For film noir buffs, Gloria Grahame was a goddess of the genre, starring in such films as Nicholas Ray's 1950 "In a Lonely Place" and Fritz Lang's 1953 "The Big Heat," in which her face was on the losing end of a thrown pot of boiling water.

She could make the most out of a small scene - winning the supporting actress Oscar for 1952's "The Bad and the Beautiful" (she's on screen for 9 minutes, 32 seconds). And musical fans know her as Ado Annie in 1955's "Oklahoma!" the girl "who can't say no."

But her personal life got in the way of superstardom. Married four times, she endured custody battles and saw her career practically disappear after she married Anthony Ray, her former stepson from her marriage to Ray. She was 36 and he was 23.

In the new drama "Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool," which opens Friday, Annette Bening plays Grahame in her 50s, battling a resurgence of cancer while working in TV, film and theater and England and finding love with up-and-coming young British actor Peter Turner (Jamie Bell), nearly 30 years her junior. Turner's book of the same name is the basis for the film.

We talked with some of those who acted with her and knew her about Grahame's life and career.