Martha Hyer (born August 10, 1924 in Fort Worth, Texas) is an American actress.
Her first movie role was at age eleven when she appeared in Thunder Mountain. After completing her education, she next appeared in The Locket in 1946. She had roles in Sabrina (1954), The Delicate Delinquent in 1956 (Jerry Lewis' first film without Dean Martin), Houseboat (1958), First Men in the Moon (1964), and The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), among many others. She costarred with Keenan Wynn in Bikini Beach (1964), one of the Beach Party movies with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. She played the part of Hannah Haley in Incident West of Lano on Rawhide.
Her most significant role was in Some Came Running in 1958, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Her last film was Day of the Wolves in 1973.
A very pretty platinum blonde, Hyer married producer Hal B. Wallis in 1966, and the couple remained together until his death in 1986. Her autobiography, Finding My Way: A Hollywood Memoir, was published in 1990.
Martha Hyer was born on August 10, 1924 in Fort Worth, Texas. She was 11 when she first appeared in a film entitled Thunder Mountain (1947) in 1935. For the next eleven years, she would go back to the important task of growing up. Once she finished her formal schooling, Martha played a bit role in 1946's Locket, The (1946). Slowly, Martha began picking up roles with more and more substance. The best years for the beautiful actress began in 1954 when she played in films such as Down Three Dark Streets (1954), Showdown at Abilene (1956) and Battle Hymn (1957). Perhaps the best role of her long career was as "Gwen French" in 1958's Some Came Running (1958) in which she starred opposite Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin (I) and Shirley MacLaine. As a result of her stellar role, Martha received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress, but she lost out to Wendy Hiller in Separate Tables (1958). Afterwards, Martha's stint on the US silver screen's trailed off some. She did make a handful of foreign films, returning to appear in the US from time to time, but nothing compared to the pace she had in the fifties. Her last film was in 1973 in the film Day of the Wolves (1973). In 1966, she married producer Hal B. Wallis and remained with him until his death in 1986.
