Nan Grey | |
|---|---|
 Grey in 1942 | |
| Born | Eschol Loleete Miller July 25, 1921 Houston, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | July 25, 1993 (aged 72) San Diego, California, U.S. |
| Education | Travis Elementary School Hallie R. Pritchard School of Dancing Reagan High School Universal City Studio School |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1934–1941 |
| Known for | |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 daughters |
Nan Grey (born Eschol Loleete Miller; July 25, 1921 – July 25, 1993) was an American film actress.
Born in Houston, Texas, on July 25, 1921, Grey was the daughter of stage actress Violet Ross Miller and projectionist Edward J. Miller. Despite reportedly having early on been inspired to pursue acting by her mother's example (indeed, Grey's first documented public performance was given at age 3, with "little Eschol Miller" cast as Cupid at a neighbor's bridal shower), it appears that Grey spent the bulk of her pre-teens residing solely with father and paternal grandparents. As for her own career, Grey's first bona fide foray came, circa 1930, with her entry into the Hallie R. Pritchard School of Dancing, from which she graduated in June 1934. Shortly thereafter, Grey went to Hollywood with her mother for a holiday. She was persuaded by a friend to take a screen test and ended up in pictures.
Grey attended the school that Universal Studios operated for children who had film contracts.
Grey's screen debut was in 1934 in Warner Bros.'s The Firebird. She starred opposite John Wayne in the 1936 film Sea Spoilers. Grey appeared in the Universal Monsters films Dracula's Daughter (1936) and The Invisible Man Returns (1940). She also appeared in the popular 1936 musical comedy Three Smart Girls, as well as the 1939 sequel Three Smart Girls Grow Up.
Grey played Kathy Marshall in the NBC radio soap opera Those We Love 1938-1945. Grey played in The Lux Radio Theatre, November 8, 1937 episode, "She Loves Me Not" with Bing Crosby, Joan Blondell, and Sterling Holloway
Grey's final screen credit—as well as her first and only television appearance, co-starring with newly wed spouse No. 2, singer Frankie Laine—was on the 1960 episode of Rawhide, "Incident on the Road to Yesterday". Brought about by the huge popularity of Laine's rendition of the show's theme song, the episode stars the fledgling actor as a former bandit attempting to make amends for a robbery ten years after the fact, and, in the process, being reunited with "old flame", Grey.
In the 1960s, Grey invented and marketed a cosmetic mirror especially suited to nearsighted women. An obituary noted, "Among its users was Princess Grace of Monaco."
On May 4, 1939, Grey married U. S. Racing Hall of Fame jockey Jack Westrope in Phoenix, Arizona.
She married singer Frankie Laine in June 1950, and Laine adopted Grey's daughters (Pam and Jan) from her marriage to Westrope.[citation needed]
The Laines' 43-year union lasted until her death from heart failure on July 25, 1993, her 72nd birthday.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1934 | The St. Louis Kid | First Girl | (scenes deleted) |
| 1934 | The Firebird | Alice von Attem | |
| 1934 | Babbitt | Eunice Littlefield | |
| 1935 | The Woman in Red | Minor Role | Uncredited |
| 1935 | Mary Jane's Pa | Lucille Preston | |
| 1935 | The Affair of Susan | Miss Skelly | |
| 1935 | His Night Out | Minor Role | Uncredited |
| 1935 | The Great Impersonation | Middleton's Daughter | Uncredited |
| 1936 | Next Time We Love | Ingenue | Uncredited |
| 1936 | Sutter's Gold | Ann Eliza Sutter | |
| 1936 | Love Before Breakfast | Telephone Girl | Uncredited |
| 1936 | Dracula's Daughter | Lili | |
| 1936 | Nobody's Fool | Young Girl | Uncredited |
| 1936 | Crash Donovan | Doris Tennyson | |
| 1936 | Sea Spoilers | Connie Dawson | |
| 1936 | Three Smart Girls | Joan | |
| 1937 | Let Them Live | Judith Marshall | |
| 1937 | The Man in Blue | June Hanson | |
| 1937 | Love in a Bungalow | Mary Callahan | |
| 1937 | Some Blondes Are Dangerous | Judy Williams | |
| 1938 | The Jury's Secret | Mary Norris | |
| 1938 | The Black Doll | Marian Rood | |
| 1938 | Reckless Living | Laurie Andrews | |
| 1938 | Danger on the Air | Christina 'Steenie' MacCorkle | |
| 1938 | Girls' School | Linda Simpson | |
| 1938 | The Storm | Peggy Phillips | |
| 1939 | Three Smart Girls Grow Up | Joan Craig | |
| 1939 | Ex-Champ | Joan Grey | |
| 1939 | The Under-Pup | Priscilla Adams | |
| 1939 | Tower of London | Lady Alice Barton | |
| 1940 | The Invisible Man Returns | Helen Manson | |
| 1940 | The House of the Seven Gables | Phoebe Pyncheon | |
| 1940 | Sandy Is a Lady | Mary Phillips | |
| 1940 | You're Not So Tough | Millie | |
| 1940 | Margie | Margie | |
| 1940 | A Little Bit of Heaven | Janet Loring | |
| 1941 | Under Age | Jane Baird |
Miss Nan Grey, 17-year-old, blond Hollywood player, and 22-year-old Mr. Westrope, a resident of Van Nuys, Calif., exchanged vows in the presence of the bride's mother and several friends, with the Rev. Dr. Richard N. Merrill officiating. The wedding trip may shortened because the bride, whose real name is Eschol Loleete Miller, is scheduled to begin work next week on a new picture. Her latest role was with Deanna Durbin and Helen Parrish in 'Three Smart Girls Grow Up'.
[O]nly 18, she already has four years' experience behind her, a promising future ahead . . . She was born Eschol Miller in Houston, Texas, on July 25, 1921. [...] Nan attended public school in Houston . . . also had four years' tutelage at dancing school where she had the lead in one play, danced on many programs. However, despite the fact that her mother, Dolores Miller, was a mother looked up some old friends and among them was a woman who had become an actors' agent. The lady took one look at Nan and decided she was screen material
Most girls dream of Hollywood as a sort of Mecca, grow up hoping that someday they can try their luck in pictures. But to Nan Grey, growing up in Houston, Texas, where she was born on July 25, 1921, Hollywood was just a place where they made movies and acting as a career was so far from her mind that she never even got as close to dramatics as reciting a poem in the school auditorium.
Born July 25, 1918, she is the daughter of Violet Ross Miller, stage actress, and Edward Miller, business agent for the Projectionists' Union at Houston. Her ambitions to become an actress were born while watching her mother from the wings of the theater. When she came to Los Angeles with her mother in June 1934, for Violet Ross' stage engagement in 'Window Panes,' she decided to have a try at the movies. Her mother's agent, Sabyl Dunn, obtained a screen test for the girl at Warner Bros. and she was given a short-term contract. She played opposite Tom Brown in "Mary Jane's Paw" and had small parts in "Firebird" with Ricardo Cortez and in 'Babbitt' with Guy Kibbee and Aline MacMahon. When her Warners' contract expired, she went to Universal, appeared with ZaSu Pitts in 'Affair of Susan' and with Edward Everett Horton in "His Night Out." Her best role to date will be in 'Sutter's Gold.' The young ash-blond actress grew up in Houston, was educated in the Travis and Alexander Hogg elementary schools and Reagan Hign School. She finished her high school work at the Universal City studio school last year.
Little Eschol Miller, dressed as Cupid, escorted the honor guest up the stairway, while Miss Esther Waugh played the wedding march.
Miss Eschol Miller of Hollywood, Cal., arrives tonight to spend the holidays with her father, E. J. Miller, and other relatives, including Dr. and Mrs. J. J. Truitt.
Something entirely new to Houston stages will be presented at the President's Birthday Ball in the City Auditorium Tuesday night by Hallie Pritchard of the Hallie Pritchard School of Dancing. It will be a Modern Ballet, which is proving extremely popular in the East, but has not before been shown Houston theatregoers. This number, Black Moonlight, is a part of the elaborate stage entertainment which will precede President Roosevelt's radio talk. Miss Eschol Miller, in white, in the center, is the soloist of the group.
Elmodean Cleghorn, left, and Eschol Miller are June graduates of the Hallie Pritchard School of Dancing.
Spotted by a Warner Bros scout, she was given a screen test. It was successful and led to a new name and roles in three Warner films: a remake of Sinclair Lewis's Babbitt (1934), followed by The Firebird and Mary Jane's Pa (1935). A contract with Universal followed, and, after being abducted by seal poachers in Sea Spoilers (1936) and drained of her blood in Dracula's Daughter (1936), she was cast as one of those Three Smart Girls. Variety praised the fresh charm and talent of Deanna Durbin, and announced: 'The other two of the Three - Nan Grey and Barbara Read - are new ingenues of promise.' Obviously disagreeing, Universal gave Read only two more film roles before dropping her option, and mired Grey in a series of Grade B efforts. [...] Things looked up for Grey when she was reunited with Durbin (Barbara Read was replaced by Helen Parrish) for Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939), in which Deanna straightens out the love entanglements of her two sisters. Variety predicted: 'Looker Nan will find her career given real momentum by this release.'
AFTER A SEPARATION of 10 years, Frankie Laine (right) meets an old flame (played by his wife, Nan Grey) in 'Incident on the Road to Yesterday' on 'Rawhide' Friday, Nov. 18 (CBS Television Network, 7:30-8:30 is Clint p.m. EST). Shown here with them Eastwood, star of the series, who helps bring about the reunion. Laine makes his Western dramatic debut.
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