Martha Hyer, Oscar-Nominated Actress, Dies at 89
Martha Hyer, who is best known for her Oscar-nominated role as a small-town schoolteacher and the love interest of Frank Sinatra's character in 1958's "Some Came Running," has died at the age of 89.
The blonde beauty was born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1924, and studied theater at Northwestern University before joining the Pasadena Playhouse in California. She was then spotted by a Hollywood talent agent and later signed a three-year contract with RKO Pictures.
Hyer worked with numerous acclaimed Hollywood stars, including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine, Humphrey Bogart and Rock Hudson. She was also famous for her role in Audrey Hepburn's 1954 romance "Sabrina," where she played the stunning society fiancée of William Holden's playboy David Larrabee. However, several unsuccessful films followed, such as "Bikini Beach," "House of 1,000 Dolls," "Picture Mommy Dead," and "all ones I'd rather forget" as she wrote in her 1990 autobiography "Finding My Way: A Hollywood Memoir."
The glamorous actress, who turned down the young Senator John F. Kennedy when he once asked her out, had a brief three-year marriage to "The Scarlet Spear" direct C. Ray Stahl from 1951. She then tied the knot with her "The Sons of Katie Elder" director Hal B. Wallis in 1966. By the early 1980s, spendthrift Hyer was millions of dollars in debt, due to her extravagant lifestyle and lavish spending, and Wallis had to call in the FBI to help her clear her financial problems.
Following her husband's death in 1986, Martha Hyer moved to New Mexico, where she stayed for the rest of her life, living a quiet life and enjoying painting and hiking with friends. She passed away on May 31 in her Santa Fe Home. Currently, no funeral service or memorial has been planned.
She previously spoke about her desire to remove herself from the spotlight. "When you live with fame as a day-to-day reality, the allure of privacy and anonymity is as strong as the desire for fame for those who never had it."
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