- Mini Bio
- Name: Edythe Marrener
- Born: 30th June 1917, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
- Died: 14th March 1975, Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
- Occupation: Actress and singer
- Stage name: After signing a contract with Warner Brothers in 1937 she changed her name to Susan Hayward
- Nicknames: Red and The Brooklyn Bombshell
- Height: 5' 3½" (1.61 m)
- Marriage resume: Jess Barker 1944 to 1954 (Divorced), Floyd Eaton Chalkley 1957 to 1966 (Widowed)
- Trivia: She starred as an alcoholic in three movies; Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman (1947), My Foolish Heart (1949) and I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955)) and considering she was nominated for an Oscar for all 3 roles you could say she nailed it
"I had to slug my way up in a town called Hollywood where people love to trample you to death. I don't relax because I don't know how. I don't want to know how. Life is too short to relax"
Susan Hayward"I learned at a very early age that life is a battle. My family was poor, my neighborhood was poor. The only way that I could get away from the awfulness of life, at that time, was at the movies"
Susan Hayward"I never thought of myself as a movie star. I'm just a working girl. A working girl who worked her way to the top, and never fell off"
Susan Hayward"When you're dead, you're dead. No one is going to remember me when I'm dead...Being remembered isn't the most important thing, anyhow. It's what you do when you are here that's important"
Susan Hayward"You find that you have it all. And it is nothing, really nothing. It is like a drug that lasts just a few hours, a sleeping pill. When it wears off, you have to live without its help"
Susan Hayward"I have often said that one day when I have enough money I'll walk away from the camera and stay away. But then I wonder, can it be done?"
Susan Hayward"Emotions of redheads are close to the surface .... so the redhead (actress) has an immediate advantage"
Susan Hayward"Me, a red-headed Tartar princess, and Duke Wayne, a Mongol warrior: who the hell are they kidding"
Susan Hayward"I defy any newcomer not to believe his or her publicity at the very beginning. It's only natural"
Susan Hayward"Hester fascinated me and, it was my first really dramatic role, also frightened me"
Susan Hayward"I waved goodbye to the boys at the beginning and hello to them at the end"
Susan Hayward"Finally dear, I’ve climbed to the top of their dung heap"
Susan Hayward"You're beautiful in your wrath"
Susan Hayward"I'll cry tomorrow"
Susan HaywardGreat quotes are not where you find great wisdom. It's where you share this knowledge that counts
Sharing Is Caring
Susan Hayward Biography
Susan Hayward was the Brooklyn girl who travelled to Hollywood with a dream to secure the part of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind and a burning ambition to succeed. As her Scarlett dream melted away with Vivien Leigh her ambition grew stronger and she worked hard to secure her first contract in 1937 with Warner Brothers which was her stepping stone to achieving the Hollywood success she so desperately desired.
Her work ethic was excellent and after playing a multitude of bit part roles she finally started to be given the opportunity to play more engaging characters. The actress in Susan had bloomed and she started ratcheting up so many Academy Award nominations without winning the Oscar it became a joke around Hollywood.
However she was to be rewarded with her 5th Academy Award nomination for the 1958 movie "I Want To Live" when she won the Best Actress award she so coveted.
Her long standing producer Walter Wanger was quoted as saying about her; "Thank goodness. We can all relax now. Susie has her Oscar"
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Controversy surrounded filming in Utah in 1956 for the movie The Conqueror as it had a devastating later life effect on Hayward as she and the entire film crew were exposed to radioactive fallout from atmospheric atomic bomb tests. She and all the leading cast, including mega star John Wayne, contracted cancer and Susan succumbed to her illness in 1975. Of the 220 film crew more than 50% of them were later diagnosed with cancer
Hayward's poise and posture made her stand out as an actress, she had an air of confidence when she strutted her unique walk in front of the camera lens, her voice could plumb the depths of despair yet rise up to an almighty snarl in a split second whilst her long red mane flailed from side to side, in full flow she was red hot.
Great actresses with great lines are usually good for an off the cuff quip too, so here is my compilation of 14 of the best Susan Hayward quotes
Quotes About Susan Hayward
Charlton Heston said of her: "If there was an actress who could keep the audience interested it was Susan Hayward"
The director Robert Wise was impressed to say: "Susan Hayward is to the movies what Sarah Bernhardt was to the stage. She has a chemical combination that can excite and hold audiences as surely as Garbo and few other greats of the screen. She is one of the few actresses who can hold up a movie all by herself"