There's always a race against time. I don't think for one moment that life gets better. How can it? One's body starts to fall apart.

Often cast in film noir projects Grahame received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Crossfire (1947) and Gloria Grahame won this award for her work in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952). It returned in 1980 but Gloria Grahame refused to accept the diagnosis or seek treatment. In 1974 Grahame was diagnosed with breast cancer.