Susan Hayward (born Edythe Marrenner; June 30, 1917 – March 14, 1975) was an American actress best known for her film portrayals of women that were based on true stories.

By the late 1940s, the quality of her film roles improved, and she achieved recognition for her dramatic abilities with the first of five Academy Award for Best Actress nominations for her performance as an alcoholic in Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (1947).

She was also in Comet Over Broadway (1938), but returned to unbilled and began posing for pinup "cheesecake" publicity photos, something she and most actresses despised, but under her contract she had no choice.

She held the small, but important, haunting love of youth role as recalled by the Geste brothers while they searched for a valuable sapphire known as "the blue water" during desert service in the Foreign Legion; the film was hugely successful.

Hayward went to Columbia for a supporting role alongside Ingrid Bergman in Adam Had Four Sons (1941), then to Republic Pictures for Sis Hopkins (1941) with Judy Canova and Bob Crosby.

De Mille gave her a good supporting role in Reap the Wild Wind (1942), to costar with Milland, John Wayne and Paulette Goddard.

RKO gave Hayward her first top billing in Deadline at Dawn (1946), a Clifford Odets written Noir film, which was Harold Clurman's only movie as director.

In 1947, she received the first of five Academy Award nominations for her role as an alcoholic nightclub singer based on Dixie Lee in Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman, her second film for Wanger.

Hayward went over to 20th Century Fox to make House of Strangers (1949) for director Joseph Mankiewicz, beginning a long association with that studio.

Sam Goldwyn borrowed her for My Foolish Heart (1949), which earned her an Oscar nomination, then she went back to Fox for I'd Climb the Highest Mountain (1951), which was a hit.

RKO borrowed Hayward for The Lusty Men (1952) with Robert Mitchum, then she went back to Fox for The President's Lady (1953), playing Rachel Jackson alongside Charlton Heston; White Witch Doctor (1953) again a co-star with Mitchum; Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954), as Messalina; Garden of Evil (1954) with Gary Cooper and Richard Widmark; and Untamed (1955) with Tyrone Power.

(1958), in which she played death row inmate Barbara Graham, was a critical and commercial success and won Hayward the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal.

[35] Hayward made Thunder in the Sun (1959) with Jeff Chandler, a wagon train picture about French Basque pioneers,[36] which was a modest success financially, and then Woman Obsessed (1959) at Fox.

In 1961, Hayward starred as a shrewd working girl who becomes the wife of the state's next governor (Dean Martin) and ultimately takes over the office herself in Ada.

The same year, she played Rae Smith in Ross Hunter's lavish remake of Back Street, which also starred John Gavin and Vera Miles.

Then she replaced Judy Garland as Helen Lawson in the film adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls (1967), which drew terrible reviews but made money at the box office.

[44] During the contentious divorce proceedings, Hayward stayed in the United States rather than join the Hong Kong location shoot for the film Soldier of Fortune.

A few brief, distant scenes of Gable and a Hayward double walking near landmarks in Hong Kong were combined with the indoor shots.

By April 1955, the stress of divorce proceedings and overwork prompted Hayward to attempt suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills.

[44] After taking the pills, she quickly regretted her decision and, in a panic, called her mother, who sent for the police; they had to break down the back door to reach her.

[50] She particularly relied on the advice of Carroll Righter, who called himself "the Gregarious Aquarius" and the self-proclaimed "Astrologer to the Stars", who informed her that the optimal time to sign a film contract was exactly 2:47 a.m., prompting her to set her alarm for 2:45 so she could be sure to follow his instructions.

[51] Hayward's doctor found a lung tumor in March 1972 that metastasized and, after a seizure in April 1973, she was diagnosed with brain metastasis.

[57] While Hayward was a two pack a day smoker, and smoking was considered the main cause of lung cancer [1], the question is still open as to whether high residual radiation levels after the above ground nuclear explosions in Yucca Flat, only 137 miles from the set of The Conqueror, led directly to her relatively early death.