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Posted: |
Aug 5, 2015 - 10:32 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Coleen Gray's is a name of which I have a vague familiarity, but not one that I associate with any particular films. Let's take a look at her career. After a few unbilled roles--in 1945's STATE FAIR, 1946's THREE LITTLE GIRLS IN BLUE, and 1947's THE SHOCKING MISS PILGRIM, (in which her scenes were deleted)--Gray was thrust into a co-starring role in the 1947 film noir classic KISS OF DEATH. Henry Hathaway directed the film. It was scored by David Buttolph, arranged by Earle Hagen, and conducted by Lionel Newman.
Gray played "Nettie," a young woman who befriends and then marries "Nick" (Victor Mature), an ex-convict. Ads for the film gave Gray an "Introducing" credit, something denied to fourth-billed Richard Widmark, even though it actually was his first screen appearance. Voice-over narration, spoken by Gray in character as "Nettie," opens the story and is heard intermittently throughout the film. On 12 January 1948, Widmark, Mature, and Gray reprised their screen roles for a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast.
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Gray co-starred opposite Stephen McNally in the 1951 western APACHE DRUMS. Gray played the girl friend of gambler "Sam Leeds" (McNally). Hugo Fregonese directed this final film of producer Val Lewton. Hans J. Salter scored the film, with an assist from Dr. Chris Willowbird, who is credited as the Supervisor of Apache Traditional Music. Willowbird, a noted authority on Indian lore, supervised the recording of the authentic Apache music for the soundtrack. An orchestra of twenty Apache Indians was used for the recording, which was highlighted by an Apache religious chant sung in ceremonial preparation for going into battle. The soundtrack also included Apache drinking songs and several warpath numbers. The Los Angeles Examiner reviewer commented that the "Indian drum work, tribal music and primitive customs are particularly well handled in this film."
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Gray co-starred with Howard Duff in 1952's MODELS, INC., the first picture produced by Mutual Pictures. Although it was first announced that the film would be released by United Artists, and then that Allied Artists would be the distributor, Mutual Pictures ended up both producing and distributing the picture. In this crime melodrama, Gray played a blackmailer who finagles her way into being accepted as a student at a modeling school. The film was directed by Reginald LeBorg (THE MUMMY'S GHOST, 1944) and scored by Herschel Burke Gilbert, with orchestrations by Joseph Mullendore and Walter Sheets.
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In the 1952 crime drama KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL, Coleen Gray played the daughter of retired Kansas City police captain turned armored car robber "Tim Foster" (Preston Foster). John Payne starred as an innocent flower truck driver who gets caught up in the mess. The film was directed by Phil Karlson (WALKING TALL, 1973) and scored by Paul Sawtell.
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Gray re-teamed with John Payne for their next film, the 1953 western THE VANQUISHED. In this film, set in the aftermath of the Civil War, Gray plays the daughter of a doctor in Galveston, Texas, and the girlfriend of Confederate veteran "Rockwell Grayson" (Payne). The film opens with the following written statement: Following the War between the States many Southern towns were occupied by Union forces and Civil Administrators were appointed to carry out the terms of peace. In some instances these administrators were just; in others cruel and despotic. This is the story of such an occupied town. The film was directed by Edward Ludwig and scored by Lucien Cailliet.
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In 1953, Gray co-starred with Robert Stack in the Korean War drama SABRE JET. Gray played reporter "Jane Carter," who is writing a story about the wives of the Air Force pilots who are fighting in the Korean War. The film was shot on location at Nellis Air Force Base, NV. Direction was by Louis King (SAND) and the film was scored by Herschel Burke Gilbert.
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In 1953's THE FAKE, Gray played an American, "Mary Mason," who works in the publications department of London's Tate Art Gallery. She was also the daughter of "Henry Mason" (John Laurie), an eccentric, frustrated painter of considerable talent. Dennis O'Keefe starred in the film as "Paul Mitchell," who is assigned by a New York art collector to guard his painting of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Madonna and Child” as it travels to the London gallery.
This British-American co-production was filmed in London, in part at the actual Tate Gallery. The film was directed by Godfrey Grayson. Music for the picture was based on Pictures at an Exhibition by Modeste Moussorgsky, which was arranged and conducted by Mátyás Seiber. Seiber was a Hungarian-born composer who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1935 onward.
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In 1954's ARROW IN THE DUST, Gray played "Christella Burke," one of the wagon owners in a wagon train bound for Oregon. Also in the train is Army deserter "Bart Laish" (Sterling Hayden) who is impersonating a dead calvary Major in order to fulfill a promise to his dead friend. Frequent western director Lesley Selander helmed this film, which was Allied Artists' first domestically produced Technicolor picture. Marlin Skiles scored the film.
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In the drama LAS VEGAS SHAKEDOWN, Gray was "Julia L. Rae," a schoolteacher who travels to Las Vegas to write a book about how it is impossible for the average gambler to win. Dennis O'Keefe, Gray's co-star from THE FAKE, appears as "Joe Barnes," the owner of the El Rancho Vegas casino. Sidney Salkow directed the majority of the film on location in Las Vegas, including a number of scenes shot at the real El Rancho Las Vegas. Edward J. Kay scored the film.
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