Georgina Spelvin Bio

My birth name is Shelley Bob Graham. I was born March 1, 1936 at 2:21pm in Houston, Texas in the middle of an unseasonable heat wave. My early childhood was spent traveling from town to town with Daddy's oil exploration crew. He was a graduate of Texas A&M, so went into the Army in 1941 as a First Louie and. retired as Lt. Colonel after the war. He went back on the road, but Mom opted to stay in Austin where she had taken on the restoration of her Grandmother's farm – now in the middle of downtown – during his time overseas. We lived there until I finished 7th grade. Then we joined Dad in Marshall, Texas where, though only in the eighth grade I achieved acceptance in the Tri-State Championship Marching Band and lost my virginity to the fist chair trombonist. I brought home straight A's all through school. Mom never allowed the Texas school system to interrupt my education. Dad was put in charge of the East Texas office and we moved to Tyler.

Even though this was supposed to be a permanent office job, Mom never hung drapes in the living room because she said every time she did, they moved. The new band was lousy. It had been my plan since age three to join a ballet company as soon as possible. I compromised with a job in the chorus of the Dallas State Fair Musicals in 1954. From there it was on to New York to conquer Broadway! Broadway won, but I did get to work in two shows: Pajama Game and Cabaret. I also got to dance in the movie adaptations of Hello Dolly and Sweet Charity. Growing long in the tooth, as we Gypsy dancers say of ourselves, I looked for work in related fields. Besotted with love of the cinema, I took any job I could get that was anywhere near it. This led eventually to my playing the title role in The Devil in Miss Jones. Work in quite a few such films came my way during the year between making the Devil and its release and unexpected acclaim. When the publicity hit the fan, I ducked and hid out for the next thirty years. Then I wrote this book. The Devil Made Me Do It. Now I find myself confronting all thestions I avoided back then, and having a rather good time doing so – so – ask away. GeorginasWorld.com

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