Susan Peters

For Susan Peters, the Television Anchor, see Susan Peters (TV Anchor)

Susan Peters
from the trailer for the film Random Harvest (1942).
Born	Suzanne Carnahan July 3, 1921(1921-07-03) Spokane, Washington, United States
Died	October 23, 1952 (aged 31) Visalia, California, United States
Spouse(s)	Richard Quine (1943-1948) (divorced) 1 child

Susan Peters (July 3, 1921 – October 23, 1952) was an United States film actress.

Early life

Peters was born Suzanne Carnahan in Spokane, Washington. First contracted by Warner Brothers, which was unable to utilize her talents, she subsequently began working for MGM Studios after completing high school. Her first job was to read with potential actors in their screen tests. Before long she had impressed studio executives with her own talent, and they began casting her in films.

Career

For the first two years she used her given name and played small, often uncredited parts in films such as Meet John Doe (1941), before adopting her stage name. But her beguiling acting in a supporting role in the MGM programmer, Tish, resulted in a studio contract. Her first substantial role, in Random Harvest (1942), earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination.

Further impressed, MGM began to groom her for starring roles, casting her in several lesser productions that allowed her to learn her craft. A starring role in Song of Russia (1943) earned her critical acclaim but the film was not a commercial success. However, in 1944, she was one of ten actors who were elevated from "featured player" status to the studio's official "star" category; the others included Esther Williams, Laraine Day, Kathryn Grayson, Van Johnson, Margaret O'Brien, Ginny Simms, Robert Walker, Gene Kelly, and George Murphy. An official portrait taken of MGM's contracted players during this period prominently features Peters sharing the front row with the head of the studio himself, Louis B. Mayer, and alongside such illustrious actors as James Stewart, Mickey Rooney, Margaret Sullavan, Katharine Hepburn, Hedy Lamarr, and Greer Garson -- such was the faith that the studio had of her talent and potential at the time.

Injury and subsequent death

Peters was married to the actor Richard Quine on November 7, 1943. The couple adopted a son named Timothy Richard Quine. She was with him on a hunting vacation in early 1945, when a rifle accidentally discharged, causing a bullet to be lodged in her spine. The accident left her permanently paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheel chair, however she attempted to continue her acting career.

MGM continued to pay her salary, but unable to find suitable projects, Peters subsequently left the studio. An unsympathetic role in Columbia's The Sign of the Ram (1948) failed to win an audience, and a starring role as a wheelchair bound lawyer in the television series Miss Susan (1951) was also unsuccessful.

She toured in stage productions of The Glass Menagerie and The Barretts of Wimpole Street, and her performances were highly regarded, but her disability made her a difficult actress to cast.

Her career faltered, and as her marriage came to an end in September 1948, Peters suffered from depression. Her health continued to deteriorate until her death, aged 31, in Visalia, California, from kidney disease and pneumonia, complicated by anorexia nervosa.^[1]

Susan Peters has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to motion pictures, at 1601 Vine St.

Filmography

• Susan and God (Uncredited, 1940)
• The Man Who Talked Too Much (Uncredited, 1940)
• Young America Flies (Uncredited, 1940)
• Money and the Woman (Uncredited, 1940)
• Santa Fe Trail (1940)
• The Strawberry Blonde (1941)
• Here Comes Happiness (Uncredited, 1941)
• Meet John Doe (Uncredited, 1941)
• Scattergood Pulls the Strings (1941)
• Three Sons o' Guns (1941)
• Personalities (Uncredited, 1942)
• The Big Shot (1942)
• Tish (1942)
• Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant (1942)
• Random Harvest (1942)
• Andy Hardy's Double Life (1942)
• Assignment in Brittany (1943)
• Young Ideas (1943)
• Song of Russia (1944)
• Keep Your Powder Dry (1945)
• The Sign of the Ram (1948)

Television

• Miss Susan (1953)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Susan Peters

• Susan Peters at the Internet Movie Database
• Susan Peters at Find a Grave