Grayson Hall and Gay Men

Gothick-

Are you still intending to write a biography of Grayson Hall? I would certainly love to see one.

Jake

Naturally, I love Grayson Hall, and I've enjoyed reading everyones comments in this thread.

A favorite "Grayson moment" of mine is on the "DS Behind the Scenes" tape.  Lela Swift is talking about the cast and remarks that they were as flamboyant, or even more so, in real life as they were on the show.  As she is saying this, the program cuts away from Lela to a clip of Grayson's "blood oooooozing from the mausoleum wall" scene.  

A lovely tribute to a fascinating actress.

Regards,

John

Are those long eye lashes in the second picture really hers or are they fake?  Maybe she just wore a lot of Mascara ....lol

Just guessing Donna because I have absolutely no stage or screen experience (LOL) but I think false eyelashes were a standard show-biz makeup item back then (and no doubt still are but have toned down in size a bit).  

As to this thread about Grayson - very interesting stuff.  Just before it started I was going to ask just exactly what a "fag hag" is.  I had just heard the term for the first time on Will & Grace (yeah, sheltered life I know) and though I could sort of tell based on the context (I was thinking Bette, Joan, Marlena) I wasn't totally clear on it.  Well I think NOW I get it (duh).  

I always liked Grayson then and now.  She had a kind of endearing yet slightly domineering presence on DS.  Like a cross between a schoolteacher, your mother, and that aunt everyone says is so dramatic (I have/had several of those so I know - they could drive you up a wall but were always fun to be around).  In real life, I think she would have been a fascinating person to know - flamboyant, creative and most important accepting of others.  I think that last quality is what her fans sense about her and may be the thing that draws them to her most.

. . .but I think false eyelashes were a standard show-biz makeup item back then (and no doubt still are but have toned down in size a bit). . . As to this thread about Grayson . . . I was going to ask just exactly what a "fag hag" is. . .

Two comments--if we think false eyelashes are more toned down now (on daytime, at least) than 30 years ago, just check out ONE LIFE TO LIVE and the character of Lindsey, who has full makeup and eyelashes IN PRISON!!! LOL.

As for Grayson being a "fag hag". . . since I made that statement, I'd better retract it since I know nothing about her interactions with gay man.  Perhaps a better way to characterize her is to say she's probably an icon for gay men--much like Bette Midler, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, etc. (and not too shabby company to be in!)

Brian
(who thinks Grayson Hall is "the bomb" [to use some modern-day lingo.])

I was able to interview one out gay man who knew her and he confirmed that she knew A LOT of gay men.  Given her love of entertaining and how many parties she hosted for theatre people, it could scarcely have been otherwise.

I think she'd have slugged you if you had asked her if she loved being a "fag hag," though.  In those days, it was a term of abuse, and had NOT been reclaimed through the eyes of love as we have done now living in this shining era of peace and love for our fellow humans (yeah, right).

TTFN,  Steve

I think she'd have slugged you if you had asked her if she loved being a "fag hag," though.  In those days, it was a term of abuse, ...

Since I had never heard the term until the other night on TV I had no idea it had ever had another connotation.  I assumed it had always been kind of a term of endearment - in the "icon" way Brian explained.  I certainly meant no offense to either Grayson, her friends or anyone else.  

I think if Grayson lived today, she would have understood the term FAG HAG....A fag hag is woman who spends all her time with gay men.  My best friend really calls her self a fag hag with pride, not that she spends her time with gay men.  But she knows gay men just love her.  So I think Grayson would understand that.  However, some people dont like the term just because what it means.  

jon

have to admit...grayson does it for me......the other side of don brisco.....it's cause i'm a lesbian trapped in a gay man's body.......

Casper Collins: LOL at your wonderful comments.

Grayson Hall is my favorite DS actor. That's why, in large part, I built the "Legend Of Dark Shadows" game around Julia, making her the "player character".
Why do I love her? Hmmm, because Julia is so COOL! I mean, come on, that cigarette holder in the early episodes? That horse, dry scream of hers? The campy clutching at the neck? And Magda? WHAT A SCREAM!
But it goes deeper, doesn't it? Maybe it touches a nerve in me that says Grayson, as Julia, is what a woman should be like: She took on a vampire, daring him to hurt her! She bitch-slapped Angelique! She tried to re-attach a head using 19th century medicine! Bold Julia, with bigger balls than all the DS men put together!

The "Legend Of Dark Shadows" Game Delelopment Page:

http://home.earthlink.net/~emeralddawn1/page18.html

I shudder to think what would have happened to the Collins family if Julia Hoffman had not come into their lives!

I mean, you have to admit that she earned every penny of her "rent" on that room they gave her.  Just start counting all the free "sedatives" she handed out plus the endless hours (ever see that ABC Movie of the Week, "The 36 hours of Dr Julia Hoffman"?) ... you'll see why Liz loved having her live on the premises!

Steve

I was able to interview one out gay man who knew her and he confirmed that she knew A LOT of gay men.  Given her love of entertaining and how many parties she hosted for theatre people, it could scarcely have been otherwise.

I think she'd have slugged you if you had asked her if she loved being a "fag hag," though.  In those days, it was a term of abuse, and had NOT been reclaimed through the eyes of love as we have done now living in this shining era of peace and love for our fellow humans (yeah, right).

TTFN,  Steve

you're right Steve someone once called me that  because i have a lot of gay men friends and it wasn't meant in a nice way but this was about 20 years ago and  didn't care then, don't care now, hey i have a lot of straight men friends too but i don't see a term for that.


jennifer

have to admit...grayson does it for me......the other side of don brisco.....it's cause i'm a lesbian trapped in a gay man's body.......

Hey Casper just glad you're back
need more Don worshippers here

jennifer

Rather than start a new thread, I thought I'd add a new message, with a little different Grayson info, to this one.

I had lunch plans with a friend this afternoon, and she brought along a couple of her co-workers to join us, one of whom was the actress who played Delilah on ONE LIFE TO LIVE back in the '80s.  We chatted a bit about the show, and she mentioned the "wonderful woman who played [her] mother--Grayson Hall."  She went on to briefly describe how Grayson was so much fun on the show, and that she went against the traditional soap casting of that era because she was mainly a theater person and not the usual "TV look" actor.  Of course, I had to admit I now watch OLTL and had grown up on DS (a show which we had to explain to one of the younger members of our little luncheon party.)  Anyway,  even though Keith Prentice was an acquaintance of mine back in the early 80s, and I've met and chatted with Marie Wallace as part of my job, it was especially fun to talk with a non-DS actor about Grayson and what she was like--not to mention trading anecdotes about our work with stars and such in the entertainment industry.

Just thought I'd share. . .

Brian

Oh how I envy you! I would love to meet and talk to someone who knew Grayson and was not connected to DS. I think Grayson must have been a fascinating woman to know and I would love to hear what the actress had to say about her. 

Bette