Pretty, exuberant leading lady who began her Hollywood career in 1937 as a bit player and was a star by the mid-1940s. Talented and tempestuous, with a penchant for playing ripe melodrama with all the stops out, Hayward reached her peak in the early 1950s in such enjoyably sudsy vehicles as "My Foolish Heart" (1950), "With a Song in My Heart" (1952) and "I'll Cry Tomorrow" (1955). She was often cast as the brassy, defiant heroine, as in her Oscar-winning role "I Want to Live!" (1958), where she splendidly played the real-life Barbara Graham, a woman who was wrongly sentenced to death. Hayward's stardom petered out by the mid-60s, but she continued playing occasional leads and character roles (including a part as a past-her-prime film star in the abysmal "Valley of the Dolls" 1969) on film and TV until shortly before her death of a brain tumor in 1975.
- Also Credited As:
Edythe Marriner
- Born:
June 30, 1918 in Brooklyn, New York
- Died:
March 14, 1975.
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Job Titles:
Actor, Model, Factory worker
Family
Significant Others
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Companion: John Carroll. engaged in early 1940s; relationship ended
Education
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Girls Commercial High School, Brooklyn, New York
Milestones
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1923 Struck by a car and spent a year recovering from her injuries
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1937 Had bit part in "Hollywood Hotel"
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1938 Film acting debut in "Girls on Probation"
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1941 Played notable early leading or second lead roles in "Among the Living", "Reap the Wild Wind" and "I Married a Witch"
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1947 Received first Oscar nomination as Best Actress for "Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman"; star status consolidated by this time
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1955 Attempted suicide after custody battle with husband Jess Barker over their twins
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1959 Returned to the top ten boxoffice status poll; placed 10th
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1964 Last starring vehicle, "Where Love Has Gone"
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1972 Last film, "The Revengers"
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Made the annual exhibitors' list of top ten boxoffice stars, placing 9th two years in a row
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Met with David O Selznick in NYC about testing to play Scarlet O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind"; flown to Hollywood for a screen test
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Signed to a contract with Warner Bros.
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Worked as a model in the mid-1930s; photos appeared in Saturday Evening Post accompanying story on modeling agency handling her