Happy 99th Birthday Susan Hayward

Today is the 99th birthday of the actress Susan Hayward. I love her story, her drive, and her determination. The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

NAME: Susan Hayward
OCCUPATION: Film Actress, Pin-up
BIRTH DATE: June 30, 1917
DEATH DATE: March 14, 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH: Brooklyn, New York
PLACE OF DEATH: Hollywood, California
ORIGINALLY: Edythe Marrenner
OSCAR for Best Actress 1959 for I Want to Live!
GOLDEN GLOBE 1953 for With a Song in My Heart
GOLDEN GLOBE 1959 for I Want to Live!
HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME 6251 Hollywood Blvd.

BEST KNOWN FOR: Film actress Susan Hayward earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress for her role in Smash-Up, and later won for her performance in I Want to Live.

Born Edythe Marrener on June 30, 1917, to a poverty strickenfamily in Brooklyn, New York, Susan Hayward’s childhood was difficult. She was hit by a car at the age of 7 and stranded at home in a body cast for months. The experience left Hayward with limp and painful memories of a debility she would never forget.

Hayward’s life took an unexpected turn when she was cast as the lead in a school play at age 12. The attention she received quickly turned her into a compulsive star. By 1935, a sexy swagger had replaced Hayward’s childhood limp, and the gorgeous 17-year-old possessed an hourglass figure, a brassy Brooklyn accent and a burning desire for fortune and fame. She began working as a model to help support her family, and when she was featured in the Saturday Evening Post in 1937, all of America was introduced to the red-headed siren from Brooklyn. The same year, David O. Selznick offered Hayward an audition for the part of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind. Though her lack of experience took her out of serious consideration, Hayward decided to trade in her return ticket and stay in Hollywood. After signing a contract with Warner Bros., she changed her name to Susan Hayward.

Hayward was driven to succeed as an actress and worked virtually non-stop. Offered the starring role in Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman in 1947, Hayward dazzled both audiences and critics, receiving her first Academy Award nomination as Best Actress. Hayward received four more nominations over the next 12 years, eventually winning for her work in the wildly successful I Want to Live in 1958. Sadly, the actress’s happiness was eclipsed by the death of her husband Eaton Chalkey. And in 1972, just as she was emerging from her despair, she was diagnosed with cancer.

Refusing to surrender to the illness without a fight, Susan Hayward even managed to present the Academy for Best Actress in 1974. On March 14, 1975, at age 57, the irrepressible Brooklyn Bombshell died, leaving behind legions of fans all over the world.

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
The Revengers (21-Jun-1972)
Valley of the Dolls (15-Dec-1967) · Helen Lawson
The Honey Pot (21-Mar-1967) · Mrs. Sheridan
Where Love Has Gone (2-Nov-1964) · Valerie Hayden Miller
Stolen Hours (16-Oct-1963)
I Thank a Fool (14-Sep-1962) · Christine Allison
Back Street (11-Oct-1961)
Ada (25-Aug-1961) · Ada Gillis
The Marriage-Go-Round (6-Jan-1961)
Woman Obsessed (27-May-1959)
Thunder in the Sun (8-Apr-1959)
I Want to Live! (18-Nov-1958) · Barbara Graham
Top Secret Affair (30-Jan-1957) · Dottie Peale
The Conqueror (21-Feb-1956)
I’ll Cry Tomorrow (25-Dec-1955) · Lillian Roth
Soldier of Fortune (17-May-1955) · Jane Hoyt
Untamed (1-Mar-1955)
Garden of Evil (9-Jul-1954) · Leah Fuller
Demetrius and the Gladiators (18-Jun-1954) · Messalina
White Witch Doctor (1-Jul-1953)
The President’s Lady (21-May-1953)
The Lusty Men (24-Oct-1952) · Louise Merritt
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (18-Aug-1952) · Helen
With a Song in My Heart (4-Apr-1952) · Jane Froman
David and Bathsheba (10-Aug-1951)
I Can Get It for You Wholesale (4-Apr-1951)
Rawhide (25-Mar-1951)
I’d Climb the Highest Mountain (17-Feb-1951) · Mary Elizabeth Eden Thompson
My Foolish Heart (25-Dec-1949)
House of Strangers (1-Jul-1949) · Irene Bennett
Tulsa (26-May-1949) · Cherokee Lansing
The Saxon Charm (29-Sep-1948)
Tap Roots (25-Aug-1948)
The Lost Moment (21-Nov-1947) · Tina Bordereau
They Won’t Believe Me (16-Jul-1947) · Verna Carlson
Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman (Mar-1947) · Angie Evans Conway
Canyon Passage (17-Jul-1946) · Lucy Overmire
Deadline at Dawn (3-Apr-1946) · June Goth
And Now Tomorrow (22-Nov-1944) · Janice Blair
The Hairy Ape (2-Jul-1944) · Mildred Douglas
The Fighting Seabees (10-Mar-1944)
Jack London (24-Nov-1943)
Hit Parade of 1943 (26-Mar-1943)
Young and Willing (5-Feb-1943)
Star Spangled Rhythm (18-Dec-1942) · Herself
I Married a Witch (30-Oct-1942) · Estelle Masterson
The Forest Rangers (21-Oct-1942)
Reap the Wild Wind (19-Mar-1942) · Drusilla Alston
Among the Living (12-Dec-1941)
Sis Hopkins (12-Apr-1941)
Adam Had Four Sons (27-Mar-1941) · Hester
$1000 a Touchdown (4-Oct-1939)
Beau Geste (2-Aug-1939)
Girls on Probation (22-Oct-1938) · Gloria Adams