Sally Gray, whose deep voice and stunning blonde looks made her stand out amongst British leading ladies in the '30s and '40s, died of natural causes on September 24 at her home in London. She was 90.

She was born Constance Vera Stevens in London on February 14, 1916 and started her career on stage as a chorus girl in London musicals when she was still in her teens. She struggled in the beginning, making a series of "quota quickies" starting in the mid-'30s: Checkmate (1935), Cheer Up (1936), Saturday Night Revue (1937), Sword of Honour (1938), before she proved herself a strong leading presence when she played against George Sanders in The Saint in London (1939).

The '40s would be the decade that Gray made herself an unforgettable fixture in British cinema. Her turn as the anguished wife of Anton Wolbrook in the international smash war drama Dangerous Moonlight (1941), put her on the map; the terrific hospital murder mystery Green For Danger (1946) co-starring Trevor Howard, is still a much sought after cult item; the sharp "Brit-noir" of They Made Me a Fugitive (1947) is amongst the best of the genre; and her role as the suffering heroine in Edward Dymtryk's clever cat and mouse thriller Obsession (1949) is an overlooked and underrated gem.

She made her final film appearance in a rather forgettable George Raft drama Escape Route (1952) before she retired from acting to marry an Irish Lord and became Lady Oranmore and Browne. Her husband, Baron Oranmore and Browne, died in 2002 at the age of 100. The couple had no children, and she has no known survivors.

by Michael T. Toole