Matinee Monday: Susan Hayward

(1917-1975)

Susan Hayward was born Edythe Marrenner in Brooklyn, New York on June 30, 1917. Her nickname was "Red" because of her beautiful red hair. Susan had dreams of becoming a secretary, but started modeling in New York City. Arriving in Hollywood during 1937, she had her sights set on playing the famous role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind. Her screen name was changed by management because it was as close to Rita Hayworth as they could get away with.In 1937 she got a bit part in the movie "Hollywood Hotel". Then in 1939 she played opposite Gary Cooper in Beau Geste. In 1941 she played Millie Perkins in the offbeat thriller "Among the Living". And in 1942 and 1944, Susan starred with John Wayne in two films, "Reap the wild wind" and "The fighting Seabees". In 1944 she also starred in the film version of The Hairy Ape.After the war, she had established herself as one of Hollywood's most popular leading ladies in films such as Tap Roots (1948), My Foolish Heart (1949) In 1951 she starred in David and Bathsheba and in 1952 the movie With a Song in My Heart.
In 1944 Susan was married to a man named Jess Barker. They had two children. The relationship was described as a very rocky one and they divorced in 1954.In 1947, Susan received the first of five Academy Award nominations for her role as an alcoholic nightclub singer in "Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman. But she lost to Loretta Young for The Farmer's Daughter. In 1949 she was nominated again for My Foolish Heart, but once again lost to Olivia de Havilland for The Heiress. Following a third nomination for "With a Song in My Heart", in 1953 she starred as Rachel Donaldson Robards Jackson in The President's Lady.

In 1953 Susan starred in I'll cry tomorrow which she received her fourth Oscar Nomination. By then she wondered if she would ever win such an award. Her patience finally paid off when in 1958 she gave the performance of her lifetime as real-life California killer Barbara Graham in I Want to Live! She played a innocent woman who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in the gas chamber. Critics say "I Want to Live" was Susan Hayward's best work. And she finally won her Academy Award that she had worked so hard for and waited so long.
In 1957 Susan married Eaton Chalkley, a Georgia rancher and businessman. The two seemed to be very happy. They lived together in Carrollton, Georgia where Susan became a "popular figure". In 1964 she and her husband were baptized Catholic and in 1966 Chalkley died which left Susan very sad and in mourning for a few years where she did little acting.Susan's last film "The Revengers" was in 1972. Soon after, Susan had been diagnosed with brain cancer, and after a long battle she passed away on March 14, 1975, in Hollywood. She was 57 years old.Susan Hayward was a beautiful woman and wonderful actress. She was taken away far too soon. She has always been a favorite of mine because she was a very feisty and independent woman which I always admire. She also reminds me a lot of my grandma (red hair, beautiful, fiesty on and off screen).

Susan was cremated and buried at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church in Carrollton, Georgia. There is a grave site marker for visitors. Fans can also visit Susan's star at 6251 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood California.


Famous Quotes:

"I never thought of myself as a movie star. I'm just a working girl. A working girl who worked her way to the top -- and never fell off."

"When you're dead, you're dead. No one is going to remember me when I'm dead. Oh maybe a few friends will remember me affectionately. Being remembered isn't the most important thing anyhow. It's what you do when you are here that's important."

"My life is fair game for anybody. I spent an unhappy penniless childhood in Brooklyn. I had to slug my way up in a town called Hollywood where people love to trample you to death. I don't relax because I don't know how. I don't want to know how. Life is too short to relax."

You aim at all the things you have been told that stardom means -- the rich life, the applause, the parties cluttered with celebrities. Then you find that you have it all. And it is nothing, really nothing. It is like a drug that lasts just a few hours, a sleeping pill. When it wears off, you have to live without its help.