Monday, August 3, 2015

RIP Coleen Gray 1922-2015


Coleen Gray was so beautiful, the first time I saw NIGHTMARE ALLEY, I had a difficult time focusing on anything else. Luckily, the film itself is excellent and Gray, as she always was, was excellent in it.

She was usually cast as the nice girl--an underrated role in the noir gallery of character types, but an important one nevertheless. She was an angel of light in the very dark NIGHTMARE ALLEY. In THE KILLING, she's so delicate that it makes the bleak ending of the film take on a whole other level of tragedy. She was great in other great movies like KISS OF DEATH and KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL (and played John Wayne's great lost love in RED RIVER). For the rare pleasure of seeing her play a femme fatale, check out THE SLEEPING CITY. The film itself is flawed, but chief among its virtues is a good performance from Gray.

No comments: