Susan Hayward


Actor
Susan Hayward

About

Also Known As
Edythe Marriner
Birth Place
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Born
June 30, 1917
Died
March 14, 1975
Cause of Death
Brain Tumor

Biography

Pretty, exuberant leading lady who began her Hollywood career in 1937 as a bit player and was a star by the mid-1940s. Talented and tempestuous, with a penchant for playing ripe melodrama with all the stops out, Hayward reached her peak in the early 1950s in such enjoyably sudsy vehicles as "My Foolish Heart" (1950), "With a Song in My Heart" (1952) and "I'll Cry Tomorrow" (1955). She wa...

Photos & Videos

I Want to Live! - Movie Posters
The Marriage-Go-Round - Movie Posters
The Conqueror - Movie Posters

Family & Companions

John Carroll
Companion
Actor. Engaged in early 1940s; relationship ended.
Jess Barker
Husband
Actor. Married on July 24, 1944; divorced on August 18, 1954.
Eaton Chalkley
Husband
Lawyer, businessman. From Georgia; met at a Christmas party in 1955; married from 1957 until his death on January 9, 1966.

Notes

Besides her win for "I Want to Live" (1958), Hayward was also nominated for Best Actress for "Smash Up: The Story of a Woman" (1947), "My Foolish Heart" (1950), "With a Song in My Heart" (1952), and "I'll Cry Tomorrow" (1955).

Biography

Pretty, exuberant leading lady who began her Hollywood career in 1937 as a bit player and was a star by the mid-1940s. Talented and tempestuous, with a penchant for playing ripe melodrama with all the stops out, Hayward reached her peak in the early 1950s in such enjoyably sudsy vehicles as "My Foolish Heart" (1950), "With a Song in My Heart" (1952) and "I'll Cry Tomorrow" (1955). She was often cast as the brassy, defiant heroine, as in her Oscar-winning role "I Want to Live!" (1958), where she splendidly played the real-life Barbara Graham, a woman who was wrongly sentenced to death. Hayward's stardom petered out by the mid-60s, but she continued playing occasional leads and character roles (including a part as a past-her-prime film star in the abysmal "Valley of the Dolls" 1969) on film and TV until shortly before her death of a brain tumor in 1975.

Filmography

 

Cast (Feature Film)

The Revengers (1972)
Elizabeth [Reilly]
Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole (1972)
Dr Maggie Cole
Heat of Anger (1972)
Jessie Fitzgerald
The Honey Pot (1967)
Mrs. Lone-Star Crockett Sheridan
Valley of the Dolls (1967)
Helen Lawson
Where Love Has Gone (1964)
Valerie Hayden Miller
Stolen Hours (1963)
Laura Pember
I Thank a Fool (1962)
Christine Allison
Ada (1961)
Ada
Back Street (1961)
Rae Smith
The Marriage-Go-Round (1960)
Content Delville
Woman Obsessed (1959)
Mary Sharron
Thunder in the Sun (1959)
Gabrielle Dauphin
I Want to Live! (1958)
Barbara [Ward] Graham
Top Secret Affair (1957)
Dorothy "Dottie" Peale
The Conqueror (1956)
Bortai
Soldier of Fortune (1955)
Jane Hoyt
Untamed (1955)
Katie O'Neill Kildare
I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955)
Lillian Roth
Garden of Evil (1954)
Leah Fuller
Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954)
Messalina
White Witch Doctor (1953)
Ellen Burton
The President's Lady (1953)
Rachel Donelson Robards Jackson
With a Song in My Heart (1952)
Jane Froman
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)
Helen
The Lusty Men (1952)
Louise Merritt
David and Bathsheba (1951)
Bathsheba
I'd Climb the Highest Mountain (1951)
Mary Elizabeth Thompson, neé Eden
I Can Get It for You Wholesale (1951)
Harriet Boyd
Rawhide (1951)
Vinnie Holt
My Foolish Heart (1950)
Eloise Winters [Wengler]
House of Strangers (1949)
Irene Bennett
Tulsa (1949)
Cherokee "Cherry" Lansing
The Saxon Charm (1948)
Janet Busch
Tap Roots (1948)
Morna Dabney
The Lost Moment (1947)
Tina Bordereau
Smash Up--The Story of a Woman (1947)
Angie Evans Conway
They Won't Believe Me (1947)
Verna Carlson
Deadline at Dawn (1946)
June Goffe
Canyon Passage (1946)
Lucy Overmire
The Fighting Seabees (1944)
Constance Chesley
The Hairy Ape (1944)
Mildred Douglas
And Now Tomorrow (1944)
Janice Blair
Jack London (1943)
Charmian Kittredge
Hit Parade of 1943 (1943)
Jill Wright
Young and Willing (1943)
Kate Benson
Star Spangled Rhythm (1943)
Herself, Genevieve in skit, "Priorities" number
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
Drusilla Alston
The Forest Rangers (1942)
Tana Mason
I Married a Witch (1942)
Estelle Masterson
Among the Living (1941)
Millie Pickens
Adam Had Four Sons (1941)
Hester [Stoddard]
Sis Hopkins (1941)
Carol Hopkins
Beau Geste (1939)
Isobel Rivers
Our Leading Citizen (1939)
Judith Schofield
$1,000 a Touchdown (1939)
Betty McGlen
The Sisters (1938)
Telephone operator
Girls on Probation (1938)
Gloria Adams
Comet over Broadway (1938)
Amateur actor

Cast (Special)

A Midwife's Tale (1998)

Cast (Short)

Campus Cinderella (1938)

Life Events

1923

Struck by a car and spent a year recovering from her injuries

1937

Had bit part in "Hollywood Hotel"

1938

Film acting debut in "Girls on Probation"

1941

Played notable early leading or second lead roles in "Among the Living", "Reap the Wild Wind" and "I Married a Witch"

1947

Received first Oscar nomination as Best Actress for "Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman"; star status consolidated by this time

1955

Attempted suicide after custody battle with husband Jess Barker over their twins

1959

Returned to the top ten boxoffice status poll; placed 10th

1964

Last starring vehicle, "Where Love Has Gone"

1972

Last film, "The Revengers"

Photo Collections

I Want to Live! - Movie Posters
Here are a few original-release movie posters for I Want to Live! (1958), starring Susan Hayward.
The Marriage-Go-Round - Movie Posters
The Marriage-Go-Round - Movie Posters
The Conqueror - Movie Posters
The Conqueror - Movie Posters
The Lusty Men - Movie Poster
The Lusty Men - Movie Poster
Back Street (1961) - Publicity Stills
Back Street (1961) - Publicity Stills
Back Street (1961) - Scene Stills
Back Street (1961) - Scene Stills
Back Street (1961) - Movie Posters
Back Street (1961) - Movie Posters
Back Street (1961) - Color Scene Stills
Back Street (1961) - Color Scene Stills
Back Street (1961) - Lobby Card Set
Back Street (1961) - Lobby Card Set
Back Street (1961) - Behind-the-Scenes Photos
Back Street (1961) - Behind-the-Scenes Photos
Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman - Publicity Stills
Here are a few stills taken to publicize Universal's Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman (1947), starring Susan Hayward and Lee Bowman. Publicity stills were specially-posed photos, usually taken off the set, for purposes of publicity or reference for promotional artwork.
The Hairy Ape - Lobby Cards
Here are a few lobby cards from The Hairy Ape (1944), starring William Bendix and Susan Hayward. Lobby Cards were 11" x 14" posters that came in sets of 8. As the name implies, they were most often displayed in movie theater lobbies, to advertise current or coming attractions.

Videos

Movie Clip

I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955) -- (Movie Clip) We Did What? Newly happy and confident now that she's using alcohol to cope with grief over the death of her first husband, singer Lillian Roth (Susan Hayward) on a wild date with soldier Wallie (Don Taylor), whom she scarcely knows, in I'll Cry Tomorrow, 1955.
I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955) -- (Movie Clip) Sing You Sinners Grand entrance for Susan Hayward, as the now grown-up Lillian Roth, in Hollywood shooting the number "Sing, You Sinners" by W. Franke Harling and Sam Coslow, as made famous by the real Roth in Honey, 1930, Jo Van Fleet her preening mother, in I'll Cry Tomorrow, 1955.
I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955) -- (Movie Clip) Adorable Drunk Losing her grip again, now in the thrall of her money-grubbing third husband Tony (Richard Conte), singer Lillian Roth (Susan Hayward) has an incident in an LA bar, in I'll Cry Tomorrow, 1955.
House Of Strangers (1949) -- (Movie Clip) Vengeance Is A Rare Wine Susan Hayward, not yet identified as Irene, enters the uptown apartment where we’ve just seen Richard Conte, as newly paroled Max Monetti, arrive, after facing off with his brothers at their family-owned Lower Manhattan bank, and their first encounter, in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s House Of Strangers, 1949.
House Of Strangers (1949) -- (Movie Clip) Money Is A Great Cleanser Having jumped back in time at least seven years, to when Manhattan Italian banker Gino Monetti (Edward G. Robinson) lived, we see the first meeting of Susan Hayward as Irene and Richard Conte as his son and in-house lawyer Max, Paul Valentine as the younger brother and security guard, in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s House Of Strangers, 1949.
I Want to Live (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Opening, Mulligan et al. The prologue from San Francisco reporter Ed Montgomery, then Johnny Mandel's opening theme with an outrageous jazz band, Gerry Mulligan on baritone, Art Farmer trumpet, Shelly Manne on drums, in director Robert Wise's I Want to Live, 1958.
They Won't Believe Me (1947) -- How Do You Know I'll Show Up? Larry (Robert Young) can't forget about Verna (Susan Hayward). so he's summoned her to the mountains to share his new plan to fleece his wife, in They Won't Believe Me, 1947.
Deadline At Dawn (1946) -- (Movie Clip) It Rhymes With Moon Savvy New York taxi-dancer June (Susan Hayward) has volunteered to accompany small-town on-leave sailor Alex (Bill Williams) as he tries to return a bundle of cash he thinks he must have stolen while drunk, in Deadline At Dawn, 1946, from a Cornell Woolrich story.
Deadline At Dawn (1946) -- (Movie Clip) Let's Melt Some Ice Together Sailor Alex (Bill Williams), secretly afraid he’s committed a murder while drunk, is reluctant to part with kindly cabbie Gus (Paul Lukas), but meets taxi-dancer June (Susan Hayward) back at the scene, both discovering they still haven’t found evidence clearing him, in Deadline At Dawn, 1946.
Lusty Men, The (1952) -- (Movie Clip) Different Kind Of Buzz Ranch cow-hand and rodeo fanatic Wes (Arthur Kennedy) and wife Louise (Susan Hayward) are entertaining their new friend, has-been rodeo rider Jeff McCloud (Robert Mitchum), who’s just been hired on, in Nicholas Ray's The Lusty Men, 1952.
Lusty Men, The (1952) -- (Movie Clip) Found You In A Tamale Joint Fiery Louise (Susan Hayward) decides to visit ex-rodeo rider Jeff (Robert Mitchum), wrongly convinced that he’s behind her husband’s decision to quit the ranch where they both work and take up rodeo riding, to earn the money to buy a house, in Nicholas Ray’s The Lusty Men, 1952.
Lusty Men, The (1952) -- (Movie Clip) Strong Back And A Weak Mind Somewhat washed-up rodeo rider Jeff McCloud (Robert Mitchum) has dropped by the house where he grew up, meeting geezer Jeremiah (Burt Mustin), when ranch hand Wes and wife Louise (Arthur Kennedy, Susan Hayward), who want to buy the place, turn up, in Nicholas Ray's The Lusty Men, 1952.

Trailer

I Want to Live! - (Original Trailer) The true story of a small-time lady crook who fought to escape the electric chair in I Want to Live! (1958), starring Susan Hayward.
Snows of Kilimanjaro, The - (Original Trailer) Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Susan Hayward star in the Henry King's adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's story The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952).
Girls on Probation - (Original Trailer) Jane Bryan is one of the Girls On Probation (1938). Can attorney Ronald Reagan clear her name?
With A Song In My Heart - (Original Trailer) Singer Jane Froman (Susan Hayward) comes back after a plane crash in the biopic With A Song In My Heart (1952).
Ada - (Original Trailer) Call girl Susan Hayward weds easygoing politician Dean Martin and helps him against corrupt state officials in Ada (1961).
Demetrius and the Gladiators - (Original Trailer) Victor Mature is sentenced to be a gladiator in the sequel to The Robe, Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954).
I Thank A Fool - (Original Trailer) A woman (Susan Hayward) once convicted of euthanasia gets a job caring for her prosecutor's wife in I Thank A Fool (1962).
Lusty Men, The - (Re-issue Trailer) A faded rodeo star mentors a younger rider but falls for his wife in The Lusty Men (1952), directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Robert Mitchum.
Honey Pot, The - (Original Trailer) Rex Harrison plays a millionaire out to fleece former lovers in The Honey Pot (1967) from the writer/director of All About Eve.
Comet Over Broadway - (Original Trailer) Kay Francis plays a stage star whose rampant ambition leads to murder in Busby Berkeley's Comet Over Broadway (1938).
I'll Cry Tomorrow - (Original Trailer) Susan Hayward stars in the true story of singer and actress Lillian Roth and her battle with alcoholism in I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955).

Family

Walter Marrener
Father
Died in 1937.
Ellen Marrener
Mother
Florence Marrener
Sister
Born c. 1910.
Walter Marrener Jr
Brother
Born c. 1912.
Timothy Barker
Son
Twin; born on February 19, 1945 in Santa Monica.
Gregory Barker
Son
Twin; born on February 19, 1945 in Santa Monica.
Joseph Chalkley
Step-Son
Died in September 1964 at age 26 in an accident.

Companions

John Carroll
Companion
Actor. Engaged in early 1940s; relationship ended.
Jess Barker
Husband
Actor. Married on July 24, 1944; divorced on August 18, 1954.
Eaton Chalkley
Husband
Lawyer, businessman. From Georgia; met at a Christmas party in 1955; married from 1957 until his death on January 9, 1966.

Bibliography

Notes

Besides her win for "I Want to Live" (1958), Hayward was also nominated for Best Actress for "Smash Up: The Story of a Woman" (1947), "My Foolish Heart" (1950), "With a Song in My Heart" (1952), and "I'll Cry Tomorrow" (1955).