Susan Hayward Movies

Want to know the best Susan Hayward movies?  How about the worst Susan Hayward movies?  Curious about Susan Hayward’s box office grosses or which Susan Hayward movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Susan Hayward movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

I have been a bad son.  My mother, probably the biggest UltimateMovieRankings.com fan out there, has been asking for a Susan Hayward movie page for a very long time.  At one point I thought I would do a Susan Hayward page as a Mother’s Day gift to my mom.  Well that did not work…but finally after seeing another 6 months pass….I have finally written a UltimateMovieRankings page on 5 time Oscar® nominated and 1958’s Best Actress Oscar® winner….Susan Hayward. 

Her IMDb page shows 64 acting credits from 1937-1972. This page will rank Susan Hayward movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that were not released in theaters were not included in the rankings.

Susan Hayward in her biggest box office hit of her career....1967's The Valley of the Dolls

Susan Hayward in her biggest box office hit of her career….1967’s The Valley of the Dolls

Susan Hayward Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Susan Hayward Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • If Susan Hayward movie title has a blue link…then that means we have a You Tube on that movie
  • Sort Susan Hayward movies by co-stars of the movie
  • Sort Susan Hayward movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
  • Sort Susan Hayward movies by box office rank by year of release
  • Sort Susan Hayward movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Susan Hayward movie received. Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.

Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Susan Hayward Table

  1. Twenty-four Susan Hayward movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark.  That is a percentage of 44.44% of his movies listed. Valley of the Dolls (1967) was her biggest box hit.
  2. An average Susan Hayward movie grosses $106.50 million in adjusted box office gross.
  3. Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter.  29 of Susan Hayward’s movies are rated as good movies…or 53.70% of his movies.  Beau Geste (1939) is her highest-rated movie while The Conqueror (1956) was her lowest-rated movie.
  4. Twenty-one Susan Hayward movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 38.88% of her movies.
  5. Four Susan Hayward movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 7.40% of her movies.
  6. A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 60 or above.  38 Susan Hayward movies scored higher than the average….or 70.37% of her movies.  I’ll Cry Tomorrow (1955) got the highest UMR Score while I Thank A Fool (1962) got the lowest UMR Score.
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Susan Hayward and John Wayne in 1956’s The Conqueror

Possibly Interesting Facts About Susan Hayward

1.  Susan Hayward (1917-1975) was born Edythe Marrener in Brooklyn, New York.

2.  When Susan Hayward was seven, she was hit by a car and suffered a fractured hip. Although doctors’ told her she might never walk again she was back on her feet in less than a year. The injury left her with one leg that was an inch and half shorter than the other, and she had to wear a lift in her shoe.  This cause her to have an ususual walk, but it became a trademark strut for her in Hollywood.

3.  Susan Hayward was one of 100s of actresses that arrived in Hollywood to try out for the Scarlett O’Hara part in Gone With The Wind.  Although she obviously did not get that part….she did start appearing in bit roles in movies from 1937-1938.  

4.  Susan Hayward’s first official screen role was in 1938’s Girls of Probation.  Her first real break was when she appeared in Gary Cooper’s hit film, Beau Geste (1939).  Once she got noticed…there was nothing stopping her as she became one of the biggest box office stars.

5.  Movie exhibitors voted Susan Hayward among the most popular stars in the country 8 times from 1951 to 1961. Her rankings during that time frame…1951-19th, 1952-9th, 1953-9th, 1954-14th, 1955-19th, 1956-13th,1959-10th and 1961-19th.

6.  Susan Hayward portrayed an alcoholic in three films.  She was nominated for an Oscar® for each of those performances. Those movies were 1947’s Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman, 1949’s My Foolish Heart , and 1955’s I’ll Cry Tomorrow.  She picked up two more Oscar® nominations in her career….1952’s With A Song In My Heart and 1958’s I Want To Live!.  She won the Best Actress Oscar® for I Want To Live!

7.  Susan Hayward was married two times in her life.  Her first marriage to B actor Jess Barker lasted from 1944 to 1954 and produced 2 children….fraternal twin sons named Gregory and Timothy. Her second marriage to Floyd Eaton Chalkley lasted from 1957 to 1966 (his death)…they had no children.

8.  Roles Susan Hayward turned down or was seriously considered for:  Elizabeth Taylor’s part in Cleopatra, Anne Bancroft’s part in The Graduate, Barbara Stanwyck’s part in Double Indemnity, Ingrid Bergman’s part in For Whom The Bell Tolls and parts in South Pacific, Can-Can and The Razor’s Edge.

9.  Susan Hayward is one of many members of the cast and crew of 1956’s Conqueror that eventually died of a type of cancer.  The Conqueror is sometimes called “An RKO Radioactive Picture.” It was filmed near a nuclear test site, and the set was contaminated by nuclear fallout.  After location shooting, contaminated soil was transported back to Hollywood in order to match interior shooting done there. Over the next 20 years, many actors (John Wayne) and crew members developed cancer.

10.  Susan Hayward’s footprints at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre are the only ones set in gold dust.

Check out Susan Hayward‘s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.   During our research we also discovered this excellent Susan website – Susan Hayward/Classic Film Star.

And finally check one of our few You Tube videos.  Ranking Susan Hayward’s Top Ten Movies.

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53 thoughts on “Susan Hayward Movies

  1. Just discovered this site, after watching Susan Hayward in “I Can Get It For You Wholesale” from 1951. Can’t understand why it is not on the list of her body of work. It was one of many great performances of strong, beautiful, head-strong women. Dan Dailey was also excellent in it.

    1. Hey Michael A. (1) Glad you discovered our website. (2) I Can Get It For You Wholesale is in our rankings…..coming in at #33 on the second stat table….and 1951 when looking at the first chronological order table. I have not seen it, but I will have to track that one down. Good feedback…hope you return to check out the 1000s of pages we have put together over the last 10 years.

  2. I have seen 20 Susan Hayward movies. The HIGHEST ranked movie I have seen is I’LL CRY TOMORROW. The LOWEST ranked movie I have seen is WHEN LOVE IS GONE. The highest ranked film I haven’t seen is BEAU GESTE. Favorites include I’LL CRY TOMORROW, MY FOOLISH HEART, SOLIDER OF FORTUNE, I’LL CLIMB THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN, I WANT TO LIVE. SMASH UP-THE STORY OF A WOMAN. THE MARRIAGE GO ROUND, THE PRESIDENT’S LADY, I MARRIED A WITCH, and VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. Other Susan Hayward movies I have seen are RAWHIDE, UNTAMED, REAP THE WILD WIND, LUSTY MEN, THEY WON’T BELIEVE ME, DAVID AND BATHSHEBA, I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE, WHEN LOVE HAS GONE, THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO, and HOUSE OF STRANGERS. Just my opinion but Miss Hayward should have won her Oscar in 1955 for I’LL CRY TOMORROW as opposed to winning the award in 1958 for I WANT TO LIVE. She doesn’t give a bad performance in I WANT TO LIVE in my opinion but, by doing her own singing and dancing in I’LL CRY TOMORROW, she showed a whole new side to her talents that audiences didn’t often get to see.

    1. Hey Sidney. That movie goes by both titles. Not sure how I picked Summer Flight vs Stolen Hours…as I normally use the one IMDb uses. But…I redid the title….to include both. Put Stolen Hours first…since that is what IMDb has. Good catch. Your eagle eye efforts are greatly appreciated.

  3. The Revengers was Hayward’s last theaterical movie and was released in June of 1972. Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole? was a television movie that aired in September 1972. IMDb credits Maggie Cole as her last movie but it never got released in theaters. So I feel you can answer the question both ways as long as you explain which way you are looking at the question. In my mind, The Revengers was Hayward’s last movie while Maggie Cole was her last acting role. Hope that helps.

    1. Good answer In The Shadows….hopefully Ken will read it. I am attaching your comment to his original “question comment”. Thanks again for providing this answer…you are the man.

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