Gloria Grahame-The Fallen Woman.
She was rescued from a life of whoredom in Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life, but her noir roles play out as if George Bailey hadn’t been born. She’s sexy as the bored, adulterous wife in Human Desire, feisty as the vengeful mob doll in The Big Heat, and sad as the girl with a shady past in husband Nicholas Ray’s In A Lonely Place. Her brief turn as the girl down the hall in Odds Against Tomorrow is heartbreaking, a culmination of her noir essence: the goodtime gal who is just realizing that the good times are over and the rent is due.
Grahame had one of the weirder personal lives in the history of Hollywood, which is saying quite a hell of a lot. Read about it here.
Essential Grahame:
In A Lonely Place
The Big Heat
Odds Against Tomorrow
Human Desire
Best of the Rest:
Naked Alibi
Crossfire
Sudden Fear
1 comment:
Good call. A real great.
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