Was Grayson a beauty or what?

[Taeylor Collins]

I ALWAYS thought Grayson Hall was goregous.  And I had so many people to look at me crossed eyed when I would mention it.  Yeah by the time she had landed on Shadows, she was in her fourties and a heavy smoker (which regardless of what you think will age your skin).  Looking at the pics from A Hard Act To Follow, I was completly floored.  The picture of her and her first husband!  GOOD LORD!  She was simply DIVINE!!! Maybe it wasn't meant to be however she could have been HUGE. She had the looks and the chops!! And now the new pics RJ has of her in the toga.  WOW!  She is breathtaking!!

Love you and miss you GH!
Taeylor

Feel free to comment.  Even if you don't see the beauty I see!!

[Miss_Winthrop]

I happen to agree that she was a beautiul woman.  She was very photogenic and I think the camera loved her.

[MagnusTrask]

She had an amazing face, as well as presence, and I've only seen her on DS.   By that point she's engaged in a certain amount of middle-age damage control, some of which I think she may have been better off without, but what would I know....

I like faces with facets on them.    In certain eras the female stars look alike to me, like maybe the 40s, and now.    I don't like generic appearance but faces that imply a cool personality.

[Gothick]

Of course, I heartily agree.  Grayson was Goddess! 

Taeylor, if you've never seen it, please please please get hold of SATAN IN HIGH HEELS.  Every Grayson Hall fan deserves hir own personal copy of that movie!

Though released in 1962, it was filmed around Nov. of 1960.

G.

[Sandor]

Taeylor, I must agree with Gothick: Grayson is a beaut in "Satan In High Heels."  A must-see for fans of GH/Julia.  And a must-read is of course the fantastic biography "Grayson Hall: A Hard Act To Follow" by R.J. Jamison.  There's a photo of Grayson with her father, Joe Grossman, where she looks almost exactly like my mother in a photo I saw of mum from the 50's!  Maybe Grayson's a distant cousin of my mother's!! Six degrees of Dark Shadows separation....

She had incredible eyes and was - regardless of era - a striking presence, on stage/camera or off. Some of the wigs she wore on the show were not always flattering. Actually, I liked her Magda wig: it matched her haunting eyes.

[bluefielder]

Absolutely!  She had such an interesting face.

[loril54]

I don't think that some wanted Julia to look good. She look better when they
went back in time.

[Taeylor Collins]

I always thought GH looked great. AT TIMES, she looked TIRED...but the makeup did a good job.   In GH: A Hard Act To Follow.  The writer said after she had her face "done" she looked as if she had had a facelift.  That is not verbatim.  I still think she was goregous.   And if you haven't seen the pics of her on Graysonhall.net or in the book.  YOU ARE MISSING OUT!  The pic of her and first husband.  The big one.  MY GOD.  She was as prettier or prettier to me than Lara Parker.

[Julia99]

I don't think that some wanted Julia to look good. She look better when they
went back in time.

One thing relayed to me was  that Grayson wasn't really terribly self conscious or protective about her looks.  As Nancy Barrett recalled that the makeup and costuming of  Magda was so garish in a way many actresses would've absolutely refused but Grayson thought it fun. 

And while others may disparage her for whatever reasons, in life, Grayson often found herself at the  center of male attention--she had beauty and brains + personality in spades. 

[Taeylor Collins]

Very true Julia 99!!  What a woman!!

[michael c]

i think grayson was perhaps what was once described as being a "handsome" woman and i find her to be quite striking.

after they discarded the ghastly wig from the "miss hoffman" period i think that they actually made julia look quite chic.the cropped,copper colored hair,the false eyelashes,the gloves,the suits,the jewelry.i'd say the show's costumers attempted to make julia look competent and sophisticated.

it's only with today's eyes,when middle aged women run around dressed like teenagers,that she can come across as "dowdy".

[Taeylor Collins]

PREACH IT!   I hated that damn wig DC insisted she wear.  HORRID!!  I couldn't really understand the fact that Julia Hoffman couldn't have a chic style with short hair.  Indeed she was a DR in a small Maine town, however, she owned a HOSPITAL for God's sake.  I am sure Julia was well cultured.  She was very chic indeed!! 

I also thought JGrayson was gorgeous before her face work and after.  I could never put my finger on what was different.   I just thought she looked refreshed. I thought Grayson hadn't been on the show a while and I thought she probably just got really rested up and probably used the old cucumber method or perhaps visited a spa.  I HAD no idea plastic surgery was as advanced then.

RANT OFF TOPIC:  GOOD EXAMPLE stars of today.   Do something subtle.  These actresses want to go in and say "take 50 years off my face".  It never works.  I don't know if would be right to mention some of today's stars, but some of them look ghastly! SHEW!

[MagnusTrask]

When was the face work?  It just occurred to me that that one square nostril might be a surgeon's error.

As for stars having surgery, even the smart ones do it, not just face liftes but botox, when acting requires full use of your face muscles.    People worship and trust MDs far too much.

[Taeylor Collins]

According to RJ Jamison's amazing book  GH: A Hard Act To Folllow and this is not verbatim.  Grayson only had an "EYE LIFT" they didn't mess with anything else.  According to the book when she started seeing her father's baggy eyes staring back at her she was not pleased.   Her dad and her had a troubled relationship. I hate to be hateful but the man sounds like a JACKASS. What he did to GH on her death bed made me really shed tears.  I cannot imagine doing my daughter like that.   RJ (Julia 99) could probably elaborate more.   Or you SHOULD really buy this book.

So here is MY take.  GH had the "EYE LIFT" cause it helped her to feel better about herself,she was on national television almost every day and she didn't have to see dear old dad's  baggy eyes looking at her.  I think it was very subtle and she looked great.  She looked refreshed!  Plus seeing her younger pics you can tell GH had nothing worked on but her eyes.

FOR any DS fan this book is amazing.  I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!! Not just for us "LEGION"

[Taeylor Collins]

Sorry for the double post.  I forgot to add.  This bit of information was meant to help dispell a myth that Sam's writing got GH into more ep's then say Joan Bennett for example.  When she was gone to recover.  DC was really livid wanting to know where she was.  Sam told him.