Susan Hayward, Actress of Infinite Variety: The Divine Bitch

“One of the Best” Susan Hayward has been described in many ways-not all of them flattering.

She’s been called “a woman who went through life with her fists upp…a human goddess…cold as a polar bear’s foot…” and “as resilient as a trampoline.”

Perhaps all the descriptions are true. She is a complicated woman – and a beautiful and talented one. Born in a tenement in Brooklyn, she knew firsthand what poverty was like. And she knew she didn’t like it. From Brooklyn and her Irish father she learned to fight for what she wanted, amd she wanted success. Her ambitions knew no bounds -at 12 years of age, she was the first woman newsboy ever hired by the Brooklyn Eagel. Even then, she didn’t take no for an answer. She wanted to be an actress and she wanted to go to Hollywood – and to take it by storm. And the flaming-haired New Yorker did just that.

From Reap the Wild Wind to My Foolish Heart to I’ll Cry Tomorrow, she fought battles with studios, agents, her family and her friends. She managed to earn five nominations for the Academy Award, and wond the coveted Oscar for her performance in “I Want to Live.” This is her story. It is the story, too, of an era when films were both the outlet and source of dreams.