Editing Margaret Sullavan (section)

==Personal life==
Sullavan had a reputation for being both temperamental and straightforward. On one occasion, Henry Fonda had decided to take up a collection for a [[Independence Day (United States)|4th of July]] fireworks display. After Sullavan refused to make a contribution, Fonda complained loudly to a fellow actor. Sullavan rose from her seat and doused Fonda from head to foot with a pitcher of ice water. Fonda made a stately exit, and Sullavan, composed and unconcerned, returned to her table and ate heartily.<ref>Quirk, p. 42.</ref>

Sullavan refused to allow the firing of a writer on ''[[No Sad Songs for Me]]'' for his left-wing views.<ref>Larry Ceplair, Steven Englund. ''The Inquisition in Hollywood: Politics in the Film Community, 1930-1960''.  University of California Press, Berkeley, 1983 ; {{ISBN|0-520-04886-5}}, pg. 209.</ref> M-G-M studio chief [[Louis B. Mayer]] always seemed wary and nervous in her presence. "She was the only player who outbullied Mayer," [[Eddie Mannix]] of MGM later said of Sullavan. "She gave him the willies."<ref name="Lawrence J. Quirk, p. 128"/>. Some have attributed the death of [[Sam Wood]], a keen anti-Communist, to a dispute he had with Sullavan. Wood died from a heart attack shortly after a raging argument with Sullavan. 

===Marriages and family===

Sullavan was married four times. At age 22, she married actor Henry Fonda on December 25, 1931, while both were performing with the University Players in their 18-week winter season at the Congress Hotel ballroom in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]].<ref>Houghton, pp. 254–257.</ref> "She was a character even the first time I met her," Fonda recalled. Sullavan and Fonda separated after two months and divorced in 1933, but remained longtime friends, and their children also became friends. [[Jane Fonda]] remembers a "vivid image" of Margaret Sullavan. "What impressed me the most was how athletic and tomboyish she was. Dad had taught her how to walk on her hands during their courtship, and she could still suddenly turn herself upside down—and there she'd be, walking along on her hands."<ref>Fonda, My Life So Far</ref> [[Peter Fonda]] named his daughter in honor of Bridget Hayward, Sullavan's second child, who died by suicide in 1960. He had admitted he was in love with Hayward, but they never had a relationship.<ref name="Hayward, Haywire">Hayward, Haywire</ref>

After separating from Fonda, Sullavan began a relationship with Broadway producer [[Jed Harris]] that was tumultuous and short-lived. Then, during the shooting of ''[[The Good Fairy (1935 film)|The Good Fairy]],'' she began a relationship with its director, William Wyler. He said, "One day I looked at the rushes and she didn't look good." The cameraman informed him that Sullavan had had a fight with him that day of shooting, and that "When she's happy she looks pretty, when she's upset she doesn't!" So, Wyler asked her on a date and their relationship blossomed. They married in November 1934 and divorced in March 1936. Wyler remembered it as "A miserable wedding. Jeez. Awful. My lawyer had arranged it. I chartered this airplane, and flew to Arizona. We went to this justice of the peace; he stood there in a robe and slippers and said, 'All right, here, get together'—the radio was going all this time—and he married us."<ref name="Hayward, Haywire"/>

[[File:Sullavan-Hayward-1942.jpg|thumb|200px|Sullavan and [[Leland Hayward]], 1942]]
Sullavan's third marriage was to agent and producer [[Leland Hayward]], Sullavan's agent since 1931. At the time of the marriage on November 15, 1936, Sullavan was pregnant with the couple's first child. Their daughter, [[Brooke Hayward]], later became an actress and a writer.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chic in New York: Hayward House |url=https://habituallychic.luxury/2015/05/chic-in-new-york-hayward-house/ |access-date=August 31, 2021 |website=habituallychic.luxury}}</ref> The couple had two more children, Bridget Hayward<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/43452808/?terms=%22Margaret+Sullivan%22+%22Daughter%22 |date=October 18, 1960 |title=The Eagle |access-date=August 13, 2018}}</ref> and William Hayward III ("Bill"), who became a film producer and attorney.<ref name=latimes>{{cite web |title=Associate producer of 'Easy Rider' kills self |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-mar-21-me-hayward21-story.html |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=March 21, 2008 |access-date=December 12, 2015}}</ref> In 1947, Sullavan filed for divorce after discovering that Hayward was having an affair with socialite [[Slim Keith]].<ref name="Quirk, pp. 74-75, 90">Quirk, pp. 74–75, 90.</ref> Their divorce became final on April 20, 1948.

In 1950, Sullavan married for a fourth and final time, to English investment banker [[Kenneth Wagg]]. They remained married until her death in 1960.<ref name="Quirk, pp. 74-75, 90"/>

===Mental breakdown===
In 1955, when Sullavan's two younger children told their mother that they preferred to stay with their father permanently, she suffered a nervous breakdown. Sullavan's eldest daughter, Brooke, later wrote about the breakdown in her 1977 autobiography ''[[Haywire (book)|Haywire]]''; Sullavan begged her son to stay with her. He remained adamant in his refusal, and his mother had started to cry. "This time she couldn't stop. Even from my room the sound was so painful I went into my bathroom and put my hands on my ears."<ref>Hayward, ''Haywire.'' Jonathan Cape Ltd., p. 253.</ref> In another scene from the book, a friend of the family (Millicent Osborne) had been alarmed by the sound of whimpering from the bedroom: "She walked in and found Mother under the bed, huddled in a fetal position. Kenneth was trying to get her out. The more authoritative his tone of voice, the farther under she crawled. Millicent Osborne took him aside and urged him to speak gently, to let her stay there until she came out of her own accord."<ref>Hayward, ''Haywire.'' Jonathan Cape Ltd., pp. 258–259.</ref> Eventually Sullavan agreed to spend some time (two and a half months) in a private mental institution. Her two younger children, Bridget and Bill, also spent time in various institutions. Bridget died of a drug overdose in October 1960,<ref>{{cite news |title=Bridget Hayward Is Found Dead |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1978&dat=19601018&id=3GMoAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ewUGAAAAIBAJ&pg=3041,1809660&hl=en |work=The Owosso Argus-Press |date=October 18, 1960 |location=Owosso, Michigan |page=15}}</ref> while Bill died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in March 2008.<ref name=latimes/>

===Hearing loss===
Sullavan suffered from the congenital hearing defect [[otosclerosis]] that worsened as she aged, making her more and more hearing-impaired. Her voice had developed a throatiness because she could hear low tones better than high ones. From early 1957, Sullavan's hearing declined so much that she was becoming depressed and sleepless and often wandered about all night. She often stayed in bed for days, her only words: "Just let me be, please."<ref>Quirk, p. 163.</ref>

She had kept her hearing problem largely hidden. On January 8, 1960 (one week after Sullavan's death), ''[[New York Post]]'' reporter Nancy Seely wrote: "The thunderous applause of a delighted audience—was it only a dim murmur over the years to Margaret Sullavan? Did the poised and confident mien of the beautiful actress mask a sick fear, night after night, that she'd miss an important cue?"{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

Sullavan had an operation done by Dr. Julian Lempert in the late 40s, which Brooke described as a “success, and restored full hearing to Mother’s left ear,” but she didn't follow his advice for cutting down on “diving, shooting or flying.”<ref>Hayward, “Haywire,” p 176</ref>

Sullavan bequeathed her ears to the Lempert Institute of Otymology.<ref>Frasier, “Suicide in the Entertainment Industry.”</ref> Lempert believed that "there was so much misunderstanding of some of the things she did, the nervousness, the worry—which were simply a result of her deafness&nbsp;... She suffered as do most who are hard of hearing who try to keep it a secret and make themselves nervous wrecks."<ref>Rinella, “ Margaret Sullavan: The Life and Career of a Reluctant Star”</ref>