Susan Hayward (born Edythe Marrenner; June 30, 1917 – March 14, 1975) was an American film actress, best known for her film portrayals of women that were based on true stories.
After working as a fashion model for the
Walter Thornton
Walter Miller Thornton (February 18, 1875 – July 14, 1960) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher who played from 1895 through 1898 for the Chicago Colts / Orphans.
A skilled athlete who excelled in baseball, Thornton pitched Snohom ...
Model Agency, Hayward traveled to Hollywood in 1937 to audition for the role of
Scarlett O'Hara
Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler is a fictional character and the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel ''Gone with the Wind'' and in the 1939 film of the same name, where she is portrayed by Vivien Leigh. She also is the ...
. She secured a film contract and played several small supporting roles over the next few years.
By the late 1940s, the quality of her film roles improved, and she achieved recognition for her dramatic abilities with the first of five
Academy Award for Best Actress
The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year ...
nominations for her performance as an alcoholic in ''
Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman
''Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman'', also called ''A Woman Destroyed'', is a 1947 American drama film with elements of film noir that tells the story of a rising nightclub singer who marries another singer and becomes an alcoholic after sacrificin ...
'' (1947). Hayward's success continued through the 1950s as she received nominations for ''
My Foolish Heart'' (1949), ''
With a Song in My Heart'' (1952), and ''
I'll Cry Tomorrow'' (1955), winning the Academy Award for her portrayal of
death row
Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution ...
inmate
Barbara Graham in ''
I Want to Live!'' (1958). For her performance in ''I'll Cry Tomorrow'' she won the
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress.
After Hayward's second marriage and subsequent move to
Georgia, her film appearances became infrequent; although she continued acting in film and television until 1972. She died in 1975 of
brain cancer
A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and second ...
.
Early life
Hayward was born Edythe Marrenner on June 30, 1917, in the
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
borough of New York City, the youngest of three children to Ellen (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Pearson; 1888–1958) and Walter Marrenner (1879–1938). Her mother was of Swedish descent. She had an older sister, Florence, and an older brother, Walter, Jr. In 1924, Marrenner was hit by a car, suffering a fractured hip and broken legs that put her in a partial body cast with the resulting bone setting leaving her with a distinctive hip swivel later in life.
Hayward was educated at Public School 181 and graduated from the Girls' Commercial High School in June 1935 (later renamed
Prospect Heights High School
Prospect Heights High School, formerly The Girls' Commercial High School, is a defunct comprehensive high school that served the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City from the 1920s to 2006. Prospect Heights Campus is the co ...
). According to the
Erasmus Hall High School alumni page, Hayward attended that school in the mid-1930s, although she only recollected swimming at the pool for a dime during hot summers in
Flatbush, Brooklyn. During her high school years, she acted in various school plays, and was named "Most Dramatic" by her class.
Career
Hayward began her career as a
model, traveling to
Hollywood in 1937 to try out for the role of
Scarlett O'Hara
Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler is a fictional character and the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel ''Gone with the Wind'' and in the 1939 film of the same name, where she is portrayed by Vivien Leigh. She also is the ...
in ''
Gone with the Wind''. Though Hayward did not get the part, she was used for other actors' screen tests by
David Selznick
David O. Selznick (May 10, 1902June 22, 1965) was an American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive who produced '' Gone with the Wind'' (1939) and ''Rebecca'' (1940), both of which earned him an Academy Award for Best Picture.
...
and received a contract at
Warner Bros
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
.
Warner Bros.
Talent agent Max Arnow changed Marrenner's name to Susan Hayward once she started her six-month contract for $50 a week with Warner's.
Hayward had bit parts in ''
Hollywood Hotel'' (1937), ''
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse'' (1938) (her part was edited out), and ''
The Sisters'' (1938), as well as in a short, ''Campus Cinderella'' (1938).
Hayward's first sizeable role was with
Ronald Reagan in ''
Girls on Probation'' (1938), where she was a strong 10th in billing. She was also in ''
Comet Over Broadway
''Comet over Broadway'' (1938) is an American film starring Kay Francis and released by Warner Brothers. John Farrow stepped in as director when Busby Berkeley became ill, but Farrow was uncredited on the film.
Plot
Eve Appleton (Francis), wife ...
'' (1938), but returned to unbilled and began posing for
pinup "cheesecake" publicity photos, something she and most actresses despised, but under her contract she had no choice. With Hayward's contract at Warner Bros. finished, she moved on to
Paramount Studios.
Paramount
In 1939, Paramount Studios signed her to a $250 per week contract. Hayward had her first breakthrough in the part of Isobel in ''
Beau Geste
''Beau Geste'' is an adventure novel by British writer P. C. Wren, which details the adventures of three English brothers who enlist separately in the French Foreign Legion following the theft of a valuable jewel from the country house of a re ...
'' (1939) opposite
Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, a ...
and
Ray Milland. She held the small, but important, haunting love of youth role as recalled by the Geste brothers while they searched for a valuable sapphire known as "the blue water" during desert service in the
Foreign Legion; the film was hugely successful.
Paramount put Hayward as the second lead in ''
Our Leading Citizen'' (1939) with
Bob Burns and she then supported
Joe E. Brown in ''
$1000 a Touchdown'' (1939).
Hayward went to Columbia for a supporting role alongside
Ingrid Bergman in ''
Adam Had Four Sons'' (1941), then to Republic Pictures for ''
Sis Hopkins Sis Hopkins may refer to:
* Sis Hopkins (1919 film), a comedy film
* Sis Hopkins (1941 film), an American comedy film
{{dab ...
'' (1941) with
Judy Canova
Judy Canova (November 20, 1913 – August 5, 1983),Although one source gives her birth date as November 20, 1916, (DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland ...
and
Bob Crosby. Back at Paramount, she had the lead in a "
B" film, ''
Among the Living
''Among the Living'' is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Anthrax. It was released on March 16, 1987, by Megaforce Records in the US and by Island Records in the rest of the world. The album is dedicated to Cliff Burton of Me ...
'' (1941).
Cecil B. De Mille
Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cinem ...
gave her a good supporting role in ''
Reap the Wild Wind'' (1942), to costar with Milland,
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Go ...
and
Paulette Goddard. She was in the short ''
A Letter from Bataan
''A Letter from Bataan'' is a 1942 "Victory Short" propaganda film made by Paramount Pictures in collaboration with the U.S. Office of War Information and the United States Government. It was directed by William H. Pine, produced by William C. T ...
'' (1942) and supported Goddard and
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series, in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...
in ''
The Forest Rangers'' (1942).
United Artists and Republic
Hayward costarred in ''
I Married a Witch
''I Married a Witch'' is a 1942 American fantasy romantic comedy film, directed by René Clair, and starring Veronica Lake as a witch whose plan for revenge goes comically awry, with Fredric March as her foil. The film also features Robert Benchl ...
'' (1942) with
Fredric March and
Veronica Lake, as the fiancé of Wallace Wooly (March) before Lake's witch reappears from a Puritanical stake burning 300 years earlier.
The film served as inspiration for the 1960s TV series ''
Bewitched'' and was based on an unfinished novel by
Thorne Smith. It was made for Paramount but was sold to United Artists.
She was next in Paramount's all-star musical review ''
Star Spangled Rhythm'' (1943) that also featured its nonmusical contract players.
Hayward appeared with
William Holden in ''
Young and Willing'' (1943), a Paramount film distributed by UA. She was in Republic's ''
Hit Parade of 1943'' (1943), her singing voice dubbed by Jeanne Darrell.
Sam Bronston borrowed her for ''
Jack London
John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...
'' (1943) at UA. At Republic she was Wayne's love interest in ''
The Fighting Seabees
''The Fighting Seabees'' is a 1944 war film, directed by Edward Ludwig and starring John Wayne and Susan Hayward. The supporting cast includes Dennis O'Keefe, William Frawley, Leonid Kinsky, Addison Richards and Grant Withers. ''The Fighting Seab ...
'' (1944), the biggest budgeted film in that company's history.
She starred in the film version of ''
The Hairy Ape'' (1944) for UA. Back at Paramount she was
Loretta Young's sister in ''
And Now Tomorrow'' (1944). She then left the studio.
RKO gave Hayward her first top billing in ''
Deadline at Dawn'' (1946), a
Clifford Odets written
Noir film, which was
Harold Clurman's only movie as director.
Walter Wanger and stardom
After the war, Hayward's career took off when producer
Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger (born Walter Feuchtwanger; July 11, 1894 – November 18, 1968) was an American film producer active from the 1910s, his career concluding with the turbulent production of ''Cleopatra,'' his last film, in 1963. He began at Param ...
signed her for a seven-year contract at $100,000 a year. Her first film was ''
Canyon Passage'' (1946).
In 1947, she received the first of five
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
nominations for her role as an
alcoholic nightclub singer based on
Dixie Lee in ''Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman'', her second film for Wanger. Although it was not well received by critics, it was popular with audiences and a box office success, launching Hayward as a star.
[Matthew Bernstein, ''Walter Wagner: Hollywood Independent'', Minnesota Press, 2000 p. 443]
RKO used her again for ''
They Won't Believe Me
''They Won't Believe Me'' is a 1947 black-and-white film noir directed by Irving Pichel and starring Robert Young, Susan Hayward and Jane Greer. It was produced by Alfred Hitchcock's longtime assistant and collaborator, Joan Harrison.
Plot
Af ...
'' (1947). She subsequently worked for Wanger on ''
The Lost Moment'' (1948) and ''
Tap Roots
''Tap Roots'' is a 1948 Technicolor Western war film set during the American Civil War. It is very loosely based on the true life story of Newton Knight, a farm owner who attempted to secede Jones County from Mississippi.Stephen Jacobs, ''Bor ...
'' (1948). Both films lost money but the latter was widely seen.
[Matthew Bernstein, ''Walter Wagner: Hollywood Independent'', Minnesota Press, 2000 p. 444]
At Universal Hayward was in ''
The Saxon Charm'' (1948) and she did ''
Tulsa
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...
'' (1949) for Wanger. Both films were commercial disappointments.
20th Century Fox
Hayward went over to
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...
to make ''
House of Strangers'' (1949) for director
Joseph Mankiewicz, beginning a long association with that studio.
Sam Goldwyn borrowed her for ''
My Foolish Heart'' (1949), which earned her an Oscar nomination, then she went back to Fox for ''
I'd Climb the Highest Mountain
'' I'd Climb the Highest Mountain'' is a 1951 Technicolor religious drama film made by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation. It was directed by Henry King and produced by Lamar Trotti from a screenplay by King and Trotti. The story is based ...
'' (1951), which was a hit.
She stayed at that studio to make the western ''
Rawhide'' (1951) with
Tyrone Power
Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include ''Jesse James (193 ...
, and the romantic drama ''
I Can Get It for You Wholesale
''I Can Get It for You Wholesale'' is a musical, produced by David Merrick, music and lyrics by Harold Rome, and book by Jerome Weidman, based on his 1937 novel of the same title. It marked the Broadway debut of 19-year-old Barbra Streisand, ...
'' (1951).
Hayward then starred in three massive successes: ''
David and Bathsheba'' (1951) with
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood ...
, the most popular film of the year;
''
With a Song in My Heart'' (1952), a biopic of
Jane Froman, which earned her an Oscar nomination; and ''
The Snows of Kilimanjaro'' (1952), with Peck and
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her perform ...
.
RKO borrowed Hayward for ''
The Lusty Men'' (1952) with
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...
, then she went back to Fox for ''
The President's Lady'' (1953), playing
Rachel Jackson alongside
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923April 5, 2008) was an American actor and political activist.
As a Hollywood star, he appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Moses in the epic film ''The Ten ...
; ''
White Witch Doctor'' (1953) again a costar with Mitchum; ''
Demetrius and the Gladiators'' (1954), as
Messalina
Valeria Messalina (; ) was the third wife of Roman emperor Claudius. She was a paternal cousin of Emperor Nero, a second cousin of Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of Emperor Augustus. A powerful and influential woman with a reputation ...
; ''
Garden of Evil
''Garden of Evil'' is a 1954 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Henry Hathaway, about three somewhat disreputable 19th-century soldiers of fortune, played by Gary Cooper as an ex-lawman, Richard Widmark as a gambler, and Cameron M ...
'' (1954) with Gary Cooper and
Richard Widmark; and ''
Untamed'' (1955) with Tyrone Power. Hayward then starred with
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...
in ''
Soldier of Fortune'' (1955), a
CinemaScope
CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...
film that was a box office miss.
Peak
MGM hired Hayward to play the alcoholic showgirl/actress
Lillian Roth
Lillian Roth (December 13, 1910 – May 12, 1980) was an American singer and actress.
Her life story was told in the 1955 film '' I'll Cry Tomorrow'', in which she was portrayed by Susan Hayward, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best ...
in ''
I'll Cry Tomorrow'' (1955), based on Roth's best-selling
autobiography of the same title, for which she received a
Cannes
Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ...
award. It was a major financial success.
[.]
Although Hayward never truly became known as a singer—she disliked her own singing–she portrayed singers in several films. However, in ''I'll Cry Tomorrow''—whose vocals were once widely attributed to professional
ghost singer Marni Nixon—Hayward sang the vocals undubbed and appears on the soundtrack. Hayward performed in the musical biography of singer
Jane Froman in the 1952 film, ''
With a Song in My Heart'', a role which won her the
Golden Globe
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...
for Best Actress Actress In A Leading Role – Musical Or Comedy. Jane Froman's voice was recorded and used for the film as Hayward acted out the songs.
In 1956, she was cast by
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in t ...
to play Bortai in the historical epic ''
The Conqueror'', as John Wayne's leading lady. It was critically deprecated but a commercial success. She did a comedy with
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. D ...
, ''
Top Secret Affair'' (1956) which flopped.
Hayward's last film with Wanger, ''
I Want to Live!'' (1958), in which she played death row inmate
Barbara Graham, was a critical and commercial success and won Hayward the
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for Best Actress for her portrayal. Many movie pundits have referred to her performance in I Want To Live as the greatest Hollywood acting performance ever, of any actress, of all time.
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...
of ''The New York Times'' wrote that her performance was "so vivid and so shattering ... Anyone who could sit through this ordeal without shivering and shuddering is made of stone." Hayward received 37% of the film's net profits.
Decline as star
Hayward made ''
Thunder in the Sun'' (1959) with
Jeff Chandler, a mediocre wagon train picture about
French Basque pioneers, which was a modest success financially, and then ''
Woman Obsessed
''Woman Obsessed'' is a 1959 romantic drama film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Susan Hayward, Stephen Boyd, Barbara Nichols, Dennis Holmes, Theodore Bikel, Ken Scott, James Philbrook, and Florence MacMichael. The screenplay concerns th ...
'' (1959) at Fox.
In 1961, Hayward starred as a shrewd working girl who becomes the wife of the state's next governor (
Dean Martin
Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...
) and ultimately takes over the office herself in ''
Ada
Ada may refer to:
Places
Africa
* Ada Foah, a town in Ghana
* Ada (Ghana parliament constituency)
* Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria
Asia
* Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran
* Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, T ...
''. The same year, she played Rae Smith in
Ross Hunter
Ross Hunter (born Martin Terry Fuss; May 6, 1916 or 1920 – March 10, 1996) was an American film and television producer and actor. He is best known for producing light comedies such as '' Pillow Talk'' (1959), and the glamorous melodramas '' ...
's lavish remake of ''
Back Street'', which also starred
John Gavin and
Vera Miles
Vera June Miles (née Ralston, born August 23, 1929) is an American retired actress who worked closely with Alfred Hitchcock, most notably as Lila Crane in the classic 1960 film '' Psycho'', reprising the role in the 1983 sequel '' Psycho II'' ...
. Neither film was particularly successful; nor were ''
I Thank a Fool'' (1962) at MGM, ''
Stolen Hours'' (1963), and ''
Where Love Has Gone'' (1964), which co-starred
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her p ...
.
Later career
Hayward was reunited with
Joseph Mankiewicz in ''
The Honey Pot'' (1967). Then she replaced
Judy Garland
Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...
as Helen Lawson in the film adaptation of
Jacqueline Susann's
''Valley of the Dolls'' (1967), which drew terrible reviews but made money at the box office.
She received good reviews for her performance at
Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks.
Caesar ...
in the
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...
production of ''
Mame'' that opened in December 1968. She was replaced by
Celeste Holm
Celeste Holm (April 29, 1917 – July 15, 2012) was an American stage, film and television actress.
Holm won an Academy Award for her performance in Elia Kazan's '' Gentleman's Agreement'' (1947), and was nominated for her roles in ''Come to ...
in March 1969 after her voice gave out and she had to leave the production.
She continued to act into the early 1970s, when she was diagnosed with brain cancer.
She appeared in the TV movie ''Heat of Anger'' (1972) and the western film ''
The Revengers'' (1972) with William Holden.
Her final film role was as Dr. Maggie Cole in the 1972 made-for-TV drama ''
Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole
''Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole'' is a 1972 American made-for-television drama film directed by Jud Taylor and starring Susan Hayward, Darren McGavin, Michael Constantine, Michele Nichols, Dane Clark, Beverly Garland and Jeanette Nolan.
Plot
A widowed ...
''. Intended to be the
pilot episode
A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in television in the United States, United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a te ...
for a television series, "Maggie Cole" was never produced because of Hayward's failing health. Her last public appearance was at the Academy Awards telecast in 1974 to present the Best Actress award despite being very ill. With
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923April 5, 2008) was an American actor and political activist.
As a Hollywood star, he appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Moses in the epic film ''The Ten ...
's support, she was able to present the award.
Personal life
During World War II, Hayward supported the war effort by volunteering at the
Hollywood Canteen, where she met her first husband, actor
Jess Barker. They married on July 23, 1944, and on February 19, 1945, fraternal twin sons named Gregory and Timothy were born. The marriage was turbulent, with a judge granting an
interlocutory divorce decree on August 17, 1954.
During the contentious divorce proceedings, Hayward stayed in the United States rather than join the
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
location shoot for the film ''Soldier of Fortune.'' She shot her scenes on a
sound stage
A sound stage (also written soundstage) is a soundproof, large structure, building, or room with large doors and high ceilings, used for the production of theatrical film-making and television productions, usually located on a secured movie or ...
with co-star
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...
in Hollywood. A few brief, distant scenes of Gable and a Hayward double walking near landmarks in Hong Kong were combined with the indoor shots. By April 1955, the stress of divorce proceedings and overwork prompted a suicide attempt.
In 1957, Hayward married Floyd Eaton Chalkley, commonly known as Eaton Chalkley, a successful Georgia rancher and businessman who had worked as a federal agent. The marriage was a happy one. They lived on a farm near
Carrollton, Georgia, and owned property across the state line in
Cleburne County, just outside
Heflin, Alabama. She became a popular figure in the area in the late 1950s. In December 1964, she and her husband were
baptized
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost i ...
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
by Father Daniel J. McGuire at SS. Peter and Paul's Roman Catholic Church on Larimer Avenue, in the
East Liberty section of
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, fulfilling a promise made in China to McGuire, that if she ever converted, he would be the one to baptize her. Chalkley died on January 9, 1966. Hayward went into mourning and did little acting for several years. She took up residence in Florida, because she preferred not to live in her Georgia home without her husband.
Before her Catholic baptism, Hayward had been a proponent of
astrology
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...
. She particularly relied on the advice of
Carroll Righter
Carroll Righter (February 2, 1900 – April 30, 1988) was known as the "astrologer to the stars". He wrote a syndicated daily advice column for 166 newspapers around the world and was reputed to be an advisor to Ronald Reagan, Ronald and Nancy Reag ...
, who called himself "the Gregarious Aquarius" and the self-proclaimed "Astrologer to the Stars", who informed her that the optimal time to sign a film contract was exactly 2:47 a.m., causing her to set her alarm for 2:45 so she could be sure to obey his instructions.
Death
Hayward's doctor found a lung tumor in March 1972 that
metastasized, and after a seizure in April 1973, she was diagnosed with brain metastases. On March 14, 1975, she suffered a seizure in her Beverly Hills home and died at the age of 57. A funeral service was held on March 16 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church in
Carrollton, Georgia. Hayward's body was buried in the church's cemetery.
Theories about the
radioactive
Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is consi ...
fallout from atmospheric
atomic bomb tests surround the making of ''
The Conqueror'' in
St. George, Utah. Several production members, including Hayward,
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Go ...
,
Agnes Moorehead,
Pedro Armendáriz
Pedro Gregorio Armendáriz Hastings (May 9, 1912 – June 18, 1963) was a Mexican film actor who made films in both Mexico and the United States. With Dolores del Río and María Félix, he was one of the best-known Latin American movie stars ...
(who committed suicide after a diagnosis of cancer), and director
Dick Powell
Richard Ewing Powell (November 14, 1904 – January 2, 1963) was an American actor, musician, producer, director, and studio head. Though he came to stardom as a musical comedy performer, he showed versatility, and successfully transformed into ...
later succumbed to cancer and cancer-related illnesses. As ascertained by
''People'' magazine in 1980, out of a cast and crew totaling 220 people, 91 of them developed some form of cancer, and 46 had died of the disease.
Susan Hayward has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif ...
at 6251 Hollywood Boulevard.
Filmography
Box office rankings
For a number of years, exhibitors voted Hayward among the most popular stars in the United States:
*1951 – 19th
*1952 – 9th
*1953 – 9th
*1954 – 14th
*1955 – 19th
*1956 – 13th
*1959 – 10th
*1961 – 19th
Radio appearances
See also
*
List of notable brain tumor patients
A brain tumor is an abnormal growth of cells within the brain or inside the skull, and can be cancerous ( malignant) or non-cancerous (benign). Just over half of all primary brain tumors are malignant; the rest are benign, though they may still be ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
*
*
Article about the radioactive film set (from
The Straight Dope)
Susan Hayward @ FashionState.comPhotographs and bibliographySusan Hayward collection at the University of West Georgia
Image of Susan Hayward with her sons Tim and Greg, Academy Awards, Los Angeles, 1956.Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections,
Charles E. Young Research Library
The Charles E. Young Research Library is one of the largest libraries on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles in Westwood, Los Angeles, California. It initially opened in 1964, and a second phase of construction was completed ...
,
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...
.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayward, Susan
1917 births
1975 deaths
20th Century Studios contract players
20th-century American actresses
Actresses from New York City
American film actresses
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Best Actress Academy Award winners
Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners
Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (film) winners
Burials in Georgia (U.S. state)
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress winners
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Deaths from brain cancer in the United States
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