Margaret Hayes

Margaret Hayes
In Blackboard Jungle (1955)
Born	Florette Regina Ottenheimer (1913-12-05)December 5, 1913 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Died	January 26, 1977(1977-01-26) (aged 63) Miami Beach, Florida, U.S.
Alma mater	Johns Hopkins University
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1939–1964
Spouses	Charles DeBuskey (m. 193?; div. 1939) Leif Erickson ​ ​ (m. 1942; div. 1942)​ Herbert B. Swope Jr. ​ ​ (m. 1947; div. 1973)​
Children	3

Margaret Hayes (born Florette Regina Ottenheimer; December 5, 1913^[1] – January 26, 1977) was an American film, stage, and television actress.

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 musician, Howard Thurston.^[2]

While a student at Forest Park High School,^[3] she joined the Emerson Cook Stock Company to gain more acting experience.^[4] 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.^[4]

Using the name "Dana Dale" (reportedly at the suggestion of columnist Walter Winchell^[2]), Hayes found work as a model, "featured in the best cigarette, auto, and fashion advertisements".^[5] 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.^[5]

Hayes' initial contract was with Warner Bros. Having little success there, she signed with Paramount Pictures.^[6]

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.^[7] 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" (October 18, 1957) of Trackdown, playing a female convict, named Abby Lindon.^[8]

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.^[9] In the same year, she also guest-starred in an episode of Bonanza, "The Countess", as Lady Linda Chadwick.

After marrying Herbert Bayard Swope in 1946, Hayes temporarily retired from acting and turned to journalism, eventually becoming assistant fashion editor for Life.^[10]

In her later years, Hayes lived in Palm Beach, Florida, and was the host of a daily radio talk show^[10] on WPBR.^[11]

Hayes had her first child, a daughter Nan (born 1937), from her brief first marriage to Charles DeBuskey. The couple divorced in 1939, and Hayes subsequently married actor Leif Erickson on June 12, 1942,^[12] eloping with him to Minden, Nevada. They separated 28 days later, and Hayes received a divorce on October 2, 1942.^[13] In 1947 she married a third time, to producer Herbert B. Swope, Jr. (son of three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Reporting, journalist Herbert Swope^[14]), with whom she had a daughter, actress Tracy Brooks Swope, and a son, Herbert Swope III. They divorced in 1973.^[10]

On January 26, 1977, aged 63, Hayes died of cancer in Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida.^[7][10]

• Margaret Hayes at IMDb
• Margaret Hayes at the Internet Broadway Database
• Margaret Hayes at the Internet Off-Broadway Database