Joshua Goldman
Joshua Goldman
min read · July 22, 2025 · Entertainment

Oscars and Secrets: The Shocking Truth Behind Gloria Grahame's Affair

Actress Gloria Grahame with her first husband, Rebel Without A Cause director Nicholas Ray. An explosive new memoir alleges her relationship with his son Tony began when they boy was just 12

The 1953 Oscars: A Star-Studded Scandal Unfolds!

It was a rainy March evening when Hollywood's elite gathered at the Pantages Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard for the 25th Academy Awards. Among them was the sultry and stunning Gloria Grahame, heavily favored to take home the Best Supporting Actress award for her sizzling performance in The Bad and the Beautiful.

As Edmund Glenn opened the envelope containing the winner's name, the room held its collective breath. And then it happened: "Gloria Grahame for The Bad and the Beautiful!" declared Glenn, adding a dramatic flourish. As Grahame made her way to the stage, beaming with pride, few could have predicted the stormy years that lay ahead.

Tony Ray wrote Circle Of Lions in 1958, but the memoir's contents are so scandalous it could only be published after his death (he is pictured age 12 on the cover)

Less than two years prior, her husband Nicholas Ray, an acclaimed director of film noirs (who would later create the iconic Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean), had discovered his 13-year-old son Tony in bed with his wife. The scandal sent shockwaves through Tinseltown, but Grahame's Oscar-winning status ensured that her reputation remained intact – for the time being.

Fast-forward to 2018, when Tony Ray's memoir Circle of Lions: Nicholas Ray, Gloria Grahame and Me was finally published, revealing the shocking truth about his mother's predilection for much younger men. The book's foreword by Tony's daughter Kelsey acknowledges the "deep-seated trauma" that "trickled into every aspect of [his] later life."

As we delve deeper into this salacious tale, it becomes clear that Grahame's obsession with adolescent boys began when she herself was just 26 years old. Her marriage to Nicholas Ray in 1949 brought her teenage stepson Tony into her orbit. The two became "firm friends," with Gloria treating him like a mini-adult and encouraging his drinking and smoking habits.

Graham and Ray share a cigarette while working on 1950 film In A Quiet Place, a year before he allegedly found the actress in bed with his teenage son Tony

But there was more to their relationship than meets the eye. When Nick took Gloria and Tony on a trip to Lake Tahoe, they made the most of his compulsive gambling habit by engaging in illicit activities upstairs. The marriage was volatile, with accusations of infidelity and violence flying back and forth.

Tony's life changed forever when Gloria offered to teach him how to kiss properly. From there, their physical relationship developed swiftly but discreetly – until Nick caught them in the act, that is. He promptly divorced Grahame in 1952, only for her to marry another director, Cy Howard, two years later.

Yet this wasn't the end of the affair. In 1960, Tony and Gloria reunited, marrying in a ceremony marked by Grahame's dramatic flair. The couple had two sons, but their marriage was doomed from the start.

The son of a celebrated Hollywood director, Tony Ray became a successful actor and producer in his own right as he grew into adulthood (pictured here in the late 1950s)

Gloria's attempts to revive her career with roles like Oklahoma! only masked the darkness beneath. Her marriage to Tony ended in 1974, with a judge granting him custody of their children on the basis that he was "the lesser of two evils."

As we close this sordid chapter in Hollywood history, it becomes clear that Gloria Grahame's legacy is complex – and her predilection for young boys an unsettling truth. But Tony Ray's book offers a wistful and affectionate perspective, one that acknowledges the trauma passed down through generations like a vicious lion begetting another.

Tony had first met Grahame at Los Angeles International Airport. It was June 1950, almost six months shy of Tony¿s 13th birthday (he is pictured here as a teenager)

Grahame kisses her Oscar after winning Best Supporting Actress at the 1953 Academy Awards, two years after she was allegedly caught in bed with her teenage stepson

Following her divorce from Ray, the actress married second husband Cy Howard in 1954 (pictured a year earlier at the 1953 Academy Awards)

Tony with Gloria Graham at the premiere of John Cassavetes' Shadows in 1960. By now, Graham had divorced Cooper and married her former step-son. The marriage would last until 1974

Tony¿s life changed on the day Gloria offered to teach him how to kiss properly. From there their physical relationship developed swiftly but discreetly, although they still lived dangerously

Grahame was already a fully-fledged movie star and there was no doubt a plethora of willing men available with whom she could have had an extramarital affair, had she wanted to. Yet she chose a boy

Tony with co-star Leila Goldoni in director John Cassavetes 1960 film Shadows. Only two years earlier, he completed work on Circle Of Lions, his then unpublished account of an illicit affair with Grahame while she was still married to his father

Behind the scenes, there were some in the Hollywood establishment who knew that Grahame was bad as well as beautiful (the actress is pictured in 1953)

When Nick took Gloria and Tony to stay at the celebrated Cal-Neva Lodge and Casino in Lake Tahoe, they made the most of his gambling habit by going further than they had before

While Nick was losing his money on the casino floor, Gloria was pleasuring his adolescent son upstairs (Gloria and Nick seen)

The marriage was volatile, to say the least. Gloria accused Nick of having an affair with Marilyn Monroe, while he raged at her for condemning his gambling. He would frequently move out of the Malibu house and then back in again

Her film credits included a starring role alongside Humphrey Bogart in Nicholas Ray's 1950 film In A Lonely Place (L-R: Bogart, Grahame and Ray are pictured on set)

After his father learnt of his affair with Grahame, Tony (pictured) knew there was no point protesting their innocence. But did his father even want them to be innocent?

In a postscript to his 1958 memoir, added in 2002, Tony wrote: ¿I had had no contact with Gloria since I was 13, but had pined for her throughout my teens. I had kept track of her through her movies ¿ When I got to California, I called her' (Gloria pictured in The Big Heat)

'She had not come for an hour-long visit. She had come to stay. Gloria and I were married on May 13, 1960.¿ (Gloria pictured in It's A Wonderful Life)