Blighted and scandalous families are not restricted to the obscenely wealthy, with two biographies out turning the focus on unforgivable behaviour amongst creative and celebrity types.
Gloria Grahame, a four time married Hollywood actress, who gained some success in the 1950s with an Oscar for The Bad and the Beautiful, seduced the 12 year old son Tony Ray of her second husband, Nicholas Ray, which split the marriage – and in later years she went on to marry the son when she was 57 and he was 23. It lasted for 14 years.
The biography Circle of Lions could not be published until all concerned were dead and starts with a foreword by Tony’s daughter Kelsey, in which she acknowledges the ‘deep-seated trauma’ that ‘trickled into every aspect of his later life’. He had multiple addictions, to drugs, alcohol and gambling as well as mood swings between ‘euphoric and grandiose mania’ and ‘deeply destructive catatonic, depressive episodes’. He divorced Gloria in 1974 but apparently loved her until he died in 2018.
Gloria Grahame, 28 November 1923 3.47 am Los Angeles, had a 2nd house Sun, Jupiter, Mercury in Sagittarius; with Venus in later Sagittarius trine a filmic 10th house Neptune, sextile a hard-edged, can-be-destructive Mars Saturn conjunction in Libra. Mars Saturn is sometimes a marker of sexual abuse. A recent movie with Annette Bening played Grahame in Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool was based on a memoir by a Liverpudlian actor Peter Turner whose love affair with Gloria Grahame began when he was 26 and she was 55. So she obviously had a penchant for younger men.
Tony Ray, 24 November 1937, Washington, DC, was also a Sun Sagittarius trine Pluto trine Saturn in late Pisces and Scheat – a tough, bleak childhood which left its mark. He also had an emotionally erratic Venus in Scorpio opposition Uranus square Mars in Aquarius. His Moon was Leo/Virgo.
His relationship chart with Gloria had a chained-together and resentful composite Saturn opposition Pluto square North Node with an affectionate Sun Venus. Could not live with or without her. The wedding chart of 13 May 1960 had Mars on the focal point of a fated yod, tying them together; with the Sun close to Algol.
His Pluto was conjunct Gloria’s Moon and Midheaven – so there would be an intense connection though one which ultimately ruined her career when the story emerged. His Jupiter was square her Saturn Mars so there may have been a way in which he offered her comfort. Her Jupiter was conjunct his Sun so she would boost his confidence (initially).
There is little in the way of Algol appearing in this rancid tale except for it sitting in Gloria’s 7th house of marriage.
What does appear relevant (or coincidence) is Hyades which was conjunct Tony’s South Node in Gemini exactly and opposition her Sun.
Hyades, the face of the bull, 5 to 9 degrees Gemini, is likened to a dark trickster, scandal-prone with a tendency to exploit others in quest of power. Associated with rampant sexual urges, ‘a dissolute life, excessive and licentious ways’ it can go too far with stalking and obsessions. Its positive side can lead to success in life if handled well, otherwise it ends in a fall from power.
The other sordid tale is of writer Lawrence Durrell’s abuse of his daughter Sappho, who suicided in her 30s. It resurfaces with a new biography of him which is clear about his darker side, though it stops short in 1947 before Sappho was born. Durrell, eldest brother of the naturalist Gerald Durrell, best known for his erotic Alexandrian Quartet set in Eqypt, was charismatic but unpleasant, free with his fists, snobbish and racist.
Born 27 February 1912 1 am Jullundur, India, he had a Pisces Sun in his communicative 3rd house conjunct Mercury square Mars in Gemini (conjunct Hyades) opposition Jupiter. His Moon fell midway between Pluto and Mars in his 7th so he would be dependent on partners whom he would dominate and denigrate. To say he had problems with women would be the understatement of the century. His mother was evidently a raging alcoholic. He also had his Venus conjunct Uranus trine Mars for more emotional volatility.
His daughter Sappho, 30 May 1951, London, had a Sun Mars conjunction in Gemini (conjunct Hyades). Her relationship chart with her father is similar to that of Gloria and Tony Ray – with a composite Saturn Pluto and an affectionate Sun Venus. Saturn Pluto can be chillingly bleak, cruel and unfeeling.
The seamier side of human nature is deeply depressing.
[PPS. I am beginning to get bewildered and irritated by the blizzard of possibilities from the lesser Fixed stars and asteroids. Still I suppose it is as well to keep exploring until the chart eventually self-combusts from carrying too much flotsam and jetsam.]
The post Family disasters – Gloria Grahame, Lawrence Durrell first appeared on Astroinform with Marjorie Orr – Star4cast.
