Susan Hayward died March 14, 1975 at age 57. She was born Edythe Marrenner on June 30, 1917 in Brooklyn, New York.

She attended public school and a commercial high school and had plans on becoming a secretary. Edythe started doing some modeling work for photographers in the New York area and by 1937 her beauty was in full bloom. She went to Hollywood when the nationwide search was on for someone to play the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind.

Although she lost out to Vivien Leigh, she went on to carve out her future in Hollywood. She landed some bit parts, but in 1939 she landed the part of Isobel Rivers in Beau Geste. She went on to play Millie Perkins in Among the Living in 1941. She continued to receive movie roles and in 1947 she received the first of five Academy Award nominations for her portrayal of Angelica Evans in Smash Up: The Story of a Woman. Unfortunately, she did not win the Oscar.

She continued to come close to winning an Oscar until 1959 when she did win for Best Actress in a Leading Role for I Want to Live! She also won a Golden Globe for the same movie, and she earned her star on the Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960 at 6251 Hollywood Blvd.

In 1973, Susan discovered she had a brain tumor. The same affliction that her character had in a movie she appeared in entitled The Stolen Hours.

Hayward eventually died of brain cancer. She’s buried at the Cemetery of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Carrolton, Georgia. You can’t miss her grave in the Chalkey plot with the elaborate curved stone headwall.