Dolores Gray

Dabbling in practically every facet of show business during her over six-decade career -- nightclubs, cabaret, radio, recordings, TV, film and Broadway -- sultry, opulent, larger-than-life singing star Dolores Gray, distinctive for her sharp, somewhat equine features, lived the high life for most of her time on earth. She was born Sylvia Dolores Finkelstein in Los Angeles, California on June 7, 1923, the daughter of vaudevillian parents (her father Harry went by the stage name of "Harry Vernon") who divorced when she was quite young. An older brother, Richard Vernon (later Gray) would also go into the entertainment business. Dolores attended Polytechnic High School in the Sun Valley suburb of Los Angeles and, while there, became a member of the girl's glee club. Singing in Hollywood supper clubs as early as age 14, Dolores was discovered as a teenager by Rudy Vallee, who helped make her a minor celebrity on his self-titled radio show. She went on to earn two brief, uncredited bits as