Grayson Hall was born Shirley H. Grossman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1922, the only child of Eleanor and Joseph Grossman. Her father was from Latvia and her mother, who had acted in the Yiddish theatre, was from South Africa. Both were from Jewish immigrant families. When Hall was eight, her parents separated but never divorced. Hall became interested in acting, as an escape from a painful childhood, and auditioned for plays in New York City while she was still attending Simon Gratz High School. She enrolled at Temple University but did not matriculate. She landed her first professional job doing summer stock in Long Island in 1942. In 1946, she married fellow actor Bradbart “Ted” Brooks in Los Angeles, California. They separated in 1949 and she returned to New York. In 1952, she married writer Sam Hall. Their son, Matthew, was born in 1958. She had always used the stage name Shirley Grayson, but Sam Hall called her Grayson, “like an old Army buddy”, she said in an interview. She eventually adopted Grayson Hall as her professional name. Having guest starred on various television programs during the mid-1950s, Grayson Hall made her film debut in 1961 in Run Across the River. Hall also made Satan in High Heels, starring Meg Myles, in which Hall portrayed a cabaret club owner named Pepe. She later disavowed the film. In September 1963, Hall traveled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to play the role of Judith Fellowes in John Huston’s version of The Night of the Iguana, based on the original play by Tennessee Williams. She was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Judith Fellowes, a latent lesbian women’s college instructor. In the original play, the character was not sympathetic but Huston rewrote the character, wanting more complexity and sympathy. She was featured as a kidnapped bank teller in Walt Disney’s That Darn Cat! in 1965. In 1967 she played a Thrush agent on the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., in an episode written by Harlan Ellison.

Grayson Hall’s best-known television role was that of Dr. Julia Hoffman, on Dark Shadows, where she portrayed the loyal confidant and friend of the vampire, Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid). Other key roles that she played on the show were those of Countess Natalie Dupres; Magda Rakosi, a Gypsy; Hoffman, a Mrs. Danvers-type housekeeper, Julia Collins; and Constance Collins, sister of Brutus Collins. She also appeared in both “Dark Shadows” feature films: House of Dark Shadows, again as Dr. Julia Hoffman, and Night of Dark Shadows, as a new character, housekeeper Carlotta Drake. Before appearing in The Night of the Iguana and Dark Shadows, Hall had an active stage career in New York City. She portrayed Irma, the madam of an irregular bordello amidst a civil war in the controversial Jean Genet play The Balcony for over one year at the Circle in the Square theatre in Greenwich Village. It was the longest running off-Broadway play for many decades. After Dark Shadows ended in 1971, she had a brief stint as reporter Marge Grey on All My Children (1973). She continued acting on stage as Warda in Jean Genet’s The Screens (1971–72) and The Lady in Gray/The Fly in Happy End (1977) which co-starred Meryl Streep and Christopher Lloyd. She appeared in the Broadway premiere of The Suicide (1980) with Derek Jacobi, and appeared opposite Geraldine Page, Carrie Nye and Madeline Sherwood in an off-Broadway revival of The Madwoman of Chaillot.

She appeared in Gargoyles, filmed in New Mexico with Cornel Wilde, and the Dan Curtis television film The Great Ice Rip-Off opposite Lee J. Cobb and Gig Young. She starred in the ABC mystery film The Two Deaths of Sean Doolittle which was written by her husband, Sam Hall. Her last onscreen role was that of Euphemia Ralston (Delila’s scheming mother) in the soap opera One Life to Live from July 1982 until April 1983. After a six-month battle with lung cancer, Grayson Hall died in New York City in 1985, aged 62. A simple marker near her Hudson Valley home reads “Grayson Hall — August 7, 1985”.