Margaret Sullavan photo 1 — American, Caucasian

Margaret Sullavan photo 2 — Caucasian, Actress

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Margaret Sullavan

Also known as Margaret Brooke Sullavan

Actress

Born: May 16, 1900
height: 5'2" (or 157 cm)
nationality: American

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Career

Active 1929 – 1960

Biography

About Margaret Sullavan

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Margaret Sullavan died on Friday, January 1, 1960, at the age of 59, though her birth date was Wednesday, May 16, 1900. She was an American stage and film actress. Standing at 5'2", she was a petite presence on stage and screen. Her career spanned from 1929 to 1960, beginning with the University Players on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. In 1933, film director John M. Stahl noticed her, and she made her screen debut that year in Only Yesterday. She continued to balance stage and film work, becoming best known for The Shop Around the Corner.

Sullavan preferred working on the stage and made only 16 films in total. Four of those were opposite her close friend James Stewart, in a popular partnership that included The Mortal Storm and The Shop Around the Corner. Her career was active for 31 years, but her life was cut short. On January 1, 1960, at about 5:30 p.m., she was found in bed, barely alive and unconscious, in a hotel room in New Haven, Connecticut. Her script for Sweet Love Remembered, in which she was then starring during its tryout in New Haven, lay open beside her, along with a bottle of prescribed pills. She was rushed to Grace New Haven Hospital, but shortly after 6:00 p.m. she was pronounced dead on arrival. She was 50 years old.

No note was found to indicate suicide, and initially no conclusion was reached as to whether her death was deliberate or accidental. Ultimately, the county coroner officially ruled it an accidental overdose of barbiturates. She was survived by her daughter, actress Brooke Hayward.