Allison Hayes
Encyclopedia
Allison Hayes was an American film and television actress and model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

.

Early life

Born Mary Jane Hayes in Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers in Kanawha County. As of the 2010 census, it has a population of 51,400, and its metropolitan area 304,214. It is the county seat of Kanawha County.Early...

, Hayes won the title of Miss District of Columbia
Miss District of Columbia
The Miss District of Columbia competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the District of Columbia in the Miss America pageant. The District has twice won the title of Miss America....

 and represented Washington, DC in the 1949 Miss America
Miss America
The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...

 pageant. Although she did not win the competition, it provided her with the opportunity to work in local television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 before moving to Hollywood to work for Universal Pictures
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....

 in 1954.

Career

Hayes made her film debut in the 1954 comedy
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 Francis Joins the WACS
Francis Joins the WACS
Francis Joins the WACS is a 1954 American comedy film starring Donald O'Connor, Julie Adams, Mamie Van Doren and Chill Wills. A young man is brought back into the U.S. Army, but a computer error assigns him to the Women's Army Corps...

. Her second film, Sign of the Pagan, provided her with an important role in a relatively minor film. Opposite Jack Palance
Jack Palance
Jack Palance , was an American actor. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, all as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers.-Early life:Palance, one of five children, was born Volodymyr...

, she played the part of a siren who ultimately kills him. Despite the strength of her second film role, she played minor roles in her next few films. Originally cast in Foxfire (1955), she was removed from the film during a lawsuit filed against Universal Pictures for injuries, including broken ribs, that she had sustained during the filming of Sign of the Pagan. Released from her contract, she was signed by Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...

 in 1955.

Her first film for Columbia, Chicago Syndicate, did not require her to do more than look glamorous in a series of evening gowns. Her next film Count Three and Pray
Count Three and Pray (film)
Count Three and Pray is a 1955 CinemaScope western film starring Van Heflin, Joanne Woodward and Raymond Burr. It was based on the story Calico Pony Count Three and Pray is a 1955 CinemaScope western film starring Van Heflin, Joanne Woodward (in her film debut) and Raymond Burr. It was based on...

, however, gave her the role that she later described as the best of her career. Hayes played the wife of Van Heflin
Van Heflin
Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. was an American film and theatre actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man...

, co-starring with Raymond Burr
Raymond Burr
Raymond William Stacey Burr was a Canadian actor, primarily known for his title roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside. His early acting career included roles on Broadway, radio, television and in film, usually as the villain...

 and Joanne Woodward
Joanne Woodward
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward is an American actress, television and theatrical producer, and widow of Paul Newman...

 in her debut. As a "Southern belle" finally reduced to the role of a housekeeper, Hayes had several dramatic scenes. However, when the film was released much of the attention of reviewers was focused on Woodward, and Hayes was largely ignored. She appeared in films such as Steel Jungle, Mohawk, and Gunslinger
Gunslinger (film)
Gunslinger is a 1956 western directed by Roger Corman. The film stars John Ireland, Beverly Garland and Allison Hayes. The film was shot just outside Kanab, Utah, where the set still stands today...

(all 1956), but a fall from a horse during the filming of the latter left Hayes with a broken arm and unable to work. After she recovered she began appearing in supporting roles in television productions.

In 1958 she played in several B movie
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....

s, including Wolf Dog
Wolf Dog
Wolf Dog is a Western movie, directed and produced by Sam Newfield and released by Regal Films. In August 1957, Newfield and a camera crew filmed the movie in and around Markdale, Ontario, near Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. The movie co-starred Hollywood actors Jim Davis, Allison Hayes and John...

, shot in Canada, as well as taking the leading role in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is a 1958 American science fiction feature film produced by Bernard Woolner for Allied Artists Pictures. It was directed by Nathan H. Juran from a screenplay by Mark Hanna, and starred Allison Hayes, William Hudson and Yvette Vickers. The original music score was...

(1958). With its science fiction storyline and low budget, the film attained popularity with some movie fans, and in the subsequent years has attracted a cult film
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...

 following. The film did not lead to better roles, though she remained constantly employed, and also found work as a model. During 1963 and 1964 she played a continuing role in the soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 General Hospital
General Hospital
General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....

but by this time her career was virtually over. A close friend of Raymond Burr since filming Count Three and Pray, she made five guest appearances on his Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...

series during this time.

As her acting career declined, she began to experience severe health problems, and was unable to walk without a cane. In severe pain, her usually good-natured personality began to change and she became emotional and volatile, making it difficult for her to secure acting work. She was given a very minor role in the 1965 Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

 film Tickle Me
Tickle Me
Tickle Me is a 1965 Western musical comedy film starring Elvis Presley as a champion rodeo bull-rider and bronco-buster. Elvis Presley won a 1966 Golden Laurel Award as the best male actor in a musical film for his role in this comedy. It is also the only Elvis film released by Allied Artists...

, making her final appearances in a guest role on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.The show renders the title as Gomer Pyle - USMC. is an American situation comedy that originally aired on CBS from September 25, 1964, to May 2, 1969. The series was a spinoff of The Andy Griffith Show, and the pilot was aired as the finale of the fourth season of The Andy...

in 1967.

Later years

Hayes later said that the pain of her illness caused her to contemplate suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

, and that her symptoms were not taken seriously by doctors. Reading a medical book about the metal poisoning of factory workers, Hayes recognized the symptoms described as being similar to her own. Hayes began to question the ingredients of a calcium supplement she had been taking for a long time and when she employed a toxicologist
Toxicology
Toxicology is a branch of biology, chemistry, and medicine concerned with the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms...

 to test a sample of the product, he determined that it had an extremely high content of lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

 and concluded that Hayes was most likely suffering from lead poisoning
Lead poisoning
Lead poisoning is a medical condition caused by increased levels of the heavy metal lead in the body. Lead interferes with a variety of body processes and is toxic to many organs and tissues including the heart, bones, intestines, kidneys, and reproductive and nervous systems...

. Hayes mounted a campaign to have the FDA
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...

 ban the import or sale of the food supplement.

An invalid, Hayes moved to San Clemente, California
San Clemente, California
San Clemente is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 63,522 at the 2010 census. Located on the California Coast, midway between Los Angeles and San Diego at the southern tip of the county, it is known for its ocean, hill, and mountain views, a pleasant climate and its Spanish...

 and her health continued to deteriorate. In 1976, she was diagnosed with leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...

 and was treated regularly at La Jolla. While at the hospital receiving a blood transfusion
Blood transfusion
Blood transfusion is the process of receiving blood products into one's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used in a variety of medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood...

, her condition unexpectedly and rapidly deteriorated as she experienced chills, flu
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...

-like symptoms and intense pain. She was transferred to the University of California
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...

 Medical Center in San Diego
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

 where she died the following day.

In a letter that arrived after her death, the FDA advised her that amendments were being made to the laws governing the importation of nutritional supplements, largely as a result of her situation.

Filmography

Film
Year Film Role Notes
1954 Francis Joins the WACS
Francis Joins the WACS
Francis Joins the WACS is a 1954 American comedy film starring Donald O'Connor, Julie Adams, Mamie Van Doren and Chill Wills. A young man is brought back into the U.S. Army, but a computer error assigns him to the Women's Army Corps...

Lt. Dickson
Sign of the Pagan Ildico
1955 So This Is Paris Carmen Alternative titles: Three Gobs in Paris and So This Is Paree
The Prodigal
The Prodigal
The Prodigal is a 1955 Biblical epic film made by MGM. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Charles Schnee.The Maurice Zimm screenplay was adapted by Joseph Breen, Jr. and Samuel James Larsen from the New Testament story of the selfish son who leaves his family in search of riches...

Bit role Uncredited
The Purple Mask Irene de Bournotte
Double Jeopardy Barbara Devery Alternative title: Crooked Ring
Chicago Syndicate Joyce Kern, alias Sue Morton
Count Three and Pray
Count Three and Pray (film)
Count Three and Pray is a 1955 CinemaScope western film starring Van Heflin, Joanne Woodward and Raymond Burr. It was based on the story Calico Pony Count Three and Pray is a 1955 CinemaScope western film starring Van Heflin, Joanne Woodward (in her film debut) and Raymond Burr. It was based on...

Georgina Decrais Alternative title: The Calico Pony
1956 The Steel Jungle Mrs. Archer
Mohawk
Mohawk (film)
Mohawk is a 1956 Pathécolor drama directed by Kurt Neumann, starring Scott Brady and Rita Gam. Jonathan Adams is an 18th century Boston artist, sent to Mohawk Valley to paint landscapes and portraits of Native Americans.-Cast:...

Greta Jones
Gunslinger
Gunslinger (film)
Gunslinger is a 1956 western directed by Roger Corman. The film stars John Ireland, Beverly Garland and Allison Hayes. The film was shot just outside Kanab, Utah, where the set still stands today...

Erica Page
1957 Zombies of Mora Tau Mona Harrison Alternative title: The Dead That Walk
The Unearthly
The Unearthly
The Unearthly is a science fiction/horror film written by Jane Mann and John D.F. Black, with characters originally created by Edward D. Wood, Jr....

Grace Thomas
The Disembodied Tonda Metz
1958 Hong Kong Confidential Elena Martine
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is a 1958 American science fiction feature film produced by Bernard Woolner for Allied Artists Pictures. It was directed by Nathan H. Juran from a screenplay by Mark Hanna, and starred Allison Hayes, William Hudson and Yvette Vickers. The original music score was...

Nancy Fowler Archer
Wolf Dog
Wolf Dog
Wolf Dog is a Western movie, directed and produced by Sam Newfield and released by Regal Films. In August 1957, Newfield and a camera crew filmed the movie in and around Markdale, Ontario, near Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. The movie co-starred Hollywood actors Jim Davis, Allison Hayes and John...

Ellen Hughes
1959 A Lust to Kill Sherry
Pier 5, Havana Monica Gray
Counterplot Connie Lane
1960 The Hypnotic Eye
The Hypnotic Eye
The Hypnotic Eye is a horror film, released by Allied Artists on February 27, 1960, starring Jacques Bergerac, Allison Hayes, Merry Anders, Eric "Big Daddy" Nord, and Ferdinand Demara, billed as "Fred Demara".-Plot:...

Justine
The High Powered Rifle Sharon Hill Alternative title: Duel in the City
1963 The Crawling Hand
The Crawling Hand
The Crawling Hand is a 1963 science fiction film directed by Herbert L. Strock, and starring Rod Lauren, Peter Breck, Allison Hayes, and Alan Hale, Jr...

Donna Alternative title: Don't Cry Wolf
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? is a 1963 movie comedy starring Dean Martin, Elizabeth Montgomery, and Carol Burnett, and directed by Daniel Mann.-Plot:...

Mrs. Grayson
1965 Tickle Me
Tickle Me
Tickle Me is a 1965 Western musical comedy film starring Elvis Presley as a champion rodeo bull-rider and bronco-buster. Elvis Presley won a 1966 Golden Laurel Award as the best male actor in a musical film for his role in this comedy. It is also the only Elvis film released by Allied Artists...

Mabel
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1955 Four Star Playhouse
Four Star Playhouse
Four Star Playhouse is an American television anthology series that ran from 1952 to 1956, sponsored in its first bi-weekly season by The Singer Company; Bristol-Myers became an alternate sponsor when it became a weekly series in the fall of 1953...

Christine 1 episode
1957 The Ford Television Theatre
Ford Theatre
Ford Theatre was a radio and television anthology series broadcast in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. At various times the television series appeared on all three major television networks, while the radio version was broadcast on two separate networks and on two separate coasts...

Marian Abbott 1 episode
Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. It continued from 1952 to 1975 as a syndicated television series...

Mary Granger 1 episode
The Millionaire Linda Kendall 1 episode
The Web Blonde 1 episode
1957–1959 Tombstone Territory
Tombstone Territory
Tombstone Territory is an American Western series starring Pat Conway and Richard Eastham. The series' first two seasons aired on ABC from 1957 to 1959...

Various roles 4 episodes
1958 Cool and Lam Evaline Dell Television pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...

1958–1960 Bat Masterson
Bat Masterson (TV series)
Bat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black and white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961...

Ellie White 7 episodes
1959 Mike Hammer Miriam Courtney 1 episode
The Rough Riders
The Rough Riders (TV series)
The Rough Riders is an American Western television series set in the West after the American Civil War. It aired on ABC for the 1958-1959 television season...

Ellen Johnston 1 episode
Markham Marina 1 episode
Captain David Grief Melba 1 episode
World of Giants 1 episode
Rawhide
Rawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...

Rose Morton 1 episode
The Alaskans
The Alaskans
The Alaskans is a 1959 television series set in the port of Skagway, Alaska during the 1890s. The show features Roger Moore as "Silky Harris" and Jeff York as "Reno McKee", a pair of adventurers intent on swindling travelers bound for the Yukon Territories during the height of the Klondike Gold...

Stella 1 episode
1960 Richard Diamond, Private Detective Angel Case 1 episode
Men Into Space
Men Into Space
Men Into Space is an American sci-fi television series broadcast from September 30, 1959 to September 7, 1960 by CBS which depicted future efforts by the United States Air Force to explore and develop outer space. The black-and-white filmed show starred William Lundigan as Col...

Mandy Holcomb 1 episode
77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....

Marianne Winston Episode: "The Parallel Caper"
The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...

Mrs. Charles "Pops" Felcher 1 episode
1960–1965 Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...

Various roles 5 episodes
1961 Acapulco
Acapulco (TV series)
Acapulco is an American half-hour adventure series that aired on NBC in 1961. It is notable for providing Telly Savalas with his first regularly recurring role in a television series.-Plot:...

Chloe Unknown episodes
The Case of the Dangerous Robin 1 episode
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.-Overview:Zane Grey Theatre was created by Luke Short and Charles A. Wallace...

Millie 1 episode
Laramie
Laramie (TV series)
Laramie is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1959 to 1963. Laramie was a Revue Studios production which originally starred John Smith as Slim Sherman, Robert Fuller as Jess Harper, Hoagy Carmichael as Jonesy and Robert Crawford, Jr...

Francie 1 episode
Surfside 6
Surfside 6
Surfside 6 was an ABC television series which aired from 1960 to 1962. The show centered around a Miami Beach detective agency set on a houseboat and featured Troy Donahue as Sandy Winfield, II; Van Williams as Kenny Madison ; and Lee Patterson as Dave Thorne...

Lotta Episode: "Prescription for Panic"
1962 Ripcord
Ripcord (TV series)
Ripcord is an American syndicated television series that ran for 76 episodes from 1961 to 1963 about the exploits of a skydiving operation by the same name.-Overview:...

Laura Coulter 1 episode
Bachelor Father Loretta 1 episode
Kraft Mystery Theatre
Kraft Television Theatre
Kraft Television Theatre is an American drama/anthology television series that began May 7, 1947 on NBC, airing at 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings until December of that year. In January 1948, it moved to 9pm on Wednesdays, continuing in that timeslot until 1958. Initially produced by the J...

1 episode
1963–1964 General Hospital
General Hospital
General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....

Priscilla Longsworth Unknown episodes
1966 The F.B.I. Anne Frazier 1 episode
1967 The Iron Horse Dana 1 episode
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.The show renders the title as Gomer Pyle - USMC. is an American situation comedy that originally aired on CBS from September 25, 1964, to May 2, 1969. The series was a spinoff of The Andy Griffith Show, and the pilot was aired as the finale of the fourth season of The Andy...

Rose Pilchek 2 episodes

External links

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