Coleen Gray was an actress best known for her roles in the classic western Red River and the film noir thrillers The Killing, Kansas City Confidential and Nightmare Alley.
Gray first came to audience attention in 1947 film Kiss of Death, directed by Henry Hathaway. She played Nettie, the girlfriend and eventual wife of an ex-con played by Victor Mature. She also starred in the 1950 Frank Capra film Riding High, opposite Bing Crosby. Additionally, she appeared in The Sleeping City, The Vampire and The Leech Woman, among many other films.
Gray also appeared on television, including the series Bus Stop, Rawhide, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 77 Sunset Strip, Mister Ed, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, Days of Our Lives, Perry Mason, The Virginian, My Three Sons, Bonanza, Family Affair, Ironside and McCloud. In the latter, she appeared in four episodes as Muriel Clifford, the wife of police chief Peter B. Clifford, played by J.D. Cannon.
Gray studied drama at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She moved to Hollywood, enrolled at USC, then drama school and starred in the play Brief Music. She was discovered by a talent agent and signed to Fox, where she made her movie debut with the 1945 film State Fair.
Coleen Gray was an actress best known for her roles in the classic western Red River and the film noir thrillers The Killing, Kansas City Confidential and Nightmare Alley.
Gray first came to audience attention in 1947 film Kiss of Death, directed by Henry Hathaway. She played Nettie, the girlfriend and eventual wife of an ex-con played by Victor Mature. She also starred in the 1950 Frank Capra film Riding High, opposite Bing Crosby. Additionally, she appeared in The Sleeping City, The Vampire and The Leech Woman, among many other films.
Gray also appeared on television, including the series Bus Stop, Rawhide, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 77 Sunset Strip, Mister Ed, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, Days of Our Lives, Perry Mason, The Virginian, My Three Sons, Bonanza, Family Affair, Ironside and McCloud. In the latter, she appeared in four episodes as Muriel Clifford, the wife of police chief Peter B. Clifford, played by J.D. Cannon.
Gray studied drama at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She moved to Hollywood, enrolled at USC, then drama school and starred in the play Brief Music. She was discovered by a talent agent and signed to Fox, where she made her movie debut with the 1945 film State Fair.
Four years later she starred on Broadway in Leaf and Bough with Charlton Heston.
Gray died August 3, 2015, in Bel Air, California. She was 92.
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