Susan Hayward 1917--1975

pictures from this web page are from A&E Biography Home Video and are used only for informative purposes.

Ellen Marrenner

with Edyth Marrenner born June 30th, 1917

Edyth Marrenner

"I learned at a very early age that life is a battle." My father was first a barker at Coney Island, then a guard on a subway. My family was poor, the neighborhood was poor. I knew that if I got my dress dirty, there was no money to have it cleaned.I had an older sister and brother, and when the soles of our shoes wore out, we stuffed them with paper. The only way that I could get away from the awfulness of life, at that time, was at the movies.There I decided that my big aim was to make money. And it was there that I became a very determined person.

Edyth Marrenner

Graduation picture.

Reads one of our prize actresses.

Edyth Marrenner

starting a modeling career with Walter Thornton

Edyth Marrenner

a woman of determination who makes her way as a model. And then goes on to thirty seven years of Hollywood, starring in such films as "Smash Up" "My Foolish Heart," "I"ll Cry Tomorrow" and "I Want to Live!"

Her first picture in color - as a model

On the cover of the Sunday Mirror Magazine.

Patricia Morrison

She knew exactly what she wanted. And she knew she had to fight for what she was going to get.

Susan Hayward the actress.

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

"I"ve never considered myself a beauty." I can look in the mirror and know I"m not bad looking, but I"m no raving beauty by a long shot. I guess I never thought so much about glamour as I did about becoming a good actress.

Susan with husband Jess Barker

Her first marriage 1945. In 1954 the marriage ended in a bitter and ugly divorce. Yet the often bitter relationship at least produced two handsome sons (Tim and Greg) and she later found true happiness with rancher-businessman Eaton Chalkley.

With twin sons --Timothy and Gregory Barker

August 10th,1951

Imprints of hands and feet at Grauman"s Chinese Theatre

The President"s Lady

co-star Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston

I was green at the time.She was a far senior as a public actress to me, and I understood that. Susan was wonderful in the part. just exactly right, cause she had a kind of feisty quality, that was not common among film actresses then. She was a pro. And I was honored to work with her.

Susan and husband Eaton Chalkley

Her second marriage February 1957--but after nine deliriously happy wedded life with Chalkley came to an abrupt and tragic end in January of 1966 when Chalkley died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida of hepatitis. She went into a five-year period of deep mourning, retiring from show business almost completely. But in the latter part of 1971, she decided she was "back" and returned to Hollywood where she busied herself with a film (The Revengers with Bill Holden) two well-recieved TV movies-of-the- week ( Heat of Anger and Good-bye, Maggie Cole) and by setting up housekeeping in a luxurious home she purchased high in the Hollywood Hills.

Oscar Award

Accepting the oscar for Best Actress "I Want To Live" 1958

Susan love to fish

Susan"s dear friend Ron Nelson

To me she was unique.She liked being home. We"d take the boat over to the Bahamas.She said this is my world, let the wind blow through my hair.

In 1972 Susan was diagnosed with cancer.

Oscar Awards 1974

Academy Awards

She appeared at the Oscar Awards in 1974 to announce the winner for best actress. Those who saw her last public appearance, Oscar night, April 2, 1974, witnessed a still-beautiful, vibrant star. Defying her illness and pain, Hayward approached the stage on the arm of her former costar Charlton Heston with the bearing and elegance she bought to The President"s Lady. The audience rose to thier feet for this last performance.

Susan"s son Timothy

I saw her for the last time, in great pain. I would ask god to take her, please take her.

Susan Hayward did it all her way.

Hollywood introduced Susan Hayward to sex. money and power. There was only one problem, Susan Hayward was not one of those women who would be cast on a couch, or couched by men"s wills. She was outspoken when told to mind her place and "loaned out" to remind her of her place. It didn"t work. She was and always would be the fiery redhead from Brooklyn who stormed her way through the movies and its moguls. doing it her way, until her way became thier way. "The only thing a woman should ever be afraid of in her life," she used to say," is never having lived it." Miss Hayward won the Academy Award after Hollywood had held out the carrot and denied her four previous times. She once said," Being from Brooklyn is a common denominator among show business people. For screen fans who love to know all, shows a woman who never let go of the first dime ever put into her hands at birth, and who went through life desperate for financial security, a woman who refused to succumb the odds. Miss Hayward was perhaps best described by Robert Wise, her director in "I Want to Live." "She had a very special gift for laying bare the agony of a woman," said Wise." She had been taught to understand the suffering of others." "She learned it the hard way." Hungry is one of those words that always seem to come to mind for Susan Hayward. Hungry for success, for money, for love and for work. In her final conversation with interviewer Robert Osborne she said: "When you"re dead, you"re dead. Nobody 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. It"s what you do when you are here that"s important." And she did it all-her way.

Scenes from "The Films of Susan
Hayward"

Each month will eventually be spoken about in detail on the Susan Hayward: Movie of the Month. To order a copy of Susan Hayward"s A&E Biography and Films--click the link Susan Hayward Collectibles

The Story of a Woman 1947

1st oscar nomination for Best Actress

Starring Susan Hayward & Van Heflin 1948

REVIEWS: "Susan Hayward is visually exciting as a latter-day Scarlet O"Hara." NOTES: After eleven years in Hollywood, Susan played a role similar to the one she had lost and longed to play. Morna Dabney was almost another Scarlet O" Hara, a southern spitfire, and Susan played it with nerve and vitality.

House of Strangers 1949

Starring Susan Hayward, Richard Conte & Edward G. Robinson

1949 Second nomination for Best Actress

Starring Susan Hayward & Dana Andrews

REVIEWS; "Susan Hayward and Dana Andrews are tops, and there is an unforgettable performance by Robert Keith. Women will love this movie. PHOTOPLAY: "Susan Hayward packs plenty of emotion in her portrayal of impetuous youth." NEWSWEEK; "This is very much Susan Hayward"s picture, and she makes the most of her first chance at an honest, demanding characterization by realizing it with an admirable sincerity and understanding. NOTES; The title song was nominated among the best songs of the year. The movie was released late in 1949 to meet the "Oscar" deadline, but the general release was in 1950.

1951

1954

1952

Third nomination for Best Actress

With Rory Calhoun, David Wayne & Thelma Ritter Robert Wagner appears in two scenes in this movie.

1955

Susan"s fourth nomination for Best Actress Songs in the movie are sung by Susan.

Also starring Richard Conte, Eddie Albert & Jo Van Fleet

REVIEWS; REDBOOK; "Already one of Hollywood"s greatest box-office attractions by virtue of her beauty and acting ability, Susan Hayward has started a new career for herself--she is a very fine singer. She puts across the tunes as well as Miss Roth or almost anyone else did. NOTES; The film made Hayward an international star. She won the Cannes Festival Award in 1956; she also won an Oscar nomination and Cue magazine"s award for the best performance by an actress.

1956

Susan succumbed to a brain tumor that may have been the result of her work on The Conqueror filmed at an atomic test site in the Nevada desert.

1958

After four nominations Susan Hayward finally acclaimed the Academy Award for Best Actress.

REVIEWS: Variety: "It is hard to think of any other star except Miss Hayward who could bring off this complex characterization. She gives a perfomance that undoubtedly will return her, after her recent hiatus, to the top of popular and critical lists. Motion Picture Herald: "Susan Hayward, in the leading role, gives the finest performance of a career noted for brilliant work."

1953

Notes: It is a pity that this well directed and well acted movie was not filmed in technicolor as Susan Hayward looked truly beautiful. It was a favorite of Hayward"s fans. One scene is particularly remembered. She"s deliriously happy at the news that her husband is on his way home. Then she realizes that, having worked in the fields all day, she"s messy and dirty. In desperation she grabs a pitcher of water to wash her face and drops it on the floor. Her husband walks in as she is picking up the pieces and her expression a mixture of wild elation and acute embarrassment is a masterpiece. Her characterization of Rachel in old age was also unforgettable and the makeup artists did a wonderfl job- she aged from sixteen to sixty-one.

1961

Also starring John Gavin, Vera Miles & Virginia Grey

Reviews

Saturday Review: "Ross Hunter has updated this old faithful of a Fannie Hurst story, and has given it a contemporary lack of significance, Susan Hayward provides a dreadfully serious parody of herself as Rae Smith fashion designer and mistress of John Gavin, department store tycoon. "Wrong casting, by the way, Miss Hayward would have been a natural for the boozy, ufaithful wife, and Miss Miles would have made a lovely mistress. Notes: John Gavin, fresh from the popular remake of Imitation of Life with Lana Turner, went forward another step. Hayward"s wardrobe was a fashion show in itself: furs, velvets, chiffons, lam'es, and even a bathing suit, all by Jean Louis. As expected the movie was nominated for its costume design.

All photos from this web page and to various links have been complied from biographies, movie magazines, stills and films are used only for informative purposes only. These are not copywrights of the author and should not be used for commercial purposes.

Star-struck

A fan-magazine writer and the actress she idiolized

Susan Hayward, near the height of her career, once refused to check out of a New York City hotel until she got a dozen bars of the hotel"s guest soap-free-to take back to Hollywood. Beverly Linet understands that sort of thing.The tiny red-haired woman,who was in town this week to promote her biography of the late star, stayed at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel. And when she left, a bar of that hotel"s soap went with her.

"You never get over your little Brooklyn ways." "You might add different layers on top of it, you might seem more sophisticated --but you never change from what you are."The fact that I shared a birthplace with Miss Hayward. " Although I was a writer, I always considered myself "show-biz," too." "And because I was a kid from Brooklyn, too, well, I followed Susan"s career from the beginning with intense interest."

It was Beverly Linet who first coined the term "super star" using it in Modern Screen"s "Super -Star Information Chart," in the mid-40"s. "Back then it used to mean something." You couldn"t put Clark Gable in the same category with Ronald Reagan.

People used to go to the movies to see the stars, because they liked the story line, or because they have enjoyed the other movies by the same director. The stars brought a magic to the screen.

One would assume from reading Susan Hayward: Portrait of Survivor that Ms Linet"s feeling about her never changed much from the basically star-struck reaction,when she first saw the actress in 1939. But the biographer says she actually had " a most mixed reaction" to the controversial star.

"Sometimes I wanted to hit her, and other times I was crazy about her." "But we"re all split personalities, in one way or another. And the way she confronted death..... well, that:s why I called the book Portrait of a Survivor."

And what made that redhead from Brooklyn a survivor? One whom neither a childhood accident that left her with a permanent handicap, a suicide attempt, a near-fatal fire nor even cancer could really defeat? Maybe it has something to do with being born in Brooklyn.

For information on purchasing the book "Portrait of a Survivor" click the link Susan Hayward Collectibles

In 1963 Susan Hayward appeared in Stolen Hours a remake of classic "Dark Victory." In it she played a woman who valiantly faced death from a brain tumor. But ten years later in real life, Susan was to prove even braver than the character she portrayed.

1963

1971 Susan"s Looking for Work "Got Tired of Doing Nothing" After too long a hiatus from Hollywood, red-haired Susan Hayward is back in town that made her a star, about to begin work in a major motion picture costarring her old friend, William Holden. The picture "The Revengers," to be produced by Marty Rackin, will go into production soon: however, Miss Hayward won"t have to report to the Mexican location until November.

"I guess I decided to come back to Hollywood ," "when both my sons told me." "You"ve worked for us all of your life. Now go out and work for yourself." "No, that"s not exactly the way they put it, but that's the gist of what they said, and it sounds funnier that way."

"I"d also be interested in doing a televison series if the part were right. Whaever the part ....that's the important thing. "I"m looking forward to "The Revengers" because I"ll be working with old friends. I"ve known Bill Holden for twenty years, since we worked together at Paramount when we were both getting started in the business.

"And I like the idea of going on location to make a picture. Life on location with an outdoor picture is so simple and relaxed. I won"t have to dress up or even wear makeup. "The Revengers" is going to be a work of love.

"Of course, I have a system for keeping my weight down." "Anyone who is weight-conscious does. I will try to keep my weight at 110 or below. "I have a very simple method of losing five pounds in three days: six eggs a day, prepared any way I want, with maybe some tomatoes. That"s all. "But you can"t stay on that diet for more than three days at a time. Because after three days you go, "Cluck, cluck."

"Since living in the South, I"m a Southerner by preference. The way of life there is gentle. But I still have my friends in Los Angeles, and I"m enjoying being here.

"And I"m looking forward to working. No, I"m not thinking in terms of bringing glamor back to the screen, because I won"t try to be glamorous, I"ll try to be real. But I think you can be real without being repulsive.

1972

Notes It was a delayed reunion for Hayward and Holden, her leading man. They had been together in a film twenty-nine years earlier, before his son Scott was born. Susan didn"t look good in any of her last theatrical movies, some because of the makeup to make her look older, some merely because of bad lighting and photography. The film, although completed before her first TV film, was released later at showcase theatres instead of at first-run movie theatres.

Reviews--Los Angeles Times "The Revengers" is a solid, big-scale, traditional-style western with all the familiar larger-than-life qualities and durable virtues of the genre.... "Holden has the stature and strenght to play his tough reflective character, and Susan Hayward, ever the sultry beauty, is just the lady to play a feisty Irishwoman who nurses him back to health and falls for him as well."

1972

Also starring Lee J. Cobb & James Stacy

Reviews New York Daily News Miss Hayward, still very shapely and attractive, gave a very solid performance, It wasn"t an easy story to move along and sustain a viewer"s interest since there wasn"t very much to it." Hollywood Reporter "Heat of Anger" is the 90-minute pilot-movie starring Susan Hayward. What a joy it is to see an intelligent, warm. vibrant woman character as a series lead in a professional position, played by such a wonderful actress as Miss Hayward. If this doesn"t become a series there is no justice. Notes==If ever a movie was jinxed, this was it. Within a few years after its filming Hayward was gone ; Stacy had an accident losing an arm and a leg; Lee J. Cobb died of a heart attack.

1972 Susan Hayward"s farewell movie, her second for TV.

Also starring Darren McGavin

Reviews New York Daily News "Redheaded Susan Hayward who only last season returned to Hollywood film making, performs like she never left Lotus land. "She looks as beautiful as she did years ago and she performs with the same strength and conviction."

Notes Susan looked so full of life that the thought of her being stricken with a fatal disease could not enter anyone"s mind. Both of Hayward"s TV movies had excellent ratings and both were reportedly considered for weekly series. Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Susan Hayward would be a pleasant addition to television on a regular basis. She was a bit saccharine at times as Maggie Cole, but on the whole, a series developed from the concept of a doctor in the environment could work. If one just disregards the vehicle in which we first met her there might be a future.There was none.Say Goodbye Maggie Cole turned out to be "Say Goodbye Susan Haward." Notes from "After Dark Magazine " January, 1973 Susan"s last live interview. I realize I"ve played more than my share of strong-willed woman. I may think of myself as "just a little female," but I suppose there is somethimg basic in me that relates to the strongwoman sort of role. I"ve played some real dogs, and I'll be the first to admit it. And even some of the good ones could have been better. I"ve made a lot of money over the years. A lot. But remember I"ve also paid in plenty to Uncle Sam. I found that I love doing television movies. You work like a slave, but it"s fun, because I have a great deal of self-discipline when I'm working. I feel a sense of responsibility. I"m always on time and I like to get the work done right on schedule.

A Final Word

Susan Hayward was a "hard luck" person who never knew defeat--fighting was a way of life with her, and she fought till the end. Her material fortune, over a million dollars, she left to her two sons and her brother Walter. But her spiritual legacy was greater. She left us the memory of her distinctive beauty and versatility in many films. New generations will enjoy the emotions portrayed by this individualistic actress. Her films will live, and she will live in the hearts of those who knew her.

The Brooklyn Bombshell Logo is copywright of A&E, and is used for informative purposes.

Tributes

The day after Susan died many paid tribute. # The people of Carrollton were touched. To them she had been "Mrs Chalkey," and they loved her for her "un-Hollywwod" behavior among them. # Greta Garbo, one of her last visitors, took the news quite badly. Susan had been her favorite actress. # Alan King, another Brooklynite and personal friend, interrupted his show at a nightclub in Las Vegas to say a few words about Susan and offer a minute of silence in her memory. # McClelland"s book "Divine Bitch" was reprinted with a new, mellower title: The Complete Life Story of Susan Hayward........Immortal Screen Star. # Several movie magazines ran articles about Susan, and Rona Barrett used a photo of Susan on the cover of one of hers with the caption: "A tribute to the redhead." # In Brooklyn, Saul Kutner had a plaque made and installed at Susan"s old high school (now "Erasmus."). It reads: "Actress Susan Hayward, Illustrious Graduate of Erasmus Hall High School, Nominated Five Times and Finally Won an Academy Award for "I Want to Live" in 1959."

At her request Susan was buried along side her husband in Carollton, Georgia. The inscription on her tombstone, simply reads: Mrs E. F. Chalkley.

Update:
More scenes from Susan"s films

1959

Also starring Stephen Boyd

1955

Also starring -- Tyrone Power & Richard Egan

1955

1955

Also starring Gregory Peck & Ava Gardner.

1961

Also starring James Mason, Julie Newmar and Robert Paige.

Reviews: New York Times: "Mr Mason is excellent. "Susan Hayward is likewise excellent. being a dandy with poison-tipped sarcasm and plenty of a looker herself, she easily holds her own against the menace and makes the standard moral ending bearable. Notes: During the filming Hayward received from Niels Larsen the Spanish-American producer, a trophy from Spain as best actress in 1959 for I Want to Live.

1964

Also starring Joey Heatherton and Jane Greer.

Reviews: Variety --"Susan Hayward and Bette Davis share top honors in impressive performances. Picture is a brilliant showcase for both actresses and projects them in roles which will find much comment. Notes: Davis, only ten years older than Susan, was playing the role of her mother ( and grandmother to Joey Heatherton, Hayward"s "teenage daughter") Jane Greer who had co-starred with Susan in They Won"t Believe Me, back in 1947, had a small role. She was trying to make a comeback after a serious illness, but to no avail.

Facts# ON February 9th, 1957, Susan surprised everyone by tying the knot again. She eloped to Phoenix, Arizona, with Eaton Chalkley. He was forty-seven, nine years older than she was. They tried to avoid publicity, but the reporters caught up with them. She was afraid they would try to sensationalize her marriage by recalling earlier headlines. But, with Eaton grasping her hand firmly, she said "I don"t want to look back. That"s where I've been. I want to see where I"m going, I hope to profit by all the past experience and never repeat a mistake. I expect this marriage to be it, or I wouldn"t have married."

The Chalkley"s moved to Carrollton, Georgia, where at first she wasn"t too well recieved by neighbors. When Eaton"s mother and sister gave a party most guests accepted and a reception by Business and Professional Women"s Club was a success, but not everybody came and a minister advised his congregation not to meet her.

However, her newly found happiness tamed her and she won the friendship of many who were reluctant to accept her. The new docile Hayward was a far cry from "Hollywood"s Hellcat." She was invited to open the baseball season in Atlanta: she kicked off her shoes and, like a seasoned player, threw the ball to third base. The Chalkleys started building a modern house for themselves in a 450-acre ranch house where they already had a smaller house for guests and a private lake. While the larger house was being built, they lived at the guest house. Susan drove Chalkley"s truck to town to do her shopping or stayed at home and welcomed her new fans; the neighbor"s children.

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