Martha Hyer
Martha Hyer ( born August 10, 1924 in Fort Worth, Texas) is an American former film actress.
Life
At the age of eleven years, Martha Hyer had her first appearance in the feature film Thunder Mountain from 1935 with George O'Brien. After high school graduation, the daughter of a Texas senator and Judge Advocate moved with her family from her birthplace Fort Worth to San Antonio. After absolvence of Fairfax Hall Junior College in Waynesboro beginning of the 1940s she studied speech and drama at Northwestern University in Evanston and began training as a theater actress at the Pasadena Playhouse in California. Among her fellow students included Cloris Leachman, Paul Lynde, Charlton Heston and Patricia Neal. In 1946, she was taken from the production company RKO Pictures under contract and had a small role as a bridesmaid in The Locket in the same year. Until the early 1950s, they turned together with Tim Holt and Allan 'Rocky ' Lane numerous B westerns, including a remake of Thunder Mountain from the year 1947.
After the end of the contract with RKO in 1951 Hyer moved to New York and married the producer and director C. Ray Stahl, whom she met during the filming of Oriental Evil. The divorce was followed two years later. She first worked as a freelancer for several film studios ( Monogram, Paramount, Warner Bros. ) before the end of the 1950s contractually tied to Universal. Your greatest achievements came as a rich daughter Elizabeth Tyson in Sabrina and as brittle teacher Gwen French on the side of Frank Sinatra in hell are they all, for which she received an Academy Award nomination a year later. She became famous with films like houseboat and The Sons of Katie Elder. Sometimes referred to as " Universal's answer to Grace Kelly", she was also one of the candidates for the role of Marion Crane in the movie Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock. Their male partners were well-known film stars like Cary Grant, John Wayne, Roger Moore and Dean Martin.
1966 Hyer married film producer Hal B. Wallis, with whom she lived in Rancho Mirage until his death in 1986. End of the 1960s, she retired into private life. In 1971, she turned her last film The Day of the Wolves and had in January 1974 in order: A Cowboy in Paradise the American series McCloud once again made an appearance on television. For those produced by her husband in 1975 feature film with Rooster Cogburn, she wrote with co -author of the screenplay.
Hyer occurred during her short stint as a model at times under the pseudonym Martha Lou Spring on. She published in 1990 under the name Martha Hyer Wallis her autobiography Finding My Way and now lives in Santa Fe.
Filmography (selection)
Awards
- Academy Awards 1959: Nomination as Best Supporting Actress in Damn they are all
- Laurel Awards 1959: Winner of the Golden Laurel for Best Supporting Actress in Damn they are all
- Western Heritage Awards 1966: Winner of the Bronze Wrangler (together with producer, director and other actors ) in the category Theatrical Motion Picture for The Sons of Katie Elder