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Ginger's Susan Hayward Message Board: To reach If You Knew Susie by Trish Sharp, click the profile photo at www.facebook.com/susanhaywardclassicfilmstar and you will see the link.

Ginger's Susan Hayward Message Board
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SUSAN HAYWARD - The Most Glamorous Woman in the World - by Robert Fuller

I know you will all love to read this - taken from an article dated February 1961 :

ROBERT FULLER avows: "I'll wrestle any man in eight feed of mud who doesn't agree with me that SUSAN HAYWARD is the most glamorous woman in the world! I remember that, a few years back, some group voted her that title and, as far as I'm concerned, it still stands. There isn't any one thing that makes me think of her as the most glamorous star I know. It's everything; Hair, eyes, face, shape. She has classic beauty.

"I've been watching her for years. Up on the screen, I mean. It may seem like a strange way to get kicks, but I think almost everybody does it ... go to the movies and sort of fall in love with the people you see. That's when I fell for Susan Hayward. You know, a lot of kids were falling for Donald Duck? I fell for Susan Hayward. So who's to say who's sick?

"Anyway, I like to think that my falling for her was partly under the heading of Art Appreciation. Look at it this way: There are some girls who are just perfect. So perfect that a guy'd have to be a fool to want to change it by meeting them. That's why I call Susan Hayward 'art appreciation'. I like to look at her from afar ... look at all that glamour ... and then shut my eyes and dream.

"One more thing: She has class. Class. To me, that word means that Susan Hayward is the kind of woman you're proud to live in the same world with, you know? She's the kind of woman who sits and walks, straight up - not because she learned it in any posture class, but because she IS straight up, naturally. She looks a little taller than she really is. That's class. And that's Susan Hayward".

I remember Robert Fuller in Laramie and Wagon Train and now I know he had good taste too!

Trish

Re: SUSAN HAYWARD - The Most Glamorous Woman in the World - by Robert Fuller

Trish:

Now THERE'S a man of culture! I would only add that Susan wasn't a classic only to men but, as you know only too well, Trish, to us gals, too.

It's funny that you posted this now. Yesterday I discussed Susan with two friends by saying that, in a time of real movie stars, I think she was the greatest. And this is why I said it: you wouldn't have caught Susan on any talk show divulging her innermost thoughts to the world, let alone any personal problems she had. I know that's par for the course in today's world, but there were also actors back in the '40s, '50s and '60s who were blabber-mouths. Not our Susan. She had enough good sense, and class, to know
when to keep her mouth shut.

And I do not recall any time when I saw pictures of her in magazines that she was not dressed well. No running around in jeans, shorts or tee shirts while in the public and in front of photographers for her.

So yes, to me, as to Robert Fuller, she epitomized class. And there was something else I admired about her, too. On an occasion -- when she was "caught" in a man's apartment with his supposed girlfriend, and a fight ensued, Susan didn't lie about what happened. She told the truth, saying she was there with him in her pajamas, and took responsibility for what happened afterward. Even when she was in an unladylike situation, she was a lady.

And when, many years later, she endured an unimaginable illness in her own life that mirrored the fictional life of one of the characters she played in the movies, like that character, she bore her illness with strength and character.

There are many reasons Susan Hayward was always my favorite, and outer beauty was only one facet.

Re: Re: SUSAN HAYWARD - The Most Glamorous Woman in the World - by Robert Fuller

Gloria,

I agree with you wholeheartedly.

Another aspect springs to mind too - apparently (and I can believe this) when Susan took over the Judy Garland role in VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (only agreeing to play the Helen Lawson character when she knew that Judy would be paid the $25,000. she would have earned had she been well enough to play the part) she never asked one question about Judy and why she had been "let go". The person writing about this said Susan was the only actress they knew who was unconcerned about other people and certainly no gossip!! This speaks volumes to me.

Trish

Re: Re: Re: SUSAN HAYWARD - The Most Glamorous Woman in the World - by Robert Fuller

Thanks, Trish.. I had ever read that from Robert Fuller, and I definitely remember him.

There was something about her inner self that exuded from the screen .Whatever it was, it was strong for me, and cut through all the clutter and just connected. As a female, I just related to her womanly qualities, I guess. I always thought she had such a motherly appeal. She had IT. I guess I'd just call her the ultimate It girl. Men and women alike loved her. For all her beauty, she wasn't threatening to women because on some level she could empathize with them and they knew it. Yep, she was IT.

Re: Re: Re: Re: SUSAN HAYWARD - The Most Glamorous Woman in the World - by Robert Fuller

type... I had "never" read that.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: SUSAN HAYWARD - The Most Glamorous Woman in the World - by Robert Fuller

Well, what a coincidence! I just went into Susan's e.Bay and there it was - she won the title of the "Most Glamorous Woman in Cinema City". She is on the front of a magazine dated June 20th, 1942.

Ginger, I hadn't thought of Susan as a mother but as I grew older, I certainly thought of her as a friend.
As a child and teenager I looked up to her immensely and defended her fiercely! She was always this person up there on the screen with magical qualities for me and I loved her for being in my life - still do of course. Like you said Ginger, Susan was the ultimate IT girl for so many of us.

When Susan and Jess divorced it was a shock as they had always seemed so happy together in the photos which were published - they were both excellent actors, on reflection, in that respect. I really liked Jess too - such a handsome man and as Susan herself said (as Jane Froman), "it must be hard for any man being married to a woman in the spotlight"!
He seemed to be very loyal to her too as after the divorce proceedings, I never saw that he said anything against Susan for the rest of his life. Of course, everything we write is pure conjecture as who knows what goes on behind closed doors or what is really true in the written word, but I will say I admired Jess and always watch him on his infrequent appearances on tv.

Trish

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: SUSAN HAYWARD - The Most Glamorous Woman in the World - by Robert Fuller

Okay, Ginger & Trish. I have to add another "two cents" to this conversation. While I agree that Susan had very womanly qualities, which is to say she showed caring, gentleness and empathy in her roles (and, I hope, in her private life), what really drew me to her was her strength.

The other actresses of that time were either simply sex symbols whose minds (if they had one) were never in the mix. Or we had the complete bimbo up on the screen. Susan was the first actress I saw who was a REAL woman, as I saw my mother, my aunts, and ultimately, as I wanted to see myself. She had the guts to play strong women...women who were ambitious, not shy, timid types who always deferred to men. Her women could be cunning when they had to be, ruthless when confronted by men who would be ruthless to them, and maybe even evil, too. As I said, real women, not cardboard cutouts on the screen, or in life.

That she did all that and could show vulnerability, too, well, that's why I loved her. She'll always be my hero in many ways, as well as a glamour queen.