Margaret Sullavan - Marriages and Family

Marriages and Family

Sullavan was married four times. She married Henry Fonda on December 25, 1931 in Baltimore, while both were performing with the University Players in its 18-week winter season there. She was exactly four years Fonda's junior: they shared the birth date of May 16. However, Fonda's lack of experience and confidence did not go well with Sullavan and the marriage lasted only two months. Sullavan was then involved with Broadway producer Jed Harris for some time. In late 1934, she married William Wyler, the director of her next movie, The Good Fairy (1935). Her second marriage lasted just over a year and they divorced in March 1936.

Sullavan's third husband was agent and producer Leland Hayward. Hayward had been Sullavan's agent since 1931 and their relationship had been deepening all through 1936; they had already become lovers, and Brooke, their "love child", had been conceived that October. They both wanted the baby and married on November 15, 1936. Sullavan would have a baby every other year - Brooke in 1937, Bridget in 1939 and Bill in 1941. Their marriage lasted about 11 years and ended when Sullavan discovered that Hayward was cheating on her with Slim Keith. At Sullavan's insistence, she and Hayward divorced in 1947, and three years later she married Kenneth Wagg, an English investment banker, to whom she was married at the time of her death. Her sons-in-law include Dennis Hopper and Peter Duchin.