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Coleen Gray Profile
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| (Doris Bernice Jensen) |
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| 23 October 22 | is born in Staplehurst, Nebraska. Her Danish parents are strict Lutherans. |
| c. 29 | moves with her family to a farm in Hutchinson, Minnesota |
| attends Hamline University |
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| ? | falls in love with choir mate Bert Parker; they speak of marriage |
| ? | ends up engaged to a Gilbert Lawson, whom she met while waitressing at Glacier National Park |
| Early 40s | becomes the fiancée of Bert Parker, the boy she dates at Hamline University, about the same time he is drafted. Lawson joins the Air Force. |
| 43 | receives a summa cum laude Bachelor of Arts degree in music and literature |
| June 43 | follows her fiancé to the West Coast |
| follows her fiancé to Southern California, where his unit is stationed, after receiving her B.A. |
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| ? | breaks up with her fiancé and moves to Los Angeles |
| ? | works at the YWCA in Los Angeles |
| ? | attends acting classes with Carl Heinz Roth, onetime assistant to Max Reinhardt |
| ? | is discovered by talent scout Ivan Kahn at a Los Angeles little theater and given a contract |
| 44 | agent Jack Pomeroy signs her to an exclusive contract |
| October 44 | meets her husband-to-be, Rod Amateau, when he directs her screen test at 20th Century-Fox |
| 14 July 45 | 20th Century-Fox signs her to a seven-year exclusive deal at $150 a week |
| 10 August 45 | marries young writer Rodney Amateau, who wrote her screen test at Fox |
| June 46 | her daughter, Susie, is born. She will become an attorney. |
| ? | agent Pomeroy sells her contract for $25,000 to Famous Artists Agency and buys himself a yacht |
| July 48 | she and Amateau separate |
| 3 March 49 | divorces Amateau in Los Angeles. She testifies he killed her love by constant quarreling and didn't like her hats. Amateau will marry actress Joan Andre in 1950. |
| moves with her family to Culver City |
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| making up for lost time, she dates a lot since her divorce |
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| Fall 49 | is off to New York to film The Sleeping City |
| ? | is off to London for the filming of I'll Get You for This opposite George Raft |
| ? | films with George Raft in San Remo, Italy and sends for her four-year-old daughter Susie to be with her while making three films in England |
| May 50 | she and George Raft are on fire |
| June 50 | is squired to various nightspots by the dashing and eligible Peter Ward, son of the Earl of Dudley. He was the former escort of Princess Margaret Rose. |
| parties through Paris |
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| ? | is fired by 20th Century-Fox |
| August 50 | is back from London and George Raft. She blushes and stammers at the questions about her reported romance with Raft. |
| January 51 | is badly shaken up in a car crash |
| ? | meets producer Stanley Rubin in New York |
| February 51 | her romance with Rubin is nearing the preacher stage |
| May 51 | attends Felizia Vanderbilt's party without Rubin |
| June 51 | breaks her engagement to writer-producer Stanley Rubin, who will marry Kathleen Hughes in 1954. He says he doesn't think he can handle her daughter. |
| July 51 | dates actor Lew Ayres |
| August 51 | her friends think she is sure about Lew |
| December 51 | temporarily deserts Hollywood for the stage, doing a national tour with The Moon is Blue |
| dines at the Stork Club with Gil Hodges of Washington D.C. |
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| attends the premiere of A Place in the Sun with hubby Mortimer Hall |
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| 52 | becomes a twosome with actor John Payne, her co-star in Kansas City Confidential. They go together for some time. |
| February 52 | is seen around with Stanley Roberts |
| April 52 | is seen at Manero's with businessman David Tulcin |
| July 52 | her romance with John Payne is serious enough to end up at the altar. They ignited while co-starring in Kansas City 117. |
| September 52 | spends Labor Day weekend with her daughter on Catalina Island |
| October 52 | is off to London for The Fake |
| November 52 | is escorted to the Mocambo by John Payne. John's ex-wife, Gloria De Haven, is singing there. |
| May 53 | her daughter thinks she will marry co-star John Payne |
| June 53 | takes her parents and her 7-year-old daughter to Glacier National Park for a vacation |
| ? | goes to famed Hollywood masseuse Louise Long to have her body trimmed. There she meets her future husband, Bill Bidlack. |
| June 53 | announces her engagement to Lieutenant Commander William Clymer Bidlack. He's 43; she's 30. |
| 14 July 53 | marries Bidlack, an engineering executive with Lockheed, at the Little Brown Church in North Hollywood, five weeks after their first meeting. He's 11 years her senior and will show to have a wide jealous streak. |
| July 53 | the Bidlacks honeymoon on a motor trip to Carmel, California |
| October 53 | becomes pregnant |
| 1 June 54 | her son, Bruce Robin, is born in Los Angeles |
| December 56 | is scheduled for Charles Martin's upcoming Splash of Water |
| October 58 | is bedridden for 10 days as a result of an auto crash in North Hollywood. She received sprains, bruises, and lacerations. |
| November 58 | is on the Los Angeles welcoming committee for Queen Frederika of Greece and her princess daughter, Sophia, for their unofficial tour of the United States |
| 78 | becomes the widow of Bidlack, who dies of leukemia |
| friends from the church, urging her to socialize, invite her to join their bridge club, where she meets her next husband. |
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| 19 May 79 | marries biblical scholar Joseph Fritz Zeiser in Los Angeles. He's another church member, who recently lost his wife to cancer. Both are 56. |
| ? | appears on TV with cleric Oral Roberts, whom she greatly admires |
| Late 80s | she and her husband are partners in a network marketing business that they conduct from their home in Bel Air |
| ? | she and her husband travel a lot, even to Israel |
| ? | the Zeisers spend their weekends at their house in Palos Verdes |
| March 12 | her husband Fritz Zeiser passes away |
| 3 August 15 | dies from natural causes at age 92 in her Bel Air home. She is survived by a daughter, Susan Amateau, from her first marriage; a son, Bruce Bidlack, from her second marriage; two stepsons, Rick and Steve Zeiser; 10 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. She is buried at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, CA, beside her husband Fritz Zeiser. |
| Sources: Dark City Dames by Eddie Muller, The Port Arthur News, Syracuse Herald-Journal, Screenland, Nevada State Journal, Syracuse Herald-Journal, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, The Era, The Times Recorder, The New York Times, Silver Screen, Sunday Times Signal, Humboldt Standard, The Newark Advocate and American Tribune, The Monessen Daily Independent, Screen, Valley Morning Star, Indiana Evening Gazette, Reno Evening Gazette, The Newark Advocate, The Vidette-Messenger, Van Nuys News, Whatever became of...? #11 by Richard Lamparski, www.Ancestry.com | |
| Recommended Books: Dark City Dames by Eddie Muller | |
| Links: Filmography Brian's Drive-In Theater: Coleen Gray Noir City Spooky's Nightmare Mansion: Coleen Gray | |