Editing Margaret Sullavan (section)

==Career==

===Early years===
Sullavan succeeded in getting a chorus part in the Harvard Dramatic Society 1929 spring production ''Close Up'', a musical written by Harvard senior [[Bernard Hanighen]], who was later a composer for [[Broadway theater|Broadway]] and Hollywood.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Rinella |first=Michael D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fbylDwAAQBAJ&dq=close+up+bernard+hanighen&pg=PA11 |title=Margaret Sullavan: The Life and Career of a Reluctant Star |date=July 25, 2019 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-3605-4 |language=en}}</ref>

The President of the Harvard Dramatic Society, Charles Leatherbee, along with the President of Princeton's [[Theatre Intime]], [[Bretaigne Windust]], who together had established the University Players on Cape Cod the summer before, persuaded Sullavan to join them for their second summer season. Another member of the University Players was [[Henry Fonda]], who had the comic lead in ''Close Up''.

In the summer of 1929, Sullavan appeared opposite Fonda in ''The Devil in the Cheese'', her debut on the professional stage. She returned for most of the University Players' 1930 season. In 1931, she squeezed in one production with the University Players between the closing of the Broadway production of ''A Modern Virgin'' in July and its tour in September. She rejoined the University Players for most of their 18-week 1930–31 winter season in Baltimore.<ref>[[Norris Houghton|Houghton, Norris]]. ''But Not Forgotten: The Adventure of the University Players.'' New York, William Sloan Associates, 1951.</ref>

Sullavan's parents did not approve of her choice of career. She played the lead in ''[[Strictly Dishonorable (play)|Strictly Dishonorable]]'' (1930) by [[Preston Sturges]], which her parents attended. Confronted with her evident talent, they ceased their objections. "To my deep relief," Sullavan later recalled, "I thought I'd have to put up with their yappings on the subject forever."<ref name="Lawrence J. Quirk, p. 18">Quirk, p. 18.</ref>

A Shubert scout saw her in that play as well and eventually she met [[Lee Shubert]] himself. At the time, Sullavan was suffering from a bad case of [[laryngitis]] and her voice was huskier than usual. Shubert loved it. In subsequent years Sullavan would joke that she cultivated that "laryngitis" into a permanent hoarseness by standing in every available draft.<ref name="Lawrence J. Quirk, p. 18"/>

[[File:Margaret Sullavan in Three Comrades trailer 2.JPG|thumb|right|220px|Sullavan in her Oscar-nominated role as Pat Hollmann in ''[[Three Comrades (1938 film)|Three Comrades]]'' (1938)]]

Sullavan made her debut on Broadway in ''A Modern Virgin'' (a comedy by [[Elmer Blaney Harris|Elmer Harris]]) on May 20, 1931, and began touring on August 3.<ref name=":1" />

At one point in 1932, she starred in four Broadway flops in a row (''If Love Were All'', ''Happy Landing'', ''Chrysalis'' (with [[Humphrey Bogart]]), and ''Bad Manners''), but the critics praised Sullavan for her performances in all of them.<ref>Quirk, p. 24</ref> In March 1933, Sullavan replaced another actor in ''[[Dinner at Eight (play)|Dinner at Eight]]'' in New York. Movie director [[John M. Stahl]] happened to be watching the play and was intrigued by Sullavan. He decided she would be perfect for a picture he was planning, ''[[Only Yesterday (1933 film)|Only Yesterday]]''.

At that time Sullavan had already turned down offers for five-year contracts from [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]] and [[Columbia Pictures|Columbia]].<ref>Hayward, Brooke. ''Haywire''. Jonathan Cape Ltd., London, 1977; {{ISBN|0-224-01426-9}}, p. 190.</ref> [[Universal Pictures]] offered Sullavan a three-year, two-pictures-per-year contract at $1,200 per week. She accepted it and had a clause put in her contract that allowed her to return to the stage on occasion.<ref>Quirk, p. 26</ref> Later in her career, Sullavan signed only short-term contracts because she did not want to be "owned" by any studio.<ref>Quirk, p. 83.</ref>

===Hollywood===
Sullavan arrived in Hollywood on May 16, 1933, her 24th birthday. Her film debut came that same year in ''[[Only Yesterday (1933 film)|Only Yesterday]]''. When she saw herself in the film's early [[Dailies|rushes]], she was so appalled that she tried to purchase her contract for $2,500, but Universal refused. In his November 10, 1933, review in ''[[The New York Herald Tribune]]'', [[Richard Watts, Jr.]] wrote that Sullavan "plays the tragic and lovelorn heroine of this shrewdly sentimental orgy with such forthright sympathy, wise reticence and honest feeling that she establishes herself with some definiteness as one of the cinema people to be watched."<ref>Quirk, pp. 27–29.</ref>

Sullavan's next role came in ''[[Little Man, What Now? (1934 film)|Little Man, What Now?]]'' (1934), a film about a couple struggling to survive in impoverished post–World War I Germany. Universal was reluctant to produce a film about unemployment, starvation and homelessness, but ''Little Man'' was an important project to Sullavan. She would list the film appearance among the few Hollywood roles that afforded her a great measure of satisfaction.<ref>Quirk, pp. 31–35.</ref>

In ''[[The Good Fairy (1935 film)|The Good Fairy]]'' (1935), Sullavan was able to illustrate her versatility. During the production, she married its director, [[William Wyler]].<ref>Quirk, pp. 35, 44.</ref>

[[File:Margaret Sullavan on photoplay magazine 1934.jpg|thumb|Sullavan on cover of ''Photoplay'', 1934]]

King Vidor's ''[[So Red the Rose (film)|So Red the Rose]]'' (1935) dealt with people in the postbellum South and preceded the publication of [[Margaret Mitchell]]'s bestselling novel ''[[Gone with the Wind (novel)|Gone With the Wind]]'' by one year and the blockbuster [[Gone with the Wind (film)|film adaptation]] by four years. Sullavan played a childish Southern belle who matures into a responsible woman.

In ''[[Next Time We Love]]'' (1936), Sullavan played opposite the then-unknown [[James Stewart]]. She had been campaigning for Stewart to be her leading man, and the studio complied for fear that she would stage a threatened strike.<ref>Dewey, Donald. ''James Stewart''. Sphere, London; {{ISBN|978-0-7515-2160-3}}, pg. 145.</ref> The film dealt with a married couple who had grown apart over the years. This was the first of four films made by Sullavan and Stewart together. 
[[File:Margaret Sullavan in The Shining Hour.JPG|left|200px|thumb|From ''[[The Shining Hour]]'' (1938)]]
In the comedy ''[[The Moon's Our Home]]'' (1936), Sullavan played opposite her ex-husband Henry Fonda as a newly married couple. [[Dorothy Parker]] and [[Alan Campbell (screenwriter)|Alan Campbell]] were recruited to improve the script's dialogue, reportedly at Sullavan's insistence. Her seventh film, ''[[Three Comrades (1938 film)|Three Comrades]]'' (1938), is a drama set in post–World War I Germany. She gained an Oscar nomination for her role and was named the year's best actress by the [[New York Film Critics Circle Awards|New York Film Critics Circle]].

Sullavan reunited with Stewart in ''[[The Shopworn Angel]]'' (1938). Stewart played a sweet, naive Texan soldier on his way to fight in World War I who first marries Sullavan. Sullavan's ninth film was ''[[The Shining Hour]]'' (1938), in which she played the suicidal sister-in-law of [[Joan Crawford]]'s character. Crawford insisted on the casting of Sullavan even though Louis B. Mayer warned Crawford that Sullavan could steal the picture from her.{{Cn|date=May 2024}} In ''[[The Shop Around the Corner]]'' (1940), Sullavan and Stewart worked together again, playing colleagues who unknowingly exchange letters with each other.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bradshaw |first=Peter |date=December 2, 2021 |title=The Shop Around the Corner review – 1940 Lubitsch romcom still a Christmas delight |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/dec/02/the-shop-around-the-corner-review-1940-lubitsch-romcom-still-a-christmas-delight |access-date=April 11, 2022 |website=[[The Guardian]] |language=en}}</ref>

In 1940, Sullavan also appeared in ''[[The Mortal Storm]]'', a film about the lives of common Germans during the rise of Adolf Hitler; it was her last film with Stewart. ''[[Back Street (1941 film)|Back Street]]'' (1941) was lauded as among the best performances of Sullavan's Hollywood career, a film for which she ceded top billing to [[Charles Boyer]] to ensure that he would take the male lead part.<ref>Quirk, p. 117.</ref> ''[[So Ends Our Night]]'' (1941) was a wartime drama in which Sullavan, on loan to [[United Artists]] for a one-picture deal from Universal, played a Jewish exile fleeing the Nazis.

[[File:Margaret Sullavan in The Shopworn Angel trailer.JPG|thumb|right|200px|Sullavan as nightclub singer Daisy Heath in ''[[The Shopworn Angel]]'' (1938)]]

A 1940 court decision obligated Sullavan to fulfill her original 1933 agreement with Universal, requiring her to appear in two more films for the studio. These films would be ''[[Back Street (1941 film)|Back Street]]'' (1941) and the light comedy ''[[Appointment for Love]]'' (1941).

''[[Cry 'Havoc' (film)|Cry 'Havoc']]'' (1943) was Sullavan's last film with [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|M-G-M]]. After its completion, she was free of all film commitments. She had often referred to MGM and Universal as "jails."<ref name="Lawrence J. Quirk, p. 128">Quirk, p. 128.</ref>

===Films with James Stewart===
Sullavan's co-starring roles with James Stewart are among the highlights of their early careers. In 1935, Sullavan had decided on doing ''[[Next Time We Love]]''. She had strong reservations about the story, but had to "work-off the damned contract."<ref>Quirk, p. 59.</ref> The script contained a role that she thought might be ideal for Stewart, who was the best friend of Sullavan's first husband, actor Henry Fonda. Years earlier, during a casual conversation with some fellow actors on Broadway, Sullavan predicted that Stewart would become a major Hollywood star.<ref>Donald Dewey, p. 115.</ref>

[[File:The Shopworn Angel trailer.JPG|thumb|left|200px|Sullavan and Stewart in ''The Shopworn Angel'' (1938)]]

By 1936, Stewart was a contract player at MGM but securing only small parts in B-movies. Sullavan, under contract with Universal, suggested that the studio test Stewart as her leading man. He was borrowed from MGM to star with Sullavan in ''[[Next Time We Love]]''. The inexperienced Stewart had been nervous and unsure of himself during the early stages of production, and director [[Edward H. Griffith]], began bullying him.<ref>Quirk, p. 60.</ref> However, Sullavan believed in Stewart and spent evenings coaching him and helping him scale down his awkward mannerisms and hesitant speech that were soon to be famous. "It was Margaret Sullavan who made James Stewart a star," Griffith later said. Bill Grady of MGM said: "That boy came back from Universal so changed I hardly recognized him."<ref>Quirk, pp. 60–61.</ref> Gossip in [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] held that Sullavan's husband [[William Wyler]] was suspicious about her rehearsing with Stewart privately.<ref>Quirk, p. 62-63.</ref> When Sullavan divorced Wyler in 1936 and married [[Leland Hayward]] that same year, they moved into a colonial house just a block away from that of Stewart.<ref>Hayward, ''Haywire''. Jonathan Cape Ltd., p. 72.</ref> Stewart's frequent visits to the Sullavan/Hayward home soon restoked the rumors of his romantic feelings for Sullavan.

Sullavan and Stewart's second film together was ''[[The Shopworn Angel]]'' (1938).<ref>Quirk, p. 93.</ref> [[Walter Pidgeon]], who also starred in the film, later recalled: "I really felt like the odd-man-out in that one. It was really all Jimmy and Maggie ... It was so obvious he was in love with her. He came absolutely alive in his scenes with her, playing with a conviction and a sincerity I never knew him to summon away from her."<ref>Quirk, p. 92.</ref> Sullavan and Stewart appeared in four films together between 1936 and 1940 (''Next Time We Love'', ''The Shopworn Angel'', ''[[The Shop Around the Corner]]'' and ''[[The Mortal Storm]]'').

===Later years===
{{More citations needed|section|date=October 2021}}
[[File:Stork-Club-Cub-Room-November-1944.jpg|300px|left|thumb|Sullavan and Leland Hayward among the patrons of the [[Stork Club]] in New York City, November 1944]]
Sullavan took a break from films from 1943 to 1950. Throughout her career, Sullavan seemed to prefer the stage to the movies. She felt that only on the stage could she improve her skills as an actor. "When I really learn to act, I may take what I have learned back to Hollywood and display it on the screen," she said in an interview in October 1936 (when she was doing ''[[Stage Door (play)|Stage Door]]'' on Broadway between movies). "But as long as the flesh-and-blood theatre will have me, it is to the flesh-and-blood theatre I'll belong. I really am stage-struck. And if that be treason, Hollywood will have to make the most of it."<ref name="Lawrence J. Quirk, p. 80">Quirk, p. 80.</ref>

Another reason for her early retirement from the screen (1943) was that she wanted to spend more time with her children, Brooke, Bridget and Bill (then 6, 4 and 2 years old). She felt that she had been neglecting them and felt guilty about it.<ref name="Lawrence J. Quirk, p. 80"/> Sullavan still did stage work on occasion. From 1943 to 1944, she played the sexually inexperienced but curious Sally Middleton in ''[[The Voice of the Turtle (play)|The Voice of the Turtle]]'' (by [[John Van Druten]]) on Broadway and later in London (1947).

Sullavan returned to the screen in 1950 to do one last picture, ''[[No Sad Songs for Me]]''. She played a suburban housewife and mother who learns that she will die of cancer within a year and who then determines to find a "second" wife for her soon-to-be-widower husband ([[Wendell Corey]]). [[Natalie Wood]], then 11, played their daughter. After ''No Sad Songs for Me'' and its favorable reviews, Sullavan had a number of offers for other films, but she decided to concentrate on the stage for the rest of her career. Still, she did not return to the stage until 1952.

Her choice then was as the suicidal Hester Collyer, who meets fellow sufferer Mr. Miller (played by [[Herbert Berghof]]) in [[Terence Rattigan]]'s ''[[The Deep Blue Sea (play)|The Deep Blue Sea]].'' In 1953, she agreed to appear in ''[[Sabrina Fair]]'' by [[Samuel A. Taylor|Samuel Taylor]].
 
On December 18, 1955, Sullavan appeared as the mystery guest on the TV panel show ''[[What's My Line?]]''

In 1955 and 1956, Sullavan appeared in ''[[Janus (play)|Janus]],'' a comedy by playwright Carolyn Green. Sullavan played the part of Jessica who writes under the pen name Janus, and [[Robert Preston (actor)|Robert Preston]] played her husband. The play ran for 251 performances from November 1955 to June 1956.

In the late 1950s, Sullavan's hearing and depression were getting worse. However, in 1959, she agreed to do ''Sweet Love Remembered'' by playwright [[Ruth Goetz]]. It was to be Sullavan's first Broadway appearance in four years. Rehearsals began on December 1, 1959. She had mixed emotions about a return to acting, and her depression soon became clear to everyone: "I loathe acting", she said on the day she started rehearsals. "I loathe what it does to my life. It cancels you out. You cannot live while you are working. You are a person surrounded by an unbreachable wall".<ref>Hayward, ''Haywire''. Jonathan Cape Ltd., pg. 279.</ref>