1950s beauty Lee Grant looks very different today

The Cost of Hollywood’s Power Struggles

During the Golden Age of Hollywood, studios had immense control over actors. If a star defied the industry’s unwritten rules, they could be blacklisted, their contracts revoked, and their careers destroyed overnight. Many talented performers saw their dreams crushed simply because they didn’t fit the mold of what the studios wanted.

Grant, once on the path to superstardom, became another casualty of the studio system.

While Grant later appeared in projects like Valley of the Dolls, Columbo, Shampoo, and Mulholland Drive – and eventually won an American Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress – she struggled to find work throughout the 50s and early 60s. The offers stopped coming, and her name gradually faded from the headlines.