Brooke Hayward

Brooke Hayward, born July 5, 1937, in Los Angeles, California, is an American actress, model, and author. The eldest of three children, she was born to Leland Hayward, an agent who became a prominent film, television, and stage producer, and actress Margaret Sullavan. Her family background extends to notable historical figures, including Monroe Hayward, a former U.S. Senator-elect from Nebraska, and Colonel William Hayward, who commanded the 369th Infantry Regiment — known as the "Harlem Hellfighters" — the first all-African-American regiment to serve during the First World War. Hayward is also a descendant of Mayflower passenger William White and Puritan colonist Robert Coe.

When Hayward was seven, the family relocated from Los Angeles to a farm in Brookfield, Connecticut. Her parents divorced in April 1948, after which her father married Nancy "Slim" Hawks and later Pamela Harriman. Her mother married importer and producer Kenneth Wagg in 1950. Margaret Sullavan died of an accidental drug overdose on January 1, 1960. Nine months later, on October 17, 1960, Hayward's younger sister Bridget was found dead of a drug overdose in her New York City apartment, her death ruled a suicide. Hayward's brother, producer William "Bill" Hayward III, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on March 9, 2008. Hayward attended Vassar College and later studied acting with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio.

Before establishing herself as a performer, Hayward worked as a model, appearing on the August 15, 1959, cover of Vogue in a photograph by Horst P. Horst. In May 1961, she made her Broadway debut in Mandingo, appearing opposite Dennis Hopper. That same year she made her film debut in Burt Balaban's Mad Dog Coll. Her television work included a 1962 episode of Bonanza titled "The Storm," in which she played Laura White, the daughter of a sea-ship captain, and a March 1964 appearance in the Twilight Zone episode "The Masks." Her final screen credit came in a small role in the 1993 film adaptation of John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation, starring Stockard Channing, Donald Sutherland, and Will Smith.

During the 1960s, while married to Dennis Hopper, Hayward became an active participant in the contemporary art world, collecting works by Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha, Frank Stella, and Roy Lichtenstein. She was also known as an avid collector of antiques and for a distinctive approach to interior design, reflected in the home she shared with Hopper and their children at 1712 North Crescent Heights Boulevard in Los Angeles. In 1977, Hayward published Haywire, a memoir released by Alfred A. Knopf that became a bestseller. The book addressed her family history, her mother's and sister's mental breakdowns, and her own personal struggles. The marriage between Hayward and Hopper, along with their respective childhoods and later lives, was chronicled in Mark Rozzo's 2022 bestselling cultural history Everybody Thought We Were Crazy.

Hayward was first married to Michael M. Thomas from July 1956 until their divorce in July 1960; they had two sons together. She met Dennis Hopper during the Broadway production of Mandingo in the spring of 1961 and married him in August of that year. Their daughter, designer Marin Brooke Hopper, was born in June 1962. Hayward and Hopper separated in 1968 and divorced in 1969. In 1985, Hayward married musician and orchestra leader Peter Duchin; they divorced in 2008.