Stars & Players · Biography
Coleen Gray
1922–2015 · Actress
Biography
Coleen Gray (born Doris Bernice Jensen; October 23, 1922 – August 3, 2015) was born in Staplehurst, Nebraska. After graduating from high school she studied dramatics at Hamline University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree, she then decided to see America and traveled to California, stopping off at La Jolla where she worked as a waitress. After several weeks there, she moved to L.A. and enrolled in a drama school. Her performances attracted a talent scout from 20th Century-Fox, with whom she signed a contract after a screen test. Although Fox put her in several good pictures (Kiss of Death (1947), Nightmare Alley (1947), The Razor's Edge (1946) in which she acquitted herself well, many of the roles they gave her were not worthy of her talent and she never became as big a star as many thought she should have. Still, she has an extensive list of credits in films, TV, radio and on the stage.
Notable Noir Roles
A roustabout joins a traveling carny and schemes to figure out the mind-reading act of Mademoiselle Zeena and her alcoholic husband.
An ex-con trying to go straight must face a crazed criminal out for revenge.
An ex-convict sets out to uncover who framed him for an armored car robbery.
Career criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight and gets married. B…
