Susan Hayward

Acting

Susan Hayward

Born — Died

1917-06-30 — 1975-03-14

Place of birth

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

64 titles

Susan Hayward (June 30, 1917 – March 14, 1975) was an American actress. After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone With the Wind (1939). Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting roles over the next few years. By the late 1940s the quality of her film roles had improved, and she achieved recognition for her dramatic abilities with the first of five Academy Award nominations for Best Actress for her performance as an alcoholic in Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (1947). Her career continued successfully through the 1950s and she won the Acad…

Known for

The Oscars poster
7.1

An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar.

The Oscars

1953

The Ed Sullivan Show poster
6.8

The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The Ed Sullivan Show

1948

MGM Parade poster
7.5

The original concept of the show was to allow the viewer to see the inner workings of a movie studio and featured interviews with MGM stars and explanations of how movies were made. Later, the format changed to show edited versions of MGM films.

MGM Parade

1955

The Snows of Kilimanjaro poster
5.9

Writer Harry Street reflects on his life as he lies dying from an infection while on safari in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro

1952

Rawhide poster
6.7

At a desolate relay station in the west, a stagecoach attendant and a stranded woman traveller are held captive by a band of escaped convicts.

Rawhide

1951

I Married a Witch poster
6.9

A 17th-century witch returns to wreak havoc in the life of a descendant of the Puritan witch hunter who burned her, but runs afoul of her father when she discovers that her mischief might have found her true love.

I Married a Witch

1942

Film credits

1970s · 3 titles

1960s · 8 titles

Valley of the Dolls poster
6.1

Lured by their dreams of fame and fortune, three ambitious young women enter the world of show business and discover how easy it is to sink into a celebrity nightmare of ego, alcohol and pills — the beloved "dolls."

Valley of the Dolls

1967

Where Love Has Gone poster
6.1

A divorced couple's teen-age daughter stands trial for stabbing her mother's latest lover.

Where Love Has Gone

1964

Hollywood: The Selznick Years poster
4.4

Henry Fonda hosts this retrospective on the career and films of iconic filmmaker David O. Selznick, who epitomized the era of the auteur producer in the 30s and 40s.

Hollywood: The Selznick Years

1961

Back Street poster
5.7

Ambitious but thwarted, Rae Smith meets handsome U.S. Marine Paul Saxon, of the Saxon department store chain, as he passes through Lincoln, Nebraska, on his way home from World War II. There's a definite spark between them but circumstances intervene and he leaves town without her. Later she learns he's married. Determined to make it as a fashion designer, Rae moves to New York City and becomes a great success. One day she happens to meet Paul again and again there's that spark but he's still married so, as a form of escape, Rae moves to Rome to set up shop. Once again she meets Paul and finally they begin an actual affair since Paul's shrewish, drunken wife, Liz, won't give him a divorce. Time passes, the affair continues whenever time and place permit, but then, Paul's young son finds out about Rae and Rae's back-street world begins to crumble.

Back Street

1961

The Honey Pot poster
6.5

In Venice, a millionaire hires an actor to help him prank three greedy exes into thinking he's dying and leaving his fortune to one of them.

The Honey Pot

1967

I Thank a Fool poster
6.1

After mercifully killing her terminally ill lover, Dr. Christine Allison loses her medical license and spends two years in prison. Once she has completed her sentence, the lawyer who prosecuted Christine, Stephen Dane, hires her to care for his emotionally unstable wife, Liane. Christine takes the job, but when Liane's allegedly dead father reappears, Christine sets out to reveal the family's dark secrets.

I Thank a Fool

1962

The Marriage-Go-Round poster
4.4

An anthropology professor and his professor wife have the perfect marriage--until a Swedish colleague's daughter comes to visit. Not only is the little girl all grown up, but she's ready to start a family--with him!

The Marriage-Go-Round

1961

Ada poster
6.5

A popular but naive country singer is elected governor of a southern state and, once in office, decides to dismantle the corrupt political machine that got him elected. Director Daniel Mann's 1961 political drama stars Susan Hayward, Dean Martin, Wilfred Hyde-White, Martin Balsam, Ralph Meeker, Connie Sawyer, William Walker, Ray Teal, Larry Gates and Kathryn Card.

Ada

1961

1950s · 20 titles

The Snows of Kilimanjaro poster
5.9

Writer Harry Street reflects on his life as he lies dying from an infection while on safari in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro

1952

Rawhide poster
6.7

At a desolate relay station in the west, a stagecoach attendant and a stranded woman traveller are held captive by a band of escaped convicts.

Rawhide

1951

I Want to Live! poster
7.0

Brazen perpetual offender Barbara Graham tries to go straight but she finds herself implicated in a murder and sent to death row.

I Want to Live!

1958

I'll Cry Tomorrow poster
6.2

Deprived of a normal childhood by her ambitious mother, Lillian Roth becomes a star of Broadway and Hollywood before she is twenty. Shortly before her marriage to her childhood sweetheart, David Tredman, he dies and Lillian takes her first drink of many down the road of becoming an alcoholic.

I'll Cry Tomorrow

1955

Demetrius and the Gladiators poster
6.6

The story picks up at the point where "The Robe" ends, following the martyrdom of Diana and Marcellus. Christ's robe is conveyed to Peter for safe-keeping, but the emperor Caligula wants it back to benefit from its powers. Marcellus' former slave Demetrius seeks to prevent this, and catches the eye of Messalina, wife to Caligula's uncle Claudius. Messalina tempts Demetrius, he winds up fighting in the arena, and wavers in his faith.

Demetrius and the Gladiators

1954

David and Bathsheba poster
5.8

King David enters into an adulterous affair with the beautiful Bathsheba, which has tragic consequences for his family and Israel.

David and Bathsheba

1951

Garden of Evil poster
6.3

A trio of American adventurers marooned in rural Mexico are recruited by a beautiful woman to rescue her husband from Apaches.

Garden of Evil

1954

Soldier of Fortune poster
6.0

An American woman arrives in Hong Kong to unravel the mystery of her missing photographer husband. After getting nowhere with the authorities, she is led by some underground characters to an American soldier of fortune working in the area against the Communists. He promises to help find her husband.

Soldier of Fortune

1955

The Conqueror poster
3.6

Mongol chief Temujin battles against Tartar armies and for the love of the Tartar princess Bortai. Temujin becomes the emperor Genghis Khan.

The Conqueror

1956

Untamed poster
6.0

When the great potato famine hits Ireland, the diaspora begins as thousands emigrate. Among those leaving the Emerald Isle is Katie O'Neill and her husband, who decide that the promised land is South Africa and make their way there. Once there, they discover the hardships that are the reality of the homesteader experience.

Untamed

1955

The President's Lady poster
6.9

The story of president Andrew Jackson from his early years, through his meeting with and subsequent marriage to Rachel Donelson Robards. The plot concentrates on the later scandal concerning the legality of their marriage and how they overcame the difficulties.

The President's Lady

1953

Woman Obsessed poster
6.6

After her husband dies in a fire, a woman (Susan Hayward) is left to tend for her young son and the family farm on her own. Soon, she takes in a drifting handyman, they fall in love, and a resentment begins to build between the son and his new "step-father" who treats the boy harshly on purpose to prepare him for life on the frontier.

Woman Obsessed

1959

White Witch Doctor poster
6.5

Ellen Burton arrives in Africa to join Dr. Mary as her nurse, bringing modern medicine to the native peoples. Lonni Douglas, an animal wrangler and fortune hunter, agrees to take her upriver, despite his misgivings about her suitability for Africa. They battle escaped gorillas, hostile natives, infected lion wounds, and hostile witch doctors to reach their destination and on the way, they fall in love. Will their contrasting interests doom their romance?

White Witch Doctor

1953

The Lusty Men poster
6.7

Retired rodeo champion Jeff McCloud agrees to mentor novice rodeo contestant Wes Merritt against the wishes of Merritt's wife who fears the dangers of this rough sport.

The Lusty Men

1952

I Can Get It for You Wholesale poster
6.0

A ruthless fashion designer steps on everyone in her way in order to reach the top of her profession. Eventually she is forced to choose between her ambition and the man she loves.

I Can Get It for You Wholesale

1951

Thunder in the Sun poster
5.6

A band of Basque immigrants treks through the Old West toward California, where they hope to put down roots and open wineries. When the group's leader dies, his widow Gabrielle marries his brother in accordance with Basque tradition. But it's a loveless union; Gabrielle is smitten with Lon Bennett, the scout who's been hired to guide them on their journey.

Thunder in the Sun

1959

I'd Climb the Highest Mountain poster
6.7

A minister from the Deep South is assigned a new parish and moves with his wife to a town in Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains, where he tends to the spiritual and emotional needs of his small flock.

I'd Climb the Highest Mountain

1951

With a Song in My Heart poster
6.1

Jane Froman, an aspiring songstress, lands a job in radio with help from pianist Don Ross, whom she later marries. Jane's popularity soars, and she leaves on a European tour... but her plane crashes in Lisbon, and she is partially crippled. Unable to walk without crutches, Jane nevertheless goes on to entertain the Allied troops in World War II.

With a Song in My Heart

1952

Top Secret Affair poster
4.9

A publisher uses her magazine and charm to derail a general on the Washington fast track.

Top Secret Affair

1957

My Foolish Heart poster
6.6

After a long absence, Mary Jane visits her schoolfriend Eloise, and Eloise's daughter Ramona. Eloise drinks too much and is unhappily married to Lew Wengler. Eloise falls asleep and remembers her time with her true love, Walt Dreiser, at the beginning of the Second World War. She recalls the events that lead up to her split with Mary Jane, and how Lew married Eloise rather than Mary Jane.

My Foolish Heart

1950

1940s · 20 titles

I Married a Witch poster
6.9

A 17th-century witch returns to wreak havoc in the life of a descendant of the Puritan witch hunter who burned her, but runs afoul of her father when she discovers that her mischief might have found her true love.

I Married a Witch

1942

They Won't Believe Me poster
6.6

On trial for murdering his girlfriend, philandering stockbroker Larry Ballentine takes the stand to claim his innocence and describe the actual, but improbable sounding, sequence of events that led to her death.

They Won't Believe Me

1947

House of Strangers poster
7.0

Ruthless Italian-American banker Gino Monetti is engaged in a number of criminal activities. Three of his four grown sons refuse to help their father stay out of prison after he's arrested for his questionable business practices. Three of them take over the business but kick their father out. Max, a lawyer, is the only son that remains loyal.

House of Strangers

1949

Deadline at Dawn poster
6.2

A young Navy sailor has one night to find out why a woman was killed and he ended up with a bag of money after a drinking blackout.

Deadline at Dawn

1946

Reap the Wild Wind poster
6.3

The Florida Keys in 1840, where the implacable hurricanes of the Caribbean scream, where the salvagers of Key West, like the intrepid and beautiful Loxi Claiborne and her crew, reap, aboard frail schooners, the harvest of the wild wind, facing the shark teeth of the reefs to rescue the sailors and the cargo from the shipwrecks caused by the scavengers of the sea.

Reap the Wild Wind

1942

Tap Roots poster
6.9

Set at the beginning of the Civil War, Tap Roots is all about a county in Mississippi which chooses to secede from the state rather than enter the conflict. The county is protected from the Confederacy by an abolitionist and a Native American gentleman. The abolitionist's daughter is courted by a powerful newspaper publisher when her fiance, a confederate officer, elopes with the girl's sister. The daughter at first resists the publisher's attentions, but turns to him for aid when her ex-fiance plans to capture the seceding county on behalf of the South.

Tap Roots

1948

Tulsa poster
6.3

It's Tulsa, Oklahoma at the start of the oil boom and Cherokee Lansing's rancher father is killed in a fight with the Tanner Oil Company. Cherokee plans revenge by bringing in her own wells with the help of oil expert Brad Brady and childhood friend Jim Redbird. When the oil and the money start gushing in, both Brad and Jim want to protect the land but Cherokee has different ideas. What started out as revenge for her father's death has turned into an obsession for wealth and power.

Tulsa

1949

Canyon Passage poster
6.8

In 1850s Oregon, a businessman is torn between his love of two very different women and his loyalty to a compulsive gambler friend who goes over the line.

Canyon Passage

1946

Young and Willing poster
5.2

A group of young stage hopefuls tries to persuade a theatrical producer to give them their big chance at stardom.

Young and Willing

1943

The Lost Moment poster
6.3

In a long flashback, a New York publisher is in Venice pursuing the lost love letters of an early-19th-century poet, Jeffrey Ashton, who disappeared mysteriously. Using a false name, Lewis Venable rents a room from Juliana Bordereau, once Jeffrey Ashton's lover, now an aged recluse. Running the household is Juliana's severe niece, Tina, who mistrusts Venable from the first moment. He realizes all is not right when late one night he finds Tina, her hair unpinned and wild, at the piano. She calls him Jeffrey and throws herself at him. The family priest warns Venable to tread carefully around her fantasies, but he wants the letters at any cost, even Tina's sanity.

The Lost Moment

1947

Star Spangled Rhythm poster
6.2

Pop, a security guard at Paramount has told his son that he's the head of the studio. When his son arrives in Hollywood on shore leave with his buddies, Pop enlists the aid of the studio's dizzy switchboard operator in pulling off the charade. Things get more complicated when Pop agrees to put together a show for the Navy starring Paramount's top contract players.

Star Spangled Rhythm

1942

The Fighting Seabees poster
6.2

Construction workers in World War II in the Pacific are needed to build military sites, but the work is dangerous and they doubt the ability of the Navy to protect them. After a series of attacks by the Japanese, something new is tried, Construction Battalions (CBs=Seabees). The new CBs have to both build and be ready to fight.

The Fighting Seabees

1944

Adam Had Four Sons poster
5.9

Emilie has been hired to care for the four sons of wealthy Adam Stoddard and his wife, Molly. After Molly dies, Adam and the boys grow to depend on Emilie even more. At the same time, Emilie falls in love with Adam. The boys grow up, but Adam insists that Emilie stay on as part of the family. Her relationships with both the boys and Adam become strained after one son marries a gold-digging viper named Hester. Written by Daniel Bubbeo

Adam Had Four Sons

1941

The Hairy Ape poster
6.3

Aboard ship, a spoiled woman (Susan Hayward) insults the brutish stoker (William Bendix) while watching him work.

The Hairy Ape

1944

Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman poster
6.3

A nightclub singer uses alcohol in excess to sooth her painful life.

Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman

1947

The Saxon Charm poster
4.6

In order to get his way, New York producer Matt Saxon manipulates and controls everyone around him but his latest protégé, novelist Eric Busch, finally stands-up to him.

The Saxon Charm

1948

Among the Living poster
6.1

A mentally unstable man, who has been kept in isolation for years, escapes and causes trouble for his identical twin brother.

Among the Living

1941

The Forest Rangers poster
9.0

Ranger Don Stuart fights a forest fire with timber boss friend Tana 'Butch' Mason, and finds evidence of arson. He suspects Twig Dawson but can't prove it. Butch loves Don but he, poor fool, won't notice her as a woman; instead he meets socialite Celia in town and elopes with her. The action plot (Don's pursuit of the fire starter) parallels Tana's comic efforts to scare tenderfoot Celia back to the city.

The Forest Rangers

1942

Hit Parade of 1943 poster
5.7

When amateur songwriter Jill Wright moves from the Midwest to New York City, she is dismayed to discover that Rick Farrell, the owner of Miracle Publishing Co., has claimed as his own the song she submitted to his company. One of the many films made at Republic with a year attached to the "Hit Parade" title, which came from the "Hit Parade" radio program sponsored by Lucky Strike cigarettes.

Hit Parade of 1943

1943

And Now Tomorrow poster
6.0

Emily Blair is rich and deaf. Doctor Vance, who grew up poor in Blairtown, is working on a serum to cure deafness which he tries on Emily. It doesn't work. Her sister is carrying on an affair with her fiance Jeff. Vance tries a new serum which causes Emily to faint... Will it work this time?

And Now Tomorrow

1944

1930s · 5 titles

Beau Geste poster
7.0

Brothers Beau, John and Digby Geste join the Foreign Legion, where they fall under the rule of tyrannical Sergeant Markoff. Beau and John are assigned to Fort Zinderneuf, where Markoff tries to break their spirit, aware of a dark family secret concerning a fabulous jewel one of them carries. As tensions rise, Arabs attack the fort and rivalries must be thrown aside in a desperate battle for life.

Beau Geste

1939

Hollywood Hotel poster
5.8

After losing a coveted role in an upcoming film to another actress, screen queen Mona Marshall (Lola Lane) protests by refusing to appear at her current movie's premiere. Her agent discovers struggling actress Virginia Stanton (Rosemary Lane) -- an exact match for Mona -- and sends her to the premiere instead, with young musician Ronnie Bowers (Dick Powell). After various mishaps, including a case of mistaken identity, Ronnie and Virginia struggle to find success in Hollywood.

Hollywood Hotel

1938

The Sisters poster
6.1

Three daughters of a small down pharmacist undergo trials and tribulations in their problematic marriages between 1904 and 1908.

The Sisters

1938

Our Leading Citizen poster
8.0

Lem Schofield, a lawyer in a one-time small-town turned industrialized big city, runs his firm on examples set by Abraham Lincoln and is a friend to the poor. Clay Clinton, his late partner's son joins the firm but is anxious for fast success and considers Schofield's old-fashioned principles antiquated. Being in love with Schofield's daughter and impatient for success he moves to offices supplied by the city's most powerful industrialist, J.T. Tapley, who has plans to use Clay's good family lineage as a stepping stone to political power. The unscrupulous Tapley precipitates a strike in his factory mill which causes a rupture between the former partners. Schofield sets out to bring Tapley and his political henchmen to justice.

Our Leading Citizen

1939

$1,000 a Touchdown poster
3.7

A couple inherits a college and to generate revenue offers a thousand dollars to players for each touchdown they score.

$1,000 a Touchdown

1939

Series credits