed a friend of the vampire, Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid). Other key roles that she played on the show were those of Magda, a Gypsy, and Hoffman, a housekeeper.
She was a widely regarded actress on the New York stage. Unlike her television and film appearances, Grayson rarely portrayed a spinster but rather flamboyant and overtly sexual women, most notably as The Actress in La Ronde (1953), Madam Irma in Jean Genet's The Balcony (1960-61), Warda in Jean Genet's The Screens (1971-72) and The Lady in Gray/The Fly in Happy End (1977) which co-starred Meryl Streep and Christopher Lloyd.
A biography, Grayson Hall: A Hard Act to Follow, was written by R. J. Jamison.
She appeared on "One Life to Live" (1968) in 1983. At that time husband Sam Hall (I) and son Matthew Hall (I) were writers for the show.
Known for sometimes outré performances on Broadway, the slim, sharp-featured, red-headed actress was a perfect choice for the cult TV series "Dark Shadows" (1966) (her husband Sam Hall (I) was a head writer).
She made very few films during her career, but her performance in Night of the Iguana, The (1964) earned her both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations.
She was using the stage name Shirley Grayson when she became involved with Sam Hall (I). He called her "Grayson", like an old army buddy. After her marriage she took the name Grayson Hall because she had been hired for an acting job and the person who wrote the contract had always heard her husband call her "Grayson" and assumed that it was her first name, so he wrote up the contract for "Grayson Hall". She kept it as her professional name.
Her husband, Sam Hall (I), was hired as a writer on "Dark Shadows" (1966) after producer Dan Curtis (I) attended a party at the Halls' home, and asked Sam to come and write for the show. She had been acting on the show for several months at that time.
First husband Ted (Bradbart) Brooks, while an actor, is no relation to the Conrad Brooks listed on this site.
Believed for many years to be the female storyteller on the Disney album Chilling, Thrilling Sound of the Haunted House. However Walt Disney records in Mousetracks: The story of Walt Disney Records and Hall's biography state the actress on the album is Laura Olsher.
