Once again she meets Paul and finally they begin an actual affair since Paul's shrewish, drunken wife, Liz, won't give him a divorce. Determined to make it as a fashion designer, Rae moves to New York and becomes a great success. There's a definite spark between them but circumstances intervene and he leaves town without her. He finds her yet again, and this time she cannot run away from her feelings. Susan Hayward lived 40 years without getting the love she needed. His Jewish wife and children, his success.
Her first, unhappy marriage to actor Jess Barker ended in a messy divorce and her suicide attempt. Once again she meets Paul and finally they begin an actual affair since Paul's shrewish, drunken wife, Liz, won't give him a divorce. They have a love affair and Paul buys a country house at the countryside of France where they spend their leisure time together. Miles was mousy in an overcoat the last time she and Gavin appeared on screen together, but here she flexes her considerable sex appeal as the evil, alcoholic shrew who won't take her hooks out of Hayward's lover. However, Rae decides to leave New York and her boss and partner convinces her to open a store in Rome. Time passes, the affair continues whenever time and place permit, but then, Paul's young son finds out about Rae and Rae's back-street world begins to crumble.
What little adulation she got from the world she earned through her work, a career that began in 1939 as a scrappy starlet auditioning for Gone with the Wind and reached its apex with an Oscar® win for I Want to Live! Whatever reservations she had about the script were overcome by these perks, and she willingly lost 15 pounds on a liquid diet before shooting began. Like the movies based on Fannie Hurst's other novel Imitation of Life, Back Street was ripe fodder for remakes - once in 1932 with John Boles and Irene Dunne, and in 1941 with Margaret Sullavan and Charles Boyer. One day she happens to meet Paul again and again there's that spark but he's still married so, as a form of escape, Rae moves to Rome to set up shop. Evans , Doreen McLean Miss Hatfield. The discovery of their affair by Paul's wife seems inevitable. Later she learns he's married.
Directed by David Miller Written by Eleanore Griffin,Fannie Hurst Starring: Susan Hayward,John Gavin,Vera Miles. This third film version of the lachrymose Fannie Hurst novel Back Street stars Susan Hayward as Rae Smith the role previously essayed by Irene Dunne in 1932 and Margaret Sullavan in 1941. Some time later, they meet each other again and Rae learn that Paul is indeed unhappily married with the alcoholic Liz Saxon. Determined to make it as a fashion designer, Rae moves to New York and becomes a great success. Later she learns he's married. Once again she meets Paul and finally they begin an actual affair since Paul's shrewish, drunken wife, Liz, won't give him a divorce.
In Lincoln, the ambitious aspirant-designer Rae Smith has an incident with a wolf department store businessman and is rescued by the Marine Paul Saxon. Its plot inconsistencies and logic lapses notwithstanding, Back Street proved to be another hit for producer Ross Hunter. LaGuardia, Robert and Gene Arceri Red: The Tempestuous Life Of Susan Hayward. There's a definite spark between them but circumstances intervene and he leaves town without her. Time passes, the affair continues whenever time and place permit, but then, Paul's young son finds out about Rae and Rae's back-street world begins to crumble. Susan Hayward: Portrait Of A Survivor. Hunter also cast Vera Miles, Gavin's co-star in the previous year's Psycho 1960 , as the wife in the middle of this ill-fated love triangle.
The book is a fab. Determined to make it as a fashion designer, Rae moves to New York and becomes a great success. To round out the cast, Hunter selected John Gavin to play opposite Hayward - an unusual choice, since the swarthy Gavin was 30 years old to Hayward's 44, and towered over her by a foot. Her mother rejected her, openly favoring her older sister Florence at every opportunity. In contrast, Susan Hayward's Rae Smith is a fiercely independent fashion designer, whose fidelity to the very married John Gavin doesn't retard her livelihood in the least. One day she happens to meet Paul again and again there's that spark but he's still married so, as a form of escape, Rae moves to Rome to set up shop.
Soon she learns that he is married with children and she is convinced by her sister to move to New York where she succeeds in the fashion world. Back Street premiered in October 1961 and was an immediate box office hit, even though the critics weren't impressed. Back Street 1961 About book: I have yet to see the film, I am not sure if I want to I do. Vera Miles makes a meal of her supporting role as Gavin's shrewish, alcoholic wife. Susan Hayward: Her Films And Life. His sudden death leaves Ray elderly and alone with no way to support her self; she had always used her impeccable style to get by. Successful at last, Rae runs into Paul again and leaves the country to get away from him.
On the next morning, Paul needs to return to Chicago and calls Rae to go with him. But Gavin was being groomed by Universal as a secondary version of Rock Hudson also a Universal contract player. . There's a definite spark between them but circumstances intervene and he leaves town without her. However she misses the plane and Paul travels alone. A whirlwind romance follows, but Paul is hesitant to settle down. Since Hunter had previously produced seven features with Hudson, a stint under him may have been part of Gavin's tutelage.