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Allison Hayes Profile

Allison Hayes
Allison Hayes
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(Mary Jane Hayes)
6 March 30 is born at 1:05 p.m., of Irish and French heritage, to William Edward and Charlotte Gibson Hayes, in Charleston, West Virginia. Her father is chief engineer of the Navy Department's Bureau of Ordnance.
? attends Catholic University in Washington
44 gets a job at the Palais Royale department store in Washington, D.C.
49 is an accomplished classical pianist
? teaches classical piano for four years
Spring 49 is elected "Miss District of Columbia"
? is chosen by the Peruvian ambassador to represent the United States at a festival in Lima, Peru, where she reigns as “Queen of the Atlantic”
August 49 returns to Washington and begins a career in the fledgling television industry, serving first as a model for experimental color television broadcasts
September 49 is Washington's entry in the "Miss America" beauty pageant. Her measurements are 37-23-36.
? attends a party for Earl Warren at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington after he has been sworn in as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Mrs. Warren spots her in the reception line and exclaims, "My, what a lovely girl! She ought to be in the movies!" This remark is noted by Dave Polland, Universal-International's publicity man in Washington, who immediately phones his New York office. Mary Jane's summoned to Manhattan. There they give her a screen test and change her name to Allison Hayes. Other sources have her escort, Peruvian embassy secretary Jose Fernandez, sending her photo to a studio he picked at random, Universal-International. Some sources credit silent screen star Carmel Myers, a friend of her mother's, for bringing her to the attention of Universal-International.
? allegedly gets married to a young executive of the Ford Motor Company, with a divorce or annulment before the contract is signed
? is the “Forget-Me-Not Girl” of the DAV
50 is official hostess of the Washington Cherry Blossom Festival
51 is crowned “Miss Dixie” at Daytona Beach, Florida
? makes her home in Hollywood at the famous Studio Club and brings along with her 17 bathing suits. Shortly afterwards, she gets a home of her own in North Hollywood. She lists Paul Henreid and Ava Gardner as her film favorites.
53 her parents move to California
c. 54 in put under contract by Universal-International and becomes a lifelong friend of fellow newcomer Sara Shane. Later Sara will remember her as “very, very intelligent and very interested in natural health.” Allison will introduce her to Dr. Henry Bieler, who becomes a good friend of both.
54 poses poolside with U-I starlets Ruth Hampton and Karen Kadler
Jack Palance accidentally bruises her and is said to have broken her ribs while filming Sign Of The Pagan, but X-rays reveal no fractures. She threatens to sue.
dates her co-star Jack Palance
May 54 she and Fran Lansing are two socialites signed for motion picture parts
55 director Joseph Pevney wants her for a role in Foxfire, but executives refuse. Mara Corday gets the part.
her contract with Universal-International is dropped
she and her co-stars Raymond Burr and Nancy Kulp become life-long friends during the filming of Count Three and Pray
March 55 columnist Ed Sullivan notes her dating Richard Gully, Jack Warner’s aide
October 55 says about gossip columnists who link her with one Hollywood wolf after another: "...my father has finally reached the point where he doesn't believe everything he reads about me! But I don't like those stories that I own a new car, a swimming pool, 100 bathing suits and a mink coat. I'm not a star yet, by a long shot, and who can afford all those on my salary?"
claims to live in the apartment over the garage of her agent, Jack Pomeroy, and his wife, Josephine, out in the San Fernando Valley, overlooking their pool. “Of course they let me use it. I love to swim.”
December 55 by accident, she and Joanne Rio show up at the Mocambo in duplicate dresses. Joanne, once reported engaged to Liberace, is with actor Ronnie O'Neil, and Allison, with Walter Troutman. They really seem ignite sparks from each other
56 is engaged to a director while she films The Undead
January 56 together with fellow actors Mark Damon, Race Gentry, and Beverly Tyler, she’s out on a publicity beach party for Show magazine
February 56 breaks her arm during the filming of Gunslinger. She claims it was an accident that happened after her horse went up in the air from a gunshot by Roger Corman. Beverly Garland claims that Allison casually slid out of her saddle and hit the ground because she was tired of working.
while filming Gunslinger, she asks director Roger Corman, "Who do I have to f..k to get off this picture?"
September 56 is the serious romance of ex-jockey Sammy Renick
57 behaves quite blatantly and goes off wearing her nightgown attire from the picture after shooting of Zombies of Mora Tau
January 57 columnist Louella Parsons tells that “pretty Allison Hayes, who is starring in a TV show for Columbia, makes Bob Taplinger’s heart beat faster...”
February 57 is named "Miss 7-11" at El Rancho Vegas with comedian Joe E. Lewis as judge and jury
March 57 is heralded to get her first starring role in the TV series "Here Comes the Showboat"
June 57 declares “I get bored with myself and I’m changing my hair-do and make-up constantly. I feel the way you wear your hair sets the key for your type. Today I feel sophisticated.”
c. 58 dates writer Mark Hanna, who writes Attack of the 50 Foot Woman for her. When double dating with Hanna, writer-producer Alex Gordon is a bit unnerved when Hanna drives up in his big convertible to pick up him and his date - "and the 50 Foot Woman was sitting in the front seat beside him..."
58 is very nice and willing during the production of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. Afterwards, she becomes involved with a director and gets hooked on him. He is approximately 5'-3" tall, boozes pretty good, and never gets a divorce from his current wife.
3 July 58 she, Paula Raymond, and four other models guest on the "Vendetta in Venice" episode of Ray Milland's "Markham" TV series
October 58 does a modest semi-nude pictorial for Gent magazine and models for the Frederick's of Hollywood catalog
December 58 smog is reported hitting the set of “Bat Masterson. “She is supposed to say, “Look! Here they come, over the hill.” Instead she looks at the hill, turns to the director and exclaims, “I can’t even see the hill!”
c. 59 films Counterplot on location in Puerto Rico. She, Forrest Tucker, and producer-director Kurt Neumann stay at the just-opened Caribe Hilton.
dates the still photographer of Counterplot, Bill Crespinal
June 59 is seen at Califano's with Milton Krims
attends the Thalians’ beatnik party at the Friar’s Club with Mac Krim, the ex of Kim Novak
is a new twosome with costume designer Sy Devore at Dino's Lodge
Early August 59 her romance with Devore looks serious. They are seen dating at the Sportsman's Lodge.
August 59 is pictured in the local press showing a cocktail dress of watered silk. “Square necked black bodice tops folded white skirt with jeweled buttons, buckled belt.”
Mid-August 59 is seen at Delmonico's with director Robert "Bobby" Gordon. He is 26 years her senior.
she and Gordon become an item around Hollywood. They have a lot of dinners at the Sportsmen's Lodge. She wants to marry Gordon, who is a couple of inches shorter than she is - only 5'6" compared to her 5'8", but he is reluctant to divorce his wife.
September 59 columnist Louella Parsons writes: “Before Jacques Bergerac met and fell head over heals in love with Dorothy Malone and could see no other girl, his big moment was Allison Hayes. Now Jacques is married to Dorothy and as everyone knows is on tour with her in Once More With Feeling, a stage play. But when they close and return here, Bergerac will co-star with Allison in The Hypnotic Eye at Allied Artists...”
Fall 59 her father dies
October 59 models the latest hairstyle, the "Rocket." It is reminiscent of the days of Louis XIV when women wore mountainous coiffures. Her hairdo takes first prize at annual showing of the Los Angeles and Hollywood, California, Coiffure Guild.
December 59 columnist Louella Parsons knows: “Mrs. Earl Warren’s protégé, Allison Hayes, and TV director Bobby Gordon, are trying to work out their religious problems so that they can marry...” ? As a strong Catholic, Allison is never to marry a divorced man.
60 gets her part in The Hypnotic Eye because her boyfriend, director Robert Gordon, is a friend of Aubrey Schenck
is a very agreeable person on the set of The Hypnotic Eye
62 she contacts Dr. Henry Bieler, by suggestion of actress Gloria Swanson, who has been his patient for many years, for treatment. On Dr. Bieler's recommendation and with his prescription, Allison begins taking a calcium food supplement.
November 62 columnist Harrison Carroll reports: “At Sy Devore’s party to celebrate his and Jo Morrow’s birthdays, Sy’s date was Allison Hayes. Jo’s was Jackie Barnett...”
July 63 the press tells that she is also an accomplished concert pianist, having performed as soloist with the American University Symphony in Washington, D.C., and with the local symphony in Daytona Beach, Florida
64 returns to Dr. Bieler with a variety of complaints. The doctor tells her to increase her daily intake of the supplement.
Mid-60s becomes an acquaintance and later friend of actress Gloria Swanson
Mid-December 65 attends Ingrid and Jerry Ohrbach’s lavish first Christmas party of the season at the Bistro
November 66 columnist Mike Connolly writes: “Explaining that ‘Spanish actresses can’t play comedy,’ producer Rudolfo Medina stretched all the way to Hollywood for Allyson Hayes in ‘General Hospital’ to play a kook in Operation Seville. Allison heads for the plains of Spain in April.”
67 she is unable to walk without a cane, and her career comes to an end. Her auburn hair turns black and begins to fall out. She has wrist-drop syndrome in her right hand and a constant gnawing sensation across the bridge of her nose.
she consults over 20 doctors and endures over 340 X-ray examinations. Most doctors tell her that her symptoms are psycho-neurotic; none are able to identify the source of the problems.
68 during hospitalization for a fever, she stops taking the supplement on her own
70s at the medical library at UCLA, while reading the book Toxicology Of Industrial Metals, she finds out she has been poisoned, as the supplement she had taken daily for six years was made in England from the bones of horses and 190 parts of lead per million
begins and drops a lawsuit against Bieler and wins a settlement of $50,000 against the Los Angeles distributor of the supplement
most of her settlement from the calcium supplement lawsuit, goes into the Mary Jane Hayes Trust that pays both Allison and her mother a monthly income
lives with her mother in an ocean-front home in San Clemente, Orange County, California
actor Barry Brown gets her to attend autograph shows. A year after her death, he will shoot himself to death.
becomes a member of the St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Laguna Hills
75 develops acute viral hepatitis, which is treated with steroids
21 September 76 begins treatment for leukemia at the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California,
21 December 76 is released just in time for Christmas
24 February 77 has a periodic check-up
26 February 77 in her 1971 Chevrolet Camaro, she drives herself to the hospital and checks herself in to receive a scheduled transfusion. In extreme pain at 11:15 p.m., she is taken by ambulance from the Scripps Clinic to the University of California Medical Center in San Diego and arrives there at 3:15 a.m.
27 February 77 as Mary Jane Hayes, she dies there at 6:03 a.m. from cardicrespiratory failure due to granulocytic leukemia at age 47. Shortly before death, she is given the Catholic rites of the sick. Surviving are her mother and a half-brother.
2 March 77 is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, Los Angeles County, California. She’s at the Mother of Sorrows lot 618, section N, grave 1.
1 October 77 her mother Charlotte dies at age 84 in Los Angeles
Sources:
An Internet Biography of Allison Hayes by Jack Randall Earles, Attack of the Monster Movie Makers by Tom Weaver, Fast and Furious by Mark Thomas McGee, "Autumn Russell: Carole Lombard Reincarnate" by Paul Parla in Classic Images, Pamela Duncan and Mara Corday interviewed by Tom Weaver for The Astounding B-Monster, Sara Shane in "From Bad Sister to Tarzan - Sara Shane's Greatest Adventures" by Michael Barnum in Classic Images, The Coshocton Tribune, The Madison Star, Pasadena Independent, The Lethbridge Herald, The Hammond Times, Mansfield News-Journal, The Daily Gleaner, The Vidette-Messenger, The Sheboygan Press, The Long Beach Press-Telegram, Pasadena Independent, The Morning Herald, The Daily Review, Oakland Tribune, San Mateo Times, Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, Anderson Daily Bulletin, Anderson Daily News, The Fresno Bee, Celebrity Sleuth, Photoplay, Modern Screen, Screen World, www.Ancestry.com
Recommended Books:
Links:
Filmography
An Internet Biography of Allison Hayes
Brian's Drive-In Theater: Allyson Hayes