The Right Honourable
The Lady Oranmore and Browne
Personal details
Born
Constance Vera Stevens

(1915-02-14)14 February 1915
Holloway, London, England, UK
Died24 September 2006(2006-09-24) (aged 91)
London, England, UK
SpouseThe 4th Baron Oranmore and Browne (m. 1951, died 2002)

Constance Vera Browne, Baroness Oranmore and Browne (née Stevens; 14 February 1915 – 24 September 2006), commonly known as Sally Gray, was an English film actress of the 1930s and 1940s.[1] Her obituary in The Irish Times described her as "once seen as a British rival to Ginger Rogers."[2]

According to her obituary in The Independent: "In the Thirties she was a charming soubrette of light movies and musical comedy. After a break from performing, she emerged in the mid-Forties as a sultry beauty who starred in a series of moody dramas and potent thrillers."[3]

Biography

Early life

Born Constance Vera Stevens in Holloway, London, Gray was the daughter of Charles Stevens, who drove a motor cab, and his wife, Gertrude Grace Green.[4] Her mother was a ballet dancer[3] and her grandmother a "principal boy" in the 1870s. Her father died when Gray was young.

Theatre career

She trained as a child at Fay Compton's School of Dramatic Art, and began acting on stage at the age of 10. Gray made her professional stage debut at the age of twelve in All God's Chillun at the Globe Theatre in London, playing an African boy. When she was 14, Gray appeared in a minstrel show at the Gate Theatre in London. She made her film debut with a bit part in The School for Scandal (1930).[3]

She then returned to school for two years, training at Fay Compton's School of Dramatic Art,[5] during which time she performed in cabarets.[6]

She appeared in The Gay Divorce (1933) on stage with Fred Astaire. The agent John Gliddon saw her in the musical Jill Darling (1934) and signed her.[7]

Film career

Gray returned to films in 1935, with The Dictator (1935). She could also be seen in Cross Currents (1935), Radio Pirates (1935), Lucky Days (1935), and Checkmate (1935).[3] She returned on stage and was spotted by Stanley Lupino, who fell in love with her.

Gray had the female lead in Cheer Up (1936) with Stanley Lupino. She had leads in Calling the Tune (1936), Cafe Colette (1936), and Saturday Night Revue (1937) with Billy Milton. In 1936, she was earning £150 a week.[8] Gray had support roles in Lightning Conductor (1937), a thriller; Over She Goes (1937) with Lupino; Mr. Reeder in Room 13 (1937), a non musical; and Hold My Hand (1938) with Lupino. Gray was the female lead in Sword of Honour (1938), The Saint in London (1939) with George Sanders, The Lambeth Walk (1939) with Lupino Lane, and A Window in London (1940), a non musical film with Michael Redgrave.[9][10] Gray was in Olympic Honeymoon (1940) then had the female lead in The Saint's Vacation (1941).[3] She had a sensitive role in Brian Desmond Hurst's romantic melodrama Dangerous Moonlight (1941).[3] The same year she appeared in the West End musical Lady Behave which had been written by her co-star Stanley Lupino. The show had to close early because of Lupino's illness.

Gray returned to the stage to star in My Sister Eileen (1942) with Coral Browne. Lupino died, leaving Gray £10,000.[11] Gray had a nervous breakdown, resulting in her retirement for several years.[2]

Comeback

Gray returned to the screen in 1946 and made her strongest bid for stardom in a series of melodramas. They include the hospital thriller Green for Danger (1946), Carnival (1946), They Made Me a Fugitive (1947) and The Mark of Cain (1948). Gray then made Silent Dust (1948) and Edward Dmytryk's film noir piece Obsession (1949), in which she plays Robert Newton's faithless wife.[5] Her final film was the spy yarn Escape Route (1952).[3]

RKO executives, impressed with Gray, authorised producer William Sistrom to offer her a long-term contract[4] if she would move to the United States. John Paddy Carstairs, director of The Saint in London, also thought she could be a star.[citation needed] However, she declined the offer and instead retired in 1952 after her marriage.

Personal life

Gray married the 4th Baron Oranmore and Browne, an Anglo-Irish peer, on 1 December 1951,[4] and thereafter lived for several years at Castle Macgarrett, near Claremorris, in County Mayo in the west of Ireland.[2][3] The couple kept the marriage secret until the 1953 coronation of Elizabeth II, at which she appeared with her husband.[12][13]

In the early 1960s, they returned to England and settled in a flat in Eaton Place, Belgravia, London. The couple had no children.

Death

The Dowager Lady Oranmore and Browne died on 24 September 2006, at 91 years of age,[5] in London, England.[14]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1930 The School for Scandal Bit part (uncredited) [3]
1935 The Dictator Minor role Released as Loves of a Dictator in the U.S. (uncredited)
Cross Currents Sally Croker
Radio Pirates
Lucky Days Alice [3]
Checkmate Jean Nicholls [3]
1936 Cheer Up Sally Gray [3]
Calling the Tune Margaret Gordon
1937 Cafe Colette Jill Manning Released as Danger in Paris in the U.S.
Saturday Night Revue Mary Dorland [3]
1938 Lightning Conductor Mary [3]
Over She Goes Kitty [5]
Mr. Reeder in Room 13 Claire Kent Released as Mystery of Room 13 in the U.S. [3]
Hold My Hand Helen Milchester [5]
1939 Q Planes Minor role Released as Clouds Over Europe in the U.S. (uncredited)
Sword of Honour Lady Moira Talmadge [3]
The Saint in London Penny Parker [3]
The Lambeth Walk Sally Released as Me and My Girl in the U.S. [3]
1940 A Window in London Vivienne Released as Lady in Distress in the U.S. [3]
Olympic Honeymoon Miss America [5]
1941 The Saint's Vacation Mary Langdon [3]
Dangerous Moonlight Carol Peters Radetzky Released as Suicide Squadron in the U.S. [3]
1946 Green for Danger Nurse Linley [3]
Carnival Jenny Pearl [3]
1947 They Made Me a Fugitive Sally Released as I Became a Criminal in the U.S. [3]
The Mark of Cain Sarah Bonheur [3]
1949 Silent Dust Angela Rawley [3]
Obsession Storm Riordan Released as The Hidden Room in the U.S. [3]
1952 Escape Route Joan Miller Released as I'll Get You in the U.S. [3]

References

  1. ^ "Sally Gray". Archived from the original on 20 September 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "British rival to Ginger Rogers and wife of Lord Oranmore". The Irish Times. 7 October 2006. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab Vallance, Tom (2 October 2006). "Sally Gray". The Independent. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  4. ^ a b c Goldman, Lawrence (2013). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005-2008. OUP Oxford. pp. 452–453. ISBN 9780199671540. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Bergan, Ronald (5 October 2006). "Obituary: Sally Gray". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  6. ^ Lentz, Harris M. III (24 October 2008). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2006: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture. McFarland. p. 146. ISBN 9780786452118. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  7. ^ "New Film Star". The News. Vol. XXV, no. 3, 797. Adelaide. 21 September 1935. p. 5. Retrieved 30 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "CHORUS GIRL'S FAME". The Examiner. Vol. XCV, no. 87. Tasmania, Australia. 23 June 1936. p. 6 (DAILY). Retrieved 30 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "STAR GOES UP IN THE WORLD". The Sun. No. 9361. New South Wales, Australia. 4 January 1940. p. 14 (LATE FINAL EXTRA). Retrieved 30 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "SALLY GRAY". The Maitland Daily Mercury. No. 21, 424. New South Wales, Australia. 13 December 1939. p. 8. Retrieved 30 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "£10,000 LEFT TO YOUNG ACTRESS". The Courier-Mail. No. 2857. Brisbane. 31 October 1942. p. 2. Retrieved 30 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ "Sally Gray – the Actress". Pevensey and Westham Historical Society. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  13. ^ "An actress insured against love". The Sun. No. 2615. Sydney. 7 June 1953. p. 15. Retrieved 30 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ Aaker, Everett (2013). George Raft: The Films. McFarland. p. 154. ISBN 9780786466467. Retrieved 13 March 2017.

Sources

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