This biography of Susan Hayward, one of Hollywood’s leading ladies of the 1940s and 1950s, covers her childhood, school years, early modeling career, and development as an actress. It also documents her personal life, including her marriages and attempted suicide, and her illness and death at the age of 56. It provides an analysis of each of her feature films with comments from contemporary reviewers, and places Hayward and her films in the context of Hollywood and motion picture history. The filmography gives cast and production credits for both motion pictures and television movies.

Kim R. Holston is a staff librarian in the multimedia department of Chester County Library, Exton, Pennsylvania where he assists the public seeking recommendations on motion pictures, audiobooks, eBooks, and music CDs. He has written or cowritten several books for McFarland.

Kim R. Holston
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 256
Bibliographic Info: photos, chronology, filmography, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2009 [2002]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4334-5
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8088-3
Imprint: McFarland

Preface     viii

Introduction     1

1 Brooklyn     5

2 Hollywood or Bust     9

3 Star Billing and Recognition     44

4 Star and Superstar     62

5 Personal Problems, Professional Triumphs     109

6 Better Than the Material     136

7 Bowing Out     165

Appendix: Chronology     175

Filmography     179

Notes     201

Bibliography     225

Index     237