Susan Hayward is an American actress who started her professional career as a fashion model and then moved to Hollywood to act in films. Thanks to her determination and hard work, a simple girl from Brooklyn was able to break through to the top of the film Olympus and receive one of the most prestigious awards in the field of cinema "Oscar".
Biography
Susan Hayward, at the birth of Edith Marrenner, was born in the Brooklyn suburb of New York, USA on June 30, 1917. Her father, Walter Marrener, worked as a subway guard, and her mother, Ellen Pearson, was a stenographer.
Susan is the youngest of three children in the family. The girl had an older sister named Florence and a brother who, like her father, was named Walter. She attended Girls Commercial High School. And after graduating from school instead of being a secretary, she decided to try her hand at being a model in New York.
New York, 1932 Photo: derivative work Massimo Catarinell / Wikimedia Commons
In 1937, a meeting took place that changed Susan's future. Famed American screenwriter and film producer David Selznick saw her on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post and invited her to Hollywood to cast for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind.
She failed screen tests, and Selznick advised her to forget about Hollywood and return home. But the actress was determined to conquer the American film industry and fate gave her a second chance. She met producer Benny Medford by chance. The actress managed to convince him to give her the role, and he insisted on the pseudonym Susan Hayward, which would later be inscribed in the Hollywood film history.
Career
Susan Hayward made her Hollywood debut in 1937 at the Holiday Hotel, where she was given a small role after signing with Warner Bros. In 1938, she was able to get cameo roles in two films at once: "Girl on an internship" and "Comet over Broadway."
Film concern Warner Bros., 1920 Photo: WarnerMedia / Wikimedia Commons
The first notable work in the career of Susan Hayward happened in 1939. In the action adventure "Pretty Boy Gesture," she plays an innocent young girl who loses her fiancé in the French Foreign Legion. After the release of this picture for hire, the aspiring actress drew attention.
In 1941, she starred in Adam Had Four Sons, playing one of the key roles alongside the outstanding American actress Ingrid Bergman and Warner Baxter. In the same year, she appeared as a self-serving young girl Millie Pickens in the crime drama "Among the Living" by Stuart Heisler.
However, the actress was not satisfied with the number of roles she was offered. She decided to talk with the head of Paramount Studios, after which she began to receive the most interesting offers in the cinema. Among them work in the melodrama "Reap the Storm" (1942) directed by Cecil B. DeMille (1942) with Paulette Goddard and John Wayne, as well as filming in the romantic comedy I Married a Witch (1942).
In 1944, the film On the Line of Fire was released. In a war drama about the events of the Second World War, the actress appeared in a creative alliance with perhaps the most sought-after Hollywood actor of that time, the "king of the Western" John Wayne. This work made the actress popular not only in the world of cinema, but also among the audience.
Actor John Wayne Photo: unknown author / Wikimedia Commons
Several years later, she played the role of a nightclub dancer who is trying to help a sailor accused of murder. The film was released under the title Deadline - At Dawn, and received positive reviews from film critics.
In 1947, the actress collaborated with independent producer Walter Wanger on Catastrophe: A Woman's Story. She played the role of a married singer who suffers from alcohol addiction. For this work, Hayward received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. But she could not get around the famous American actress Loretta Young.
In 1949, she received her second Oscar nomination for her role in My Stupid Time, in which she reappeared as an alcoholic woman.
Three years later, Susan Hayward signed a contract with America's largest film studio, 20th Century Fox. After that, she played Jane Froman in the biographical drama With a Song in My Heart. This film earned her her third Oscar nomination.
In 1955, the actress performed the best role in her career. In the film "I'll Cry Tomorrow" she played the star of Broadway and Hollywood, Lillian Roth, who, after sixteen years of alcohol addiction, managed to return to normal life. For her work in the film, Hayward received her fourth Oscar nomination.
In 1949, she received her second Oscar nomination for her role in My Stupid Time, in which she reappeared as an alcoholic woman.
In 1959, the actress received an invitation to play the role of the criminal Barbara Graham in the biographical film I Want to Live! The story, which tells the story of the life of an American killer, received six Oscar nominations and brought Susan Hayward the long-awaited victory in this prestigious film award. In addition, she was awarded a Golden Globe for Best Actress.
After such success, the actress decided to leave Hollywood, only occasionally accepting offers to act in films. Her later works include "The Twisting of Family Life" (1961), "Where Love Gone" (1964), "Valley of the Dolls" (1967), "The Avengers" (1972) and others.
Personal life
In 1944, Susan Hayward married actor Jess Barker. This marriage lasted ten years. In 1954, the couple decided to part ways. In this union, the actress had twin sons Timothy and Gregory.
Actor Jess Barker Photo: film screenshot (Universal Pictures) / Wikimedia Commons
In 1957, Hayward married Floyd Eaton Chockley, with whom she lived until his death in 1966. She grieved the loss of a loved one and was in mourning for a long time.
In the last years of her life, Susan Hayward battled brain cancer. Unfortunately, she was unable to overcome the disease. She died on March 14, 1975 at her home in Beverly Hills.
