Shirley Grey


Shirley Grey was an American actress. She appeared in more than 40 films between 1930 and 1935.

Early years

Born in Naugatuck, Connecticut, Grey was the daughter of Ernst Adrian Zetterstrand, a minister, who died when she was eight years old. Thereafter, her mother raised Grey and her six siblings. She graduated from Waterbury High School, where she was active in the Dramatic Club.

Career

Grey began her acting career with the Poli Players. She went on to act with companies in New Orleans, Louisiana; Jacksonville, Florida; San Francisco, California, and Nova Scotia. She had her own acting troupe, the Shirley Grey Players, in the late 1920s. In 1931, she starred in the comedy-drama Chicago at the Fulton Theater in Oakland, California. It was the third play of Grey's "limited season".
Grey's work in stock theater led to her career in films. A talent scout who worked for film producer Samuel Goldwyn saw Grey performing in a stock production in Oakland and arranged for her to take a screen test, which led to her signing a contract with Goldwyn.

Personal life

On August 28, 1921, Grey married actor Foster Williams, known professionally as Frank McCarthy. They had one son. She filed for divorce from him on September 30, 1925. In 1936, Grey married English actor Arthur Margetson, who died in 1951.
In her later years, Grey was a semi-recluse, living with her sisters before moving to a Jacksonville Beach, Florida, convalescent home where she died.

Partial filmography

The Golf Specialist - House Detective's Wife The Public Defender - Barbara GerrySecret Service - Miss Edith VarneyAir Eagles - EveOne Man Law - Grace DuncanTexas Cyclone - Helen RawlingsThe Riding Tornado - Patsy OlcottGet That Girl - Ruth DaleThe Hurricane Express - Gloria Martin / Gloria StrattonCornered - Jane HerrickDrifting Souls - Greta JansonBack Street - FrancineVirtue - GertUptown New York - Patricia SmithTreason - Joan RandallFrom Hell to Heaven - Winnie LloydPrivate Jones - Helen JonesOut All Night - KateTerror Aboard - Lili KingstonThe Little Giant - Edith MerriamThe Girl in 419 - Nurse Irene BlaineThe Life of Jimmy Dolan - Goldie WestDon't Bet on Love - Goldie WilliamsToo Much Harmony - LilyanHold the Press - Edith WhiteMurder on the Campus - Lillian VoyneTwin Husbands - Chloe WerrendenBombay Mail - Beatrice Jones aka Sonia SmeganoffI Like It That Way - PeggySisters Under the Skin - Gilda GordonThe Crime of Helen Stanley - Betty LaneOne Is Guilty - Sally GreyGreen Eyes - Jean KesterThe Defense Rests - Mabel WilsonHis Greatest Gamble - Bernice SolonBeyond the Law - Helen GlennGirl in Danger - Gloria GaleWednesday's Child - LouiseTransatlantic Merry-Go-Round - Anya RossonPublic Opinion - Joan NashCircumstantial Evidence - Adrienne GreyThe People's Enemy - Ann GriffinThe Girl Who Came Back - Gilda Gillespie aka Mary BrownThe Public Menace - Mimi LaVerneThe Mystery of the Mary Celeste - Sarah Briggs