1923 - 1985 cancer
In the 1940s, Shirley Grossman took the stage at Temple University, where she was studying. She later majored in drama at Cornell University. However, she did not graduate, and instead moved to New York City to further her career. One of the first things she did was change her name to Shirley Grayson
With her new identity, she appeared on stage and in the still-new medium of live television. In the early 1950s, she met young playwright Sam Hall, whom she later married. Sam called her Grayson, so eventually her stage name became Grayson Hall.
Grayson was cast by John Huston in the 1964 film version of Tennessee Williams' play Night of the Iguana. Her performance in the supporting role of Judith Fellowes earned her an Oscar nomination.
In 1965 she appeared in the Disney film That Darn Cat, as well as an hour-long color television film, Back to Back, opposite Shelley Winters and Jack Hawkins. In 1966 Grayson guest-starred as an evil assassin in the TV show The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (She later appeared in the spin-off, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., too)
In 1967, Grayson was approached to join the cast of Dark Shadows, and she originally intended to take the role of Julia Hoffman for only a few weeks. She ended up staying until the series' end, in 1971. Her husband, Sam, joined the show as a writer, which may or may not have influenced the fact that she appeared in just about every episode for quite some time, playing several meaty roles, including the Countess Natalie du Pres in the 1795 story line, and Magda Rakosi, a colorful gypsy fortune teller in 1897 who placed a werewolf curse on Quentin Collins. (She was featured in 475 episodes -- 90 more than Joan Bennett, who was on the show a year longer than she was.)
While on DS, Grayson appeared in a few films, including End of the Road and Adam at Six a.m. (with a very young Michael Douglas).In 1970 she played Julia Hoffman again in House of Dark Shadows. Then in 1971, she portrayed Carlotta Drake, Collinwood's creepy housekeeper in Night of Dark Shadows.
In 1972, she played a hard-drinking, tough-talking character named Mrs. Parks in the camp-classic TV movie Gargoyles. In April 1973, she portrayed a magazine reporter named Marge in a few episodes of All My Children. In 1982 Grayson joined the cast of One Life to Live, another soap opera written by her husband, Sam. (She played a character with the unusual name Euphemia Ralston.) Grayson and Nancy Barrett joined their fellow former DS-er, Anthony George, in a One Life to Live scene in 1983.