Margaret Sullavan

On December 25, 1931, Sullavan married her co-star Henry Fonda. They however separated after two months and divorced in 1933.

Next in November 25, 1934, she married film director, producer and script writer William Wyler but this marriage also did not work and they divorced on March 13, 1936.

On November 5, 1937, Sullavan married her agent and producer Leland Hayward. Together they had three children - Brook, Bridget and William (Bill). Later in 1947, Sullavan discovered that Hayward was having an affair with socialite Slim Keith so divorced him. While Brook became an actress Bill became a film producer and attorney.

Margaret Brooke Sullavan was born on May 16, 1909 in Norfolk, Virginia. Her father, Cornelius Sullavan, was a wealthy stockbroker. Her mother,Garland (nee Brooke) was an heiress. She had a half sister - Weedie Sullavan.

As a child, Margaret suffered from muscular weakness in the legs, which prevented her from walking until the age of six. Thereafter, she was admitted first to St George School and then to Sullins College in Bristol, Virginia.

To the dismay of her class-conscious parents, Margaret grew up to be a tomboy and liked playing with children from poorer background. Therefore, she was sent to Chatham Episcopal Institute in Virginia for her schooling. Later she became the president of the student body there.

Margaret Sullavan graduated from school in 1927 and thereafter moved to Boston, where she lived with her half-sister Weedie. She had by then decided to become an actress. So she enrolled at Denishawn School of Dance to study dance and at the E E Clive's Copley Theatre Dramatic School to learn drama.

To rein her, her parents next cut her allowance to a minimum. Undeterred, she took up the job of a clerk in the Harvard Cooperative Bookstore (The Coop) and began to live with that.

In the summer of 1929, Sullavan made her professional debut in ‘The Devil in the Cheese’ opposite Henry Fonda. She stayed with University Players for most of 1929 and 1930.

In May 1931, she made a debut in the Broadway with ‘A Modern Virgin’. When the play closed at Broadway in July, she went back to University Players for a short stint before going on a tour with ‘A Modern Virgin’ in September, 1931.

In 1932, she took part in number of Broadway productions. Although most of them were flops, critics were unanimous in praising her performance. Her parents too realized her potential. Thereby, they grudgingly withdrew their objection.

In 1933, while acting in ‘Dinner at Eight’, Sullavan caught the attention of film director John M. Stahl, who was then planning to make ‘Only Yesterday’. Subsequently, she was offered a three-year, two-pictures-a-year contract at $1,200 a week by Universal Studios. A clause, allowing her to return to the stage occasionally, was also included in it

Sullavan’sdebut film, ‘Only Yesterday’ was released on November 1, 1933. Initially she was not satisfied with her work and wanted to buy out her contract. But the company, realizing her potential, refused and The New York Herald Tribune marked her as “as one of the cinema people to be watched”.

’The Three Comrades’, released in 1938, is one of her first major works. For this film, she not only received Oscar nomination, but was also named the year's best actress by the New York Film Critics Circle.The film also grossed $2,043,000 at the box office, making a net profit of $472,000.

On stage ‘The Voice of the Turtle' (1947-1948) was her most important work. It debuted on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre on December 8, 1943. Altogether, it ran for 1,557 performances at different theatres. That made it the 51st longest-running show and the 9th longest-running play in the history of Broadway