Editing Margaret Sullavan (section)

===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>