Despite her enormous talent and consummate dedication, Gloria Grahame would forever be cast in sultry, comic, and (mostly) supporting roles. The rigid studio system instantly saw her as too smart to be a sex kitten, too naughty to be an ingenue, and too pretty to be an out-and-out villain.

She first attracted the public eye as Violet Bick, the flirty bad-girl antithesis to Donna Reed's angelic model of wifeliness in "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946). Dazzling delivery and infallible comic timing quickly gained Grahame recognition throughout the next few years, netting her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for "The Bad and the Beautiful" (1952).

Grahame delivered razor-sharp performances, especially when challenged by great co-stars: Humphrey Bogart in the tempestuous noir, "In a Lonely Place" (1950), Charlton Heston (and an elephant) in "The Greatest Show on Earth" (1952), and Lee Marvin in "The Big Heat" (1953).

Her star began to dim when marital and child custody problems began to influence Grahame on the set of "Oklahoma!" (1955), where she played lusty goof-ball Ado Annie. Her career stalled and nearly finished in 1960 following her marriage to former stepson Tony Ray, son of director Nicholas Ray ("Rebel Without a Cause") whom she had divorced eight years previously. Cast aside by prudish Hollywood, she returned to the theatre and continued to work steadily until her death of cancer in 1981.

Though rarely a leading lady, Grahame worked her way through some of the best directors in Hollywood - Vincente Minnelli, Fritz Lang, Frank Capra, Cecil B DeMille, and Elia Kazan. She claimed to have "never understood Hollywood", but she always understood how best to manipulate her own distinctive and dangerous charm.