Wednesday 5 August 2015

Vale Coleen Gray - Noel Bjorndahl's obituary (for which many thanks)


Coleen Gray in Kansas City Confidential
OMG, Coleen Gray, John Wayne's lost love in Red River has died aged 92. She was born Doris Jensen of Danish descent.She scored good roles in several 1940s and 1950s films noir: for example, -, Kiss of Death opposite Victor Mature (Director, Henry Hathaway); Nightmare Alley, opposite Tyrone Power a minor masterpiece directed by Edmund Goulding; and Phil Karlson's dynamic film Kansas City Confidential, opposite John Payne and a great cast that included Preston Foster, Lee V
an Cleef, Jack Elam and Neville Brand, as colorful a collection of heavies as you'd see in one movie. She made some other decent westerns after her brief but memorable role in Red River. Fury at Furnace Creek was a taut little conspiracy theory western with Victor Mature, and one of the best studio films directed by resident Fox craftsman Bruce Humberstone; Tennessee's Partner was one of the neatest of Allan Dwan's 1950s westerns for producer Benedict Bogeaus and Ms Gray rose well to the task, holding her own very well in good company opposite seasoned second string pros like Ronald Reagan, John Payne and Rhonda Fleming. Her final really good film was Stanley Kubrick's early mini masterpiece The Killing, a heist film told from multiple viewpoints in which Marie Windsor was a standout but Gray again looked pretty cool in such good company as Windsor, Elisha Cook Jr and Sterling Hayden. I shall miss you, Coleen Gray. RIP

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