Margaret Hayes
Margaret Hayes was an American film, stage, and television actress.
Early years
A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Hayes was one of four children born to Clara Bussey and Jacob Lewis "Jack" Ottenheimer, erstwhile songwriter, joke-book writer, radio performer turned real estate broker, who had, at one time, reportedly provided much of the material for the famous magician, Howard Thurston.While a student at Forest Park High School, she joined the Emerson Cook Stock Company to gain more acting experience. She entered Johns Hopkins University to become a nurse, but stuck to her dramatic ambitions. At the school, she joined "The Barnstormers", a theatrical organization, becoming the first female member of that group.
Changing names
Using the name "Dana Dale", Hayes found work as a model, "featured in the best cigarette, auto, and fashion advertisements". Her screen test for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind was unsuccessful, but she received a movie contract anyway. Publicists at her studio recommended "Dana Edwards" as a better name for movies, so she began using it. Eventually, she changed to Margaret Hayes for public purposes, and was called Maggie by her friends.Film
Hayes' initial contract was with Warner Bros. Having little success there, she signed with Paramount Pictures.Hayes was often billed as Maggie Hayes in her film credits. She is perhaps best known for her Oscar-nominated performance as schoolteacher Lois Judby Hammond in the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle. In 1956, she guest-starred as Dora Hand in three episodes of The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. She appeared in the episode "The San Saba Incident" of Trackdown, playing a female convict, named Abby Lindon.
Hayes' films included The Glass Key, Sullivan's Travels, and Good Day for a Hanging. In 1958, in the film Damn Citizen, Hayes appeared opposite Keith Andes in the role of a real person, Dorothy Maguire Grevemberg, the wife of the crusading Louisiana State Police superintendent Francis Grevemberg. She made four guest appearances on CBS's Perry Mason, including as defendant Sybil Granger in 1957 episode "The Case of the Nervous Accomplice". She co-starred on Tombstone Territory season 1 episode 24 'Cave-In' which aired March 26, 1958. In 1961, she portrayed Mrs. North in the episode "Incident of the Night on the Town" on CBS"s Rawhide. In the same year, she also guest-starred in an episode of Bonanza, "The Countess", as Lady Linda Chadwick.
Journalism
After marrying Herbert Bayard Swope in 1947, Hayes temporarily retired from acting and turned to journalism, eventually becoming assistant fashion editor for Life.Radio
In her later years, Hayes lived in Palm Beach, Florida, and was the host of a daily radio talk show on WPBR.Personal life
Hayes had her first child, a daughter Nan, from her brief first marriage to Charles DeBuskey. The couple divorced in 1939, and Hayes subsequently married actor Leif Erickson on June 12, 1942, eloping with him to Minden, Nevada. They separated 28 days later, and Hayes received a divorce on October 2, 1942. In 1947 she married a third time, to producer Herbert B. Swope, Jr., with whom she had a daughter, actress Tracy Brooks Swope, and a son, Herbert Swope III. They divorced in 1973.Death
On January 26, 1977, aged 63, Hayes died of cancer in Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida.Partial filmography
- The Man Who Talked Too Much as Governor's Secretary
- Ladies Must Live as Chorus Girl
- Money and the Woman as Depositor
- City for Conquest as Sally, Irene's Friend
- Tugboat Annie Sails Again as Rosie
- In Old Colorado as Myra Woods
- Henry Aldrich for President as Miss Patterson
- New York Town as Lola Martin
- Skylark as Blake's Receptionist
- The Night of January 16th as Nancy Wakefield
- Sullivan's Travels as Secretary
- Louisiana Purchase as Louisiana Belle
- The Lady Has Plans as Rita Lenox
- Saboteur as Henry's Wife in Movie
- Take a Letter, Darling as Sally French
- The Glass Key as Eloise Matthews
- Scattergood Survives a Murder as Gail Barclay
- Stand By All Networks as Lela Cramer
- One Dangerous Night as Patricia Blake Shannon
- They Got Me Covered as Lucille
- Blackboard Jungle as Lois Judby Hammond
- Violent Saturday as Mrs. Emily Fairchild
- The Bottom of the Bottle as Lil Breckinridge
- From the Desk of Margaret Tyding
- Omar Khayyam as Queen Zarada
- Damn Citizen as Dorothy Grevemberg
- The Case Against Brooklyn as Lil Polombo née Alexander
- Girl in the Woods as Bell Cory
- Fräulein as Lt. Berdie Dubbin
- Good Day for a Hanging as Ruth Granger
- The Beat Generation as Joyce Greenfield
- Girls Town as Mother Veronica
- 13 West Street as Mrs. Madeleine Landry
- House of Women as Zoe Stoughton