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| Margaret Sullavan | |
|---|---|
| Name | Margaret Sullavan |
| Birth date | June 16, 1909 |
| Birth place | Norfolk, Virginia, United States |
| Death date | January 1, 1960 |
| Death place | New York City, New York, United States |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1929–1959 |
| Spouse | Leland Hayward; Kenneth MacKenna; William Wyler (partners/spouses) |
| Children | Brooke Hayward |
Margaret Sullavan Margaret Sullavan was an American stage and film actress noted for her distinctive voice, intense stage presence, and selective screen career. She achieved prominence on Broadway and in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s, working with leading directors, producers, and actors of the era. Her career intersected with notable institutions and personalities across theater, film, radio, and publishing.
Sullavan was born in Norfolk, Virginia, and raised in Madison County, Tennessee, near Knoxville, Tennessee, in a household influenced by Harvard University-educated parents and regional cultural life. She attended the Hotchkiss School and later enrolled at Vassar College before leaving to pursue acting, associating with theatrical training linked to Cornell University and professional repertory theaters in the Northeast. Her early mentors and influences included figures connected to Eugene O'Neill, George Bernard Shaw, and the touring companies that performed works by William Shakespeare, Gerhart Hauptmann, and Anton Chekhov.
Sullavan’s Broadway breakthrough came through roles in productions mounted by producers like Darryl F. Zanuck, Florenz Ziegfeld, and companies affiliated with The Group Theatre and The Theatre Guild. She appeared opposite leading stage actors such as Joseph Schildkraut, Edmund Gwenn, and Hume Cronyn in plays that included works by Noël Coward, Tennessee Williams, Thornton Wilder, and adaptations from Arthur Miller-era dramatists. Her performances were championed by critics from publications including the New York Times, The New Yorker, and Variety, and she was involved in tours that reached venues like the Shubert Theatre (New York), Guthrie Theater-associated circuits, and regional houses influenced by the Federal Theatre Project.
Sullavan transitioned to Hollywood in the early 1930s, working for studios such as Universal Pictures, MGM, and RKO Radio Pictures. She was cast in films directed by leading filmmakers including Frank Borzage, William Wyler, and Preston Sturges, and co-starred with box-office names like James Stewart, John Wayne, Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, and Bette Davis. Her notable screen appearances included adaptations of works by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Dashiell Hammett, and she collaborated with producers such as Samuel Goldwyn and David O. Selznick. Movie industry awards and institutions—Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences screenings, Golden Globe Awards-era publicity, and studio publicity departments—tracked her career, while trade papers like The Hollywood Reporter documented her selective filmography.
After reducing her film commitments, Sullavan returned to Broadway and engaged extensively with radio, performing in programs produced by networks such as NBC and CBS. She starred in radio adaptations alongside performers from Orson Welles’s repertory and collaborated with producers connected to RKO radio divisions and Mercury Theatre alumni. Her radio work included dramatic broadcasts comparable to programs hosted by Lux Radio Theatre, Theatre Guild on the Air, and Screen Directors Playhouse, and she worked with writers and directors affiliated with John Houseman, Howard Koch, and Arch Oboler. Her later stage choices brought her into contact with younger talents linked to Elia Kazan, Lee Strasberg, and members of the Actors Studio.
Sullavan’s personal and social circles intersected with producers, directors, and cultural figures: she was married to producer Leland Hayward and associated with filmmaker William Wyler and actor-director Kenneth MacKenna. Her daughter, Brooke, grew up amid connections to literary and entertainment families tied to Ernest Hemingway’s milieu, the Kennedy family social web, and television producers like David Susskind. Friends and acquaintances included performers and creators such as Marlene Dietrich, Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier, Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Greta Garbo, Vivien Leigh, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Joan Crawford, Doris Day, Shirley Temple, Lauren Bacall, Rita Hayworth, Lucille Ball, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and critics from Time (magazine) and Life (magazine).
Sullavan died in New York City on January 1, 1960, an event reported by major outlets including The New York Times, Associated Press, and Los Angeles Times. Her legacy influenced generations of performers associated with institutions like the Actors Studio, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and university theater departments at Yale School of Drama and Juilliard School. Retrospectives of her work have been held by archives such as the Library of Congress, Museum of Modern Art (New York), and film preservation efforts by the American Film Institute and British Film Institute. Her daughter and biographers contributed to scholarship published by houses such as Knopf, HarperCollins, and academic presses at Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, ensuring continued study in film and theater histories cataloged by institutions including the Smithsonian Institution and The New Yorker archives.
Category:American stage actresses Category:American film actresses Category:1909 births Category:1960 deaths