Dolores Gray (June , â€" June , ) was an American actress and singer.
She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a
Musical twice, winning once.She was born as Sylvia Dolores Finkelstein
(but known by Sylvia Dolores Vernon growing up) to Barbara Marguerite
Gray (born Marguerite Gray) and Harry Vernon Finkelstein (stage name
Harry Vernon) in Los Angeles, California, although obituaries listed
Gray's birthplace as Chicago, as does her biography on the Internet
Movie Database[citation needed]. Both her mother and father were
vaudeville actors, which is how they met. Gray's parents divorced when
she was a young child. Dolores had an older brother, Richard Gray
(born Richard Vernon), who also had a career in Hollywood. While
attending Polytechnic High School she was in the Girls' Glee Club. She
was 'discovered' by Rudy Vallee, who gave her a guest spot on his
nationwide radio show. Dolores Gray was briefly signed with MGM,
appearing in Kismet () and It's Always Fair Weather ().Her career
commenced as a cabaret artist in restaurants and supper clubs in San
Francisco, and in Reno, Nevada. In she appeared in her own radio
program. While she was appearing in Annie Get Your Gun in London
(â€"), she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in . As a
fundraiser to help rebuild the RADA theatre, she appeared as Nell Gwyn
in In Good King Charles's Golden Days at Drury Lane Theatre (Oct ).
She appeared at the London Palladium in while doing a concert tour of
Europe and in cabaret at The Talk of the Town in February . Among her
many stage roles, she appeared in Two on the Aisle (), Carnival In
Flanders (); Destry Rides Again (); Sherry! (); and nd Street (). She
also performed the lead role in Annie Get Your Gun in its first London
production (). Gray won the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a
Musical for her role in Carnival in Flanders, even though this
Broadway musical, with a script by Preston Sturges, ran for only six
performances. She therefore holds a record that is unlikely to be
broken: briefest run in a performance which still earned a Tony. She
is the first person to have sung the English version of the French
song “C'est si bon†in a movie, Holiday in Paris: Paris directed
by John Nasht.
She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a
Musical twice, winning once.She was born as Sylvia Dolores Finkelstein
(but known by Sylvia Dolores Vernon growing up) to Barbara Marguerite
Gray (born Marguerite Gray) and Harry Vernon Finkelstein (stage name
Harry Vernon) in Los Angeles, California, although obituaries listed
Gray's birthplace as Chicago, as does her biography on the Internet
Movie Database[citation needed]. Both her mother and father were
vaudeville actors, which is how they met. Gray's parents divorced when
she was a young child. Dolores had an older brother, Richard Gray
(born Richard Vernon), who also had a career in Hollywood. While
attending Polytechnic High School she was in the Girls' Glee Club. She
was 'discovered' by Rudy Vallee, who gave her a guest spot on his
nationwide radio show. Dolores Gray was briefly signed with MGM,
appearing in Kismet () and It's Always Fair Weather ().Her career
commenced as a cabaret artist in restaurants and supper clubs in San
Francisco, and in Reno, Nevada. In she appeared in her own radio
program. While she was appearing in Annie Get Your Gun in London
(â€"), she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in . As a
fundraiser to help rebuild the RADA theatre, she appeared as Nell Gwyn
in In Good King Charles's Golden Days at Drury Lane Theatre (Oct ).
She appeared at the London Palladium in while doing a concert tour of
Europe and in cabaret at The Talk of the Town in February . Among her
many stage roles, she appeared in Two on the Aisle (), Carnival In
Flanders (); Destry Rides Again (); Sherry! (); and nd Street (). She
also performed the lead role in Annie Get Your Gun in its first London
production (). Gray won the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a
Musical for her role in Carnival in Flanders, even though this
Broadway musical, with a script by Preston Sturges, ran for only six
performances. She therefore holds a record that is unlikely to be
broken: briefest run in a performance which still earned a Tony. She
is the first person to have sung the English version of the French
song “C'est si bon†in a movie, Holiday in Paris: Paris directed
by John Nasht.
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