Susan Peters
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Susan Peters (born Suzanne Carnahan; July 3, 1921 – October 23, 1952) was an American film, stage, and television actress who appeared in over twenty films over the course of her decade-long career.
In 1942, the year she signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Peters had a featured role in the Mervyn LeRoy-directed drama Random Harvest. That role earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and established her as a serious dramatic performer. Peters went on to appear as the lead in numerous films for MGM, including roles in the romantic comedy Young Ideas (1943), and several war films: Assignment in Brittany (1943), Song of Russia (1944), and Keep Your Powder Dry (1945).
On New Year's Day 1945, Peters's spinal cord was damaged from an accidental gunshot wound, leaving her permanently paraplegic. She returned to film portraying a wheelchair-bound villain in The Sign of the Ram (1948). Peters then transitioned to theater, appearing as Laura Wingfield in a critically acclaimed 1949 production of Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie. She followed this with a production of The Barretts of Wimpole Street, in which she portrayed crippled poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
By 1952, however, Peters had been suffering from clinical depression for several years due to the dissolution of her marriage and her limited career options. In late 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.
Acting
Movie
Random Harvest
as Kitty
1942
Movie
The Strawberry Blonde
as Girl (uncredited)
1941
Movie
Santa Fe Trail
as Charlotte
1940
Movie
The Big Shot
as Ruth Carter
1942
Movie
Susan and God
as Party Guest (uncredited)
1940
Movie
The Sign of the Ram
as Leah St. Aubyn
1948
Movie
Andy Hardy's Double Life
as Sue
1942
Movie
Keep Your Powder Dry
as Ann Darrison
1945
Movie
Assignment in Brittany
as Anne Pinot
1943
Movie
Young Ideas
as Susan Evans
1943
Movie
Always a Bride
as Girl
1940
Movie
Money and the Woman
as Depositor (uncredited)
1940
TV
The Huntress
2000
Movie
Song of Russia
as Nadya Stepanova
1944
Movie
Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant
as Mrs. Howard Allwinn Young
1942
Movie
Tish
as Cora Edwards Bowser
1942
Movie
Here Comes Happiness
as Miss Brown (uncredited)
1941
Movie
Three Sons o' Guns
as Mary Tyler
1941
Movie
Twenty Years After
as (archive footage)
1944
TV
Miss Susan
as Susan Martin
1951
Movie
Young America Flies
as One of Jack's Girlfriends
1940
Movie
Scattergood Pulls the Strings
as Ruth Savage
1941
Movie
Personalities
as (uncredited)
1942