Susan Peters was an American film, stage, and television actress. She appeared in over twenty films over the course of her decade-long career. In 1952, she began starving herself, which combined with her paralysis led to chronic kidney infections and pneumonia. She died of ensuing health complications that year at age 31.
About Susan Peters in brief
Susan Peters was an American film, stage, and television actress. She appeared in over twenty films over the course of her decade-long career. Peters was born in Spokane, Washington, and raised in Portland, Oregon and Los Angeles. In 1952, she began starving herself, which combined with her paralysis led to chronic kidney infections and pneumonia. She died of ensuing health complications that year at age 31. She was a protégée of Gertrude Vogler, who believed that Peters had potential but needed to talk through her nose through the nose to get a role. Peters died of complications from pneumonia that year, aged 31, at her home in Los Angeles, California. She is survived by her brother, Robert Jr., and her mother, Maria Patteneaude, a French-born dermatologist who was her maternal grandmother’s first cousin. Her father was a civil engineer of Irish descent, while her mother was of French descent, and a grand-niece of Robert E. Lee. Peters’ father was killed in a car accident in 1928, after which the family relocated to Seattle, Washington. Her mother supported herself and her two children by working in a dress shop and managing an apartment building. Peters grew up riding horses; her talent as an equestrian allowed her to earn additional income by breaking and showing other people’s horses. She graduated from Hollywood High School in June 1939, along with Jason Robards, Sheila Ryan, and Dorothy Morris as members of her graduating class. She studied acting with Austrian theater director Max Reinhardt, and signed a contract with Warner Bros.
Pictures. In 1942, Peters appeared in a supporting role in Tish, which resulted in her signing a deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The same year, she had a featured role in the Mervyn LeRoy-directed drama Random Harvest, which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Peters went on to appear as the lead in numerous films for MGM, including roles in the romantic comedy Young Ideas, and several war films: Assignment in Brittany, Song of Russia, and Keep Your Powder Dry. On New Year’s Day 1945, Peters’s spinal cord was damaged from an accidental gunshot wound, leaving her permanently paraplegic. Peters then transitioned to theater, appearing as Laura Wingfield in a critically acclaimed 1949 production of Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie, which was slightly altered to allow Peters to perform in a wheelchair. She followed this with a production of The Barretts of Wimpole Street, in which she portrayed physically disabled poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. By 1952, Peters had been suffering from clinical depression for several years due to the dissolution of her marriage and her limited career options. She began taking drama classes in place of cooking courses. Peters earned a scholarship to the Max Reinhardt School of Dramatic Arts. While at the Reinhardt School, she was spotted by a talent scout who gave her a walk-on part in George Cukor’s The Holiday.
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This page is based on the article Susan Peters published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 04, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
