Dolores Gray

OP, have you read a Thomas Mallon’s most recent book, Under the Sun?

R1

Yes. She's a great character in the book.

She was a lost star.

The main show starts at 1:40 and takes a rather unexpected turn after the halfway mark.

Obligatory Follies post.

She was homely and had terrible skin.....not a great combination for the big screen.

Head voice!

We saw her in the 1987 London version of Follies.

I'd never heard of her before that and had seen the show in tryouts years ago before it went to New York.

Horse face!

Her character in ‘’it’s always fair weather’’ is a hoot. You'd think she was a drag queen-drama queen very funny. Great voice.

[quote] OP, have you read a Thomas Mallon’s most recent book, Under the Sun?

Not OP, but I can't put it down. Geesh Dick Kallman was a douchebag.

She looks the puppet in ‘’Lili’’

I know her niece, who gifted me a small mink collar Gray would wear with various outfits.

R13, people who use the term "gifted" rather than "gave" deserve the creepy reputation they inevitably carry. It is diagnostic in its accuracy.

As is referring to Miss Gray by her last name, coldly and casually, despite your having been given an article of hers by a niece, Miss Gray and her husband not having any children together.

Creepy.

She was a wonderful, out-sized talent, perhaps too big for the big screen. But in her four appearances in MGM films, she steals every scene she is in.

The truth is that she was touchy, difficult, “temperamental,” which went down badly in the old studio system unless you were proven box office.

Even on the Broadway stage, she was brought up on Equity charges for slapping her director Michael Kidd. That kind of reputation will put a crimp in a girl’s career.

[quote] Her character in ‘’it’s always fair weather’’ is a hoot. You'd think she was a drag queen-drama queen very funny. Great voice.

I could always tell her character was based on someone famous, but since the movie came out more than a decade before i was even born, I couldn't figure out who she was supposed to be until recently. Then I read "Midnight with Madeline" was based on the then-au courant "The Dinah Shore Show." (Audiences at the time loved how Shore seemed so insecure and desperate to be liked, but TV critics criticized her for it.)

Well, that’s quite a voice. But her backphrasing in that “I’m Still Here” is jarring. Just sing the damn song in tempo. And her acting is, well, it’s a lot.

Hello, Jasper!

Bitch stole my act.

Sylvia Dolores Finkelstein made an early appearance in Mr. Skeffington with the old schnauz. Behold at 2:40.

I wouldn’t say Dinah Shore was insecure. She played up her southern accent, came across as warm, folksy and unpretentious, all of this at odds with her glamorous appearance in beautiful evening gowns and cocktail dresses. Her TV variety show was wildly popular.

And yeah, Dolores made me nervous contantly singing behind the orchestra on “I’m Still Here.” My guess was she had to sing it quickly to fill the limited time allotted, but she still wanted to do it her way. They’d have done better to cut some of the lines but let her do it at her own pace.

R4 That Michael Kidd choreography is so brilliant .

And I love the choice of having the set in B&W with only Dolores Gray's gown providing the pop of color.

Dolores has a leg injury during her run in Follies that kept her out of the show EXCEPT every night her understudy would step aside while Dolores was wheeled out onstage to sing I'm Still Here then wheeled off. That's a trouper.

There was once a good story on Datalounge once about Gray as Momma Rose in a summer stock production of "Gypsy" trying to open a door that a stagehand had mistakenly locked during a performance and just trying harder and harder to force it open as the audience nervously laughed--by God, she WOULD make that door open, come hell or high water!

Basically God created Dolores Gray only so she could be a performative model for Lypsinka.

I enjoyed her in the London Follies, but Eartha Kitt, who replaced her, was better (most of the second cast was better in fact).

She never connected with me when watching her. She seemed cold and mechanical, and I can understand why movie audiences didn't take to her. Perhaps on-stage she clicked.

R25 deserves the respect of everyone here.

Can’t argue with “cold and mechanical,” R27.

She certainly had no warmth onscreen, and she played rather heartless, shallow supporting characters in her four memorable film performances. I think that inhuman quality is exactly what makes her riveting to watch as well as very, very funny, though she isn’t trying to be. if anything she seems excessively formal and dignified, especially in “Designing Woman.” It makes her seem both formidable and more than a little ridiculous.

‘’Cold and Mechanical ’’ said the New York Times- but fun to watch.

Not quite sure the point of your message R14 unless it's just to be a complete asshole. And I'm writing this while wearing the gifted mink collar. BTW, Dolores wanted me to pass along a message, but being a lady, I couldn't repeat what she said.

I’m just sure she was fun and her mom was looking out for her daughter.

I see her as “being in on the joke” she knew she was no beauty but had a great voice and who wouldn’t want to be part of Broadway/Hollywood. She loved her mom and when she passed was devastated.

R4 Why is she wearing an inner tube around her waist?

That “inner tube” is a deep fox fur trim, dyed vermilion to match the beaded Helen Rose gown, silly boy.

It’s called a peplum and it creates the illusion of a narrower waistline.

She played the Sylvia Fowler role in MGM's The Opposite Sex, the musical remake of The Women.

(r36) And made us appreciate Roz Russell's portrayal in the 1939 version, all the more. Roz played it with style and Dolores played it loud and abrasive.

(R36) She was one of the reasons the 1956 film had a loss of about 1.5 million. Audiences didn't connect with her version of the character.

While gifted on-stage, her films at MGM chalked up horrific losses. "Kismet" lost about 2.2 million and "It's Always Fair Weather", almost 1.7 million.

Was I related to her?

She looked just like British celebrity and sex symbol Trudie Styler - no wonder they love her there!

I don’t know her.

R35 has no sense of humor.

What a fun thread-Don’t stop.

Dinah Shore???? I think her character in It's Always Fair Weather was based more on Dagmar, a blonde bombshell star of late-night TV in the early 1950s. Though I don't think Dagmar could sing and dance like that.

IMHO if Dolores had never committed anything to film but that incredibly performed, designed and choreographed number "Thanks A Lot (But No Thanks") she'd be right up there with MGM's best.

Clearly based on Dagmar and she did ‘’sing’’

[quote] And I'm writing this while wearing the gifted mink collar.

You are my MARY! hero.

[quote] Dolores Gray's overblown musical number Thanks a Lot, But No Thanks! is meant as a satire of the excesses of 1950s TV variety shows in general (and NBC's The Dinah Shore Show (1951) in particular). Shore was known for her excessive ebullience and her habit of constantly blowing kisses to the audience.

[quote] In this part of the film, Kelly and Donen satirise the excesses of 1950s TV shows. The most obvious target is Dinah Shore, who was given towards excessively exuberant speeches and blowing kisses at the audience. Here the TV host is Madeline Bradville (Dolores Gray).

[quote] Ted puts the moves on Jackie Leighton (Cyd Charisse), a colleague of Doug's; she produces "Midnight With Madeline," a popular late-night TV show sponsored by Klenzrite, Doug's biggest account, and featuring a shamelessly trashy human interest segment. When the show's scheduled guests bail and the temperamental Madeline ([bold]Dolores Gray, doing a wicked parody of Dinah Shore[/bold]) threatens to walk, Jackie proposes a surprise on-air reunion of the old army buddies.

If Dinah Shore was who they were parodying, they really missed. No wonder the movie flopped.

The Delores Gray segments are the only parts worth watching in “fair weather”

52 replies in, and no one's mentioned Miss Gray's ultimate humiliation -- being fired by Michael Bennett from the original cast of BALLROOM!

[quote]If Dinah Shore was who they were parodying, they really missed. No wonder the movie flopped.

It flopped because the public didn't want a cynical MGM musical.

..... and then she became a nun. 🤫

End of story. 😉

Actually, Cyd's big number in It's Always Fair Weather "Baby, You Knock Me Out!" is also pretty fabulous. Kind of different for her.

And it would have been even more fab had they cast some hot boxers in it.

It's Always Fair Weather suffers from having Andre Previn as the composer of the songs. Quite a hit-free score. A strange thing about the movie is that there's no dance duet between Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse. Comden and Green wrote (with Previn) what they thought was a great love ballad, with cynical lyrics. Gene decided to do it as a fast number with Cyd, in a costume warehouse, where they try on various costumes. It exists on the DVD as an outtake.

Saw Dolores Gray on Skip E. Lowe. He asked her who her favorite singer was. She said: Judy Garland. Loved her for that.

What was the deal with her and Bert Lahr in the two-star revue, Two On The Aisle? Apparently they hated each other.

It was supposed to be a sequel to On The Town, originally. Michael Kidd (in what would have been the Sinatra part, before it all was changed around) was not very memorable onscreen. It's a good movie for Gene, Cyd, and Dolores fans. Dan Dailey is a good dancer, as well. but it wasn't much of a part for him.

I can't believe Dolores Gray's big, campy character in IAFW could possibly be a take-off on Dinah Shore. There is NO similarity. And Dinah did not have a late-night TV show from New York.

R57-didn’t know about the Bert lahr bad blood-I am hearing Dolores was “temperamental”-sad

Dorothy Loudon was majestic in Ballroom. If true, it was a good thing Dolores got fired from that role.

Had to be”Dagmar”-inspiration for “midnight w/Madeline

[quote] If Dinah Shore was who they were parodying,

It was.

That's now been proven decisively via multiple external sources.

While Dolores had grabbed red-hot fame in London, she returned to her own country as a virtual unknown. The singer took a part co-starring with Bert Lahr in a role Lena Horne had rejected in Two on the Aisle, but Gray couldn't deal with Lahr's dark moods. In fact, the two learned to hate each other thoroughly. When it came time for the show to go on tour, Bert refused to work with Gray any longer, saying the sight of his leggy co-star made him, “physically ill.”

R62 Has it been stated by anyone who wrote the film or directed it?

[quote] R62 Has it been stated by anyone who wrote the film or directed it?

Honey, if someone provided such statements, then you'd obviously just double-down once again and complain they were not properly notarized.

You were wrong. Deal with it.

R65 At least I'm not obnoxious. You don't know me so don't tell me what I'd do, thanks.

The point is, when it comes to film/showbiz I've found most writers just repeat what someone (often wrongly) said. That isn't proof, to me. If you could show me proof, I'm be happy to say I was wrong. Those quotes weren't proof.

[quote] R65 At least I'm not obnoxious.

Could have fooled me.

She was slated for the role editor Maggie Prescott in FUNNY FACE but MGM refused to loan her to Paramount.

Of course Kay Thompson's performance was fabulous, but Gray would have been equally wonderful, but different.

R68 I wonder why they refused to loan her to Paramount, since they did load Fred Astaire, Stanley Donen, Kay Thompson and Roger Edens?

"In a December 6, 2006, interview on Turner Classic Movies, Donen said that Funny Face was made at Paramount with a primarily MGM crew, including Donen, Edens and Thompson, because Paramount Pictures would not release Hepburn for any film except one made at Paramount."

You Can't Get A Man With A Gun

Nice story on her.

[quote]If Dinah Shore was who they were parodying,

I find it hard to believe the Dinah Shore was the target or the inspiration for Dolores Gray's role in that film.

Just look at the clip at R4. Dinah Shore never presented herself as a vamp, as a sexy man-eater.

Meh.

Reminds me of Amanda Lepore. Or vice versa.

I'm guessing that Dolores hated Betty Hutton. They're both so similar.

I don't think Dolores and Betty Hutton were at all alike. Dolores was always Cafe Society to Betty's Hash House Waitress.

There must have been a lot of homosex behind the scenes of that number. Jumpin’ Jack Gays!

The number has the same choreographic aesthetic as Judy's "Get Happy!"

I like to listen to her numbers on the Destry Rides Again cast album.

r69: Maybe punishment for being "difficult"?

R 68-Didn’t know that-(I’m hooked on Hollywood trivia)

Was Jasper horse?

MGM's Designing Woman with Lauren Bacall and Gregory Peck was the same year as Funny Face so it's not as though her studio wasn't making good use of Dolores in 1957. And it was a great role for her in which she really stole the picture from the two stars.

Klenzrite! the only washing soap for you…

Designing Woman looks great but is one of Vincente Minnelli's weaker comedies, otherwise, in my opinion. Might have been better with original stars James Stewart and Grace Kelly.

Leslie Uggams wears Dolores' red dress in Two Weeks In Another Town.

I loved her in Kismet, opposite Howard Keel.