Thursday, March 19, 2020

Louis Hayward, 1909-1985



Louis Hayward in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939)

Today marks the birth anniversary of actor Louis Hayward, who was born on this day in 1909. His career never really hit the heights it could have for any number of reasons, a lot I think having to do with World War II. Hayward was born in South Africa and made his way first to Britain, and then the US and MGM. A part in Anthony Adverse helped his career, but it was working for independent producer Edward Small and the double lead role in The Man in the Iron Mask that is probably the best in his career.

And then World War II came, and Hayward served in the US Marines; according to IMDb he had become a US citizen on Saturday, December 6 1941. Talk about timing. There was the delay in his career and apparently the war changed Hayward enough to destroy his marriage to Ida Lupino. But he still got a good role after the war in And Then There Were None, based on the Agatha Christie story:



Hayward's career continued in movies and TV through the early 1970s.

1 comment:

joel65913 said...

Though I've never been a big fan of his, I don't dislike him I just never found anything special about him, I've seen many of his films and he's always professional if not usually memorable.

Noticing it was his birthday today I did watch one his films I had seen yet, The Black Arrow, which wasn't bad nor was he. It had a good supporting cast as well.