STACK #159 Jan 2018

EXTRAS

FEATURE

starring alongside them. This also attributed to her gaining a reputation of being difficult on set, aloof and unfriendly to her fellow actors. She also refused to cut her mane of red hair for any film role, which did not endear her to the studio bosses and led to numerous suspensions. Her best role during her Paramount years was when she appeared seventh in the cast list of Reap the Wild Wind  (1942), Cecil B. De Mille’s seagoing answer to Gone with the Wind.  She was also loaned out to Republic Pictures for the rousing war movie  The Fighting Seabees (1944), in which she performed well alongside the star of the movie, John Wayne. As WWII ended, so too did Susan Hayward’s Paramount contract. She was not sorry to leave, especially as she had been promised a starring role in a movie for RKO studios. Many Americans believed that the end of the war would be the beginning of a time of prosperity and peace. Instead, the first chill of the Cold War began to set in. The change in the political environment also affected Hollywood’s movie output. Wartime positives gave way to film noir-like ambiguity. The RKO noir movie Deadline at Dawn  (1946) gave Susan her first top-billed role in a quality production, and one

Susan Hayward received her first Best Actress nomination for Smash Up-The Story of a Woman

Susan Hayward’s first starring role in the 1946 noir classic Deadline at Dawn

career for her crooner husband – a performance for which she received her first Academy Award nomination. Although she lost the Oscar to Loretta Young, for Hayward it was enough to have been nominated – for now. By the fall of 1947, Wanger had run into serious financial difficulties and the head of 20th Century Fox, Darryl F. Zanuck, offered the beleaguered Wanger a way out. The offer was to sell Zanuck the remainder of Susan’s contract. The careers of Fox’s stable of glamorous leading ladies had suddenly begun to falter. The post-war movies of Gene Tierney, Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell and Betty Grable were now no longer successful at the box

in which she delivered a stunning performance. This film brought her to the attention of her old nemesis, film producer David O. Selznick, who not only had turned her down as Scarlett O’Hara but had also tried to run her out of town. He now wanted to see her with the offer of a multi- picture contract. Susan arrived at his office, and as is usual with all of the Hollywood moguls, was made to wait for over an

Hayward’s third Oscar nomination was for her portrayal of singer Jane Froman in With a Song in My Heart – seen here in a scene with a young Robert Wagner.

it in 1954 as Broken Lance,  and again in 1961 as  The Big Show. For her next film she was loaned out to Sam Goldwyn-RKO. The romantic tear-jerker My Foolish Heart  (1949) landed Susan her second Oscar nomination, only to lose out on the night to Olivia de Havilland. Her third Academy Award nomination came three years later in 1952 for With a Song in My Heart – a biopic of singer Jane Froman, whose career was almost destroyed when her right leg was nearly severed in a devastating 1943 plane crash. Her performance won her a Golden Globe Award, but a month later Susan lost the Oscar yet again – this time to Shirley Booth. She now convinced herself that the Academy and Hollywood establishment really did resent her. In early 1954, RKO Pictures owner Howard Hughes offered 20th Century Fox what was described as “an ungodly sum” for the services of Miss Hayward. She would star alongside John Wayne in a six-million dollar “epic”. But unbeknownst to the cast and crew, the Utah location for the film would have devastating effects for many of them.

I didn’t come to Hollywood just to damn model

Poster for Reap the Wild Wind . Susan Hayward appeared seventh in the cast.

hour. Finally, when she was admitted, Selznick passed her a contract to sign. Susan glanced at it and then said, “You can take this paper and stick it up your ass.” She smiled and then said, “I intend signing a personal contract with producer Walter Wanger. You, Mr. Selznick, lost your chance eight years ago. Goodbye.” Under Walter Wanger’s tutelage, Susan flourished as a serious film actress. Her second movie for Wanger , Smash Up – The Story of a Woman  (1947), was a turning point in her career. In the film she plays Angie Evans, a tormented alcoholic singer who sacrifices her

office. Zanuck believed that Susan Hayward would fill the gap, stating: “Hayward has two qualities most desired in any actress: she is beautiful, and she can damn well act”. Wanger reluctantly agreed to sell her contract, provided that Susan received a salary commensurate with her box office potential. Susan’s first project for Fox was House of Strangers  (1948), a story about a vendetta among the members of an Italian family. The film proved so popular that Hollywood remade

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To be concluded.

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