Grayson Hall

Grayson Hall was an American actress born Shirley Grossman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 18th, 1922. She is best known for playing the role psychiatrist Doctor Julia Hoffman in the 1960s gothic soap opera Dark Shadows. She was introduced in episode 265 and remained a series regular throughout the remainder of the show's production. Like most of the standard cast members from the series, Hall played multiple character in addition to Julia Hoffman. Other characters include Countess Natalie du Pres during the "1795 Flashback" storyline, Magda Rakosi, during the "1897 Flashback" storyline, a parallel time counterpart to Julia Hoffman and Julia Collins (which was actually just an alias of Julia Hoffman) during the "1840 Flashback" storyline.

Hall reprised the role of Julia Hoffman for the 1970 film House of Dark Shadows. She also appeared in the film's 1971 sequel, Night of Dark Shadows in the role of Carlotta Drake, a character unique to the film and not based on any pre-existing character from the series. Between her various characters, Hall appeared in a total of 474 episodes of the series.

Grayson Hall was married to Sam Hall, one of the primary writers for Dark Shadows. Grayson passed away from cancer in New York on August 7th, 1985 at the age of sixty-two.

Notes & Trivia

 * Grayson's son, Matthew Hall, was a writer on the 1991 Dark Shadows revival series.


 * Grayson Hall and Dark Shadows co-star Dennis Patrick were both born in Philadelphia.


 * Grayson Hall and Dark Shadows co-star Joel Crothers both passed away in 1985.


 * and Dark Shadows co-star David Ford both died in New York on August 7th, but in different years. David died in 1983 and Grayson died in 1985.