Martha Hyer

Actor

About

Also Known As

Martin Julien, Martha Lou Spring

Birth Place

Fort Worth, Texas, USA

Born

August 10, 1924

Died

May 31, 2014

Filmography

Day of the Wolves (2010)

Once You Kiss a Stranger (1969)

Lee

Crossplot (1969)

Catch As Catch Can (1968)

Luisa Chiaramonte

The Happening (1967)

Monica

House of a Thousand Dolls (1967)

Rebecca

Photos & Videos

View All

Roughshod (1949) -- (Movie Clip) Puttin' Up Fences And Passin' Laws

Roughshod (1949) -- (Movie Clip) I'm Not In His Shoes

Family & Companions

Ray Stahl

Husband

Producer, director. Son of actress Roxanna McGowan and actor Charles Ray; had been adopted by stepfather director John M Stahl; introduced in 1949; became engaged in 1950; married on March 31, 1951; separated and divorced in 1953; died of malignant melanoma in April 1959.

Gene Kelly

Companion

Dancer, actor. Dated in 1954.

George Nader

Companion

Actor. Had on-again, off-again relationship in the mid- to late 1950s; was her date for the 1959 Academy Awards.

Jeff Richards

Companion

Actor. Dated in 1956.

Bibliography

"Finding My Way"

Martha Hyer Wallis (1990)

Biography

Filmography

Life Events

1941

After completing high school, moved with family to San Antonio

1945

While studying at Pasadena Playhouse's summer program, spotted by a talent scout from Paramount; auditions but is not given contract

1946

Singer Ella Logan reportedly saw her photograph on her father's desk and Logan contacted her husband, a producer, to test Hyer

1946

Film debut in uncredited bit role as a party guest in "The Locket"

1947

Had small role as a maid in "Born to Kill"

1951

Contract with RKO ended

1951

After marriage to producer-director Ray Stahl, settled in NYC

1952

Was topbilled in "Geisha Girl", although did not play title character

1953

Had featured role in "Abbott and Costello Go to Mars"

1954

Became a blonde for appearance in the Billy Wilder-directed "Sabrina"

1957

Co-starred with Rock Hudson in "Battle Hymn", the fact-based drama about a minister haunted by his actions during WWII

1957

Cast as the witchy older sister Cordelia in the remake of "My Man Godfrey"

1958

Received Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for playing a prim and proper writing teacher attracted to one of her students (Frank Sinatra) in "Some Came Running"

1959

Portrayed the lusty Herodias in "The Big Fisherman", helmed by Frank Borzage

1963

Played the attractive agent of a best-selling writer in "Wives and Lovers"

1964

Cast as a call girl turned movie star in "The Carpetbaggers", based on the Harold Robbins' novel

1965

Had featured role in "The Sons of Katie Elder", starring John Wayne and Dean Martin

1967

Played the unconcerned wife of a kidnap victim in "The Happening"

1973

Last film, "The Day of the Wolves"

1975

Reportedly did uncredited screenwriting work on "Rooster Cogburn", starring John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn; produced by husband Hal Wallis

1980

Reportedly became involved in the potentially scandalous misuse of money; was in debt to loan sharks; husband called in FBI to investigate and resolve the matter

Photo Collections

First Men IN the Moon - Color Still Set

Here is a set of color stills from Columbia Pictures' First Men IN the Moon (1964). For certain prestigious color productions, studios would send out sets of color stills as promotional material.

Back Street (1961) - Behind-the-Scenes Photos

Some Came Running - Behind-the-Scenes Photos

Here are several photos taken behind-the-scenes during production of Some Came Running (1959), directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Shirley MacLaine.

First Men IN the Moon - Lobby Cards

Here are a few lobby cards from First Men IN the Moon (1964). 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

Roughshod (1949) -- (Movie Clip) Puttin' Up Fences And Passin' Laws Homesteader Jed (Jeff Corey) discovers three drovers murdered by escaped convicts in the opening, bringing them to Aspen, Nevada, when he meets the ladies (Gloria Grahame as Mary, leading Myrna Dell, Martha Hyer, and Jeff Donnell as Elaine) headed for Sonora, early in Roughshod, 1949, starring Robert Sterling.

Roughshod (1949) -- (Movie Clip) I'm Not In His Shoes Rancher Clay (Robert Sterling) and kid brother Steve (Claude Jarman Jr.) are standing guard when Clayton (George Cooper) rides up, looking to rescue Marcia (Martha Hyer), one of the working girls (Gloria Grahame as Mary, with Myrna Dell and Jeff Donnell) they’re escorting to safety, in director Mark Robson’s Roughshod, 1949.

Carpetbaggers, The (1964) -- (Movie Clip) The Best Torture 1925 Nevada, widow Rina (Carroll Baker) with her ex, playboy heir Jonas (George Peppard), whom she dropped for his rich industrialist father who has suddenly died, talking settlement and sex with remarkable explicit language from the steamy Harold Robbins novel, lacking only modern profanity, in The Carpetbaggers, 1964.

Some Came Running (1959) -- (Movie Clip) One Hundred Percent Platonic Long inactive writer Dave (Frank Sinatra) is more interested in creative writing teacher Gwen (Martha Hyer) than in his work, as she reviews his latest, in Vincente Minnelli's Some Came Running, 1959.

Some Came Running (1959) -- (Movie Clip) He Ain't In Love With Me Chicago party-girl Ginny (Shirley MacLaine) visits college teacher Gwen (Martha Hyer) on campus, inquiring about Dave (Frank Sinatra, not seen), a key moment in Vincente Minnelli's Some Came Running, 1959.

Sabrina (1954) -- (Movie Clip) Definitely Animal Linus (Humphrey Bogart) is demo-ing the family corporation’s new plastic when he learns that brother David (William Holden), now enamored with Audrey Hepburn (title character), the chauffeur’s daughter, invited to her first party after two years schooling in Paris, has abandoned his fiancée (Martha Hyer), in Sabrina, 1954.

Picture Mommy Dead (1966) -- (Movie Clip) The Worms Crawl In Spooky opening by producer-director Bert I. Gordon, Zsa Zsa Gabor consumed by flames, after which we meet her traumatized daughter (Susan Gordon, Bert’s daughter), collected by her father (Don Ameche) and his new wife (Martha Hyer), in Picture Mommy Dead, 1966.

Picture Mommy Dead (1966) -- (Movie Clip) What Hell Must Be Like First night home for Susan (Gordon, daughter of director Bert I. Gordon), institutionalized after her mother (Zsa Zsa Gabor) died in a fire, with her father (Don Ameche), his wife, her ex-governess (Martha Hyer), and creepy cousin Anthony (Maxwell Reed), in Picture Mommy Dead, 1966.

Picture Mommy Dead (1966) -- (Movie Clip) Murder! Troubled Susan (Gordon, daughter of producer-directer Bert I. Gordon) has an encounter with the portrait, then the person (Zsa Zsa Gabor) of her likely-murdered mother, joined by her scheming father (Don Ameche), step-mother (Martha Hyer) and cousin (Maxwell Reed), in Picture Mommy Dead, 1966.

Wild Stallion (1952) -- (Movie Clip) Your Biggest Problem After dinner chat, Major Callan (Hayden Rorke) has a proposition for family friend and horse wrangler Dan (Ben Johnson) and partner Johnny (Edgar Buchanan), major's daughter Caroline (Martha Hyer) eavesdropping, early in Wild Stallion, 1952, directed by Andrew V. McLaglen.

My Man Godfrey (1957) -- (Movie Clip) She Had A Beard Updated cars and cameras, June Allyson in the Carole Lombard role, later David Niven in the William Powell role, Martha Hyer in between as the stuck-up sister, Eric Sinclair the lame boyfriend, opening the little-welcomed remake of Gregory La Cava's 1936 original, My Man Godfrey, 1957.

Family

Julien C Hyer

Father

Jurist, politician. Served as a state senator in Texas; was judge advocate with the US Army and was involved with the post-WWII trials of Nazi war criminals; died in 1974.

Agnes Hyer

Mother

Died in 1969.

Brent Wallis

Step-Son

Companions

Ray Stahl

Husband

Gene Kelly

Companion

Dancer, actor. Dated in 1954.

George Nader

Companion

Actor. Had on-again, off-again relationship in the mid- to late 1950s; was her date for the 1959 Academy Awards.

Jeff Richards

Companion

Actor. Dated in 1956.

Hal Wallis

Husband

Producer. Born in 1898; first met at a Hollywood party in 1949; remet on a flight in the early 1960s; married from December 31, 1966 until his death in Octoebr 1986.

Bibliography

"Finding My Way"

Martha Hyer Wallis (1990)

About

Filmography

Photos & Videos

Family & Companions

Bibliography

Biography

Filmography

Cast (Feature Film)

Writer (Feature Film)

Cast (Special)

Life Events

1941

1945

1946

1946

1947

1951

1951

1952

1953

1954

1957

1957

1958

1959

1963

1964

1965

1967

1973

1975

1980

Photo Collections

Videos

Movie Clip

Family

Companions

Bibliography

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