Martha Hyer was born on August 10, 1924 in Fort Worth, Texas. Once she finished her formal schooling, Martha played a bit role in 1946's Le médaillon (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 L'assassin parmi eux (1954), Les Dernières heures d'un bandit (1956) and Les ailes de l'espérance (1957). Perhaps the best role of her long career was as "Gwen French" in 1958's Comme un torrent (1958) in which she starred opposite Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin 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 Tables séparées (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 Le jour des loups (1971). In 1966, she married producer Hal B. Wallis and remained with him until his death in 1986.
