Velvet Touch: The Distant Beauty of Martha Hyer

If you have never heard of Martha Hyer, you're probably not alone. She was a gorgeous blonde actress of the 1950s whose impact on film history, in retrospect, is fairly negligible. She made a few good films, a handful of forgettable ones, and was rarely the lead. She died last month at age 89, so I am writing this post in her honor because her presence—regal, poised, elegant—made an impact on me as a young film fan.

Hyer personified the “cool blonde” ideal of the 1950s. She was billed by Universal Studios as its “answer to Grace Kelly,” which is apt in that they had a similar look (blonde, patrician) and a similar bearing (chic, graceful).

One could argue that Kelly was the better actress; she certainly had better luck with her roles, in much more distinguished films (all those Hitchcock pictures!). While Kelly made a splash with just her second film, the classic western “High Noon” opposite one of the era’s biggest male stars, Gary Cooper, Hyer’s early career saw her languishing in bit parts and roles in low-budget films. She landed a part in the grade-A Rosalind Russell vehicle “The Velvet Touch” in 1948, but after that it was back to B westerns.

But in 1954, she had her first role in what would become a classic, the romantic comedy “Sabrina.” Granted, she was not the star—that honor belonged to Audrey Hepburn, who was just getting started herself. But Hyer made an impression as William Holden's upper crust girlfriend, her haughty, cool demeanor in stark contrast with Hepburn’s brunette impishness.

1963's "Wives and Lovers"

And that is the persona for which she is perhaps best remembered today: The rich girl, often conceited, sometimes sympathetic, but always chic. Hyer acquitted herself well, if one-dimensionally, in most every role she played, and she always looked great doing it. A quick survey of photos online reveals a woman who knew how to wear the fashions of the day.

The late ‘50s was the best period for her. In 1957 she played the sophisticated yet spoiled sister of June Allyson in the remake of “My Man Godfrey,” but she also got a couple rare leads opposite such hot actors as Rock Hudson in “Battle Hymn” and Tony Curtis in “Mr. Cory" that same year.

So she wasn’t always relegated to just a supporting part, but even when she was, she sometimes had a chance to shine. In 1958, she played a sympathetic small-town schoolteacher who cannot love Frank Sinatra in “Some Came Running.” It's an excellent time capsule, and it contains Hyer’s best work; she was nominated for an Oscar. But that same year, she was back to the snooty girlfriend in “Houseboat” (1958). (To add insult to injury, she loses Cary Grant to Sophia Loren.)

Where Grace Kelly quit movies to become a real-life princess in 1956, Hyer had to keep working, and there was really nowhere for the refined ice queen, a Hollywood staple of the 1950s, to go next as the decade came to a close.

"The Carpetbaggers"

The vibe of Hollywood in the 1960s was different than the previous decades; it's as if Tinsel Town, and society at large, was saying, 'We don't need your refinement anymore; we want something louder, brighter, looser, more coarse. Adapt or die.' So Martha Hyer adapted, taking roles that urged her to be a sexier, dissolute version of her old screen self. The times they were a-changin', after all. In the low-brow “The Carpetbaggers” (1964) she played a sexy call girl; in “The Chase” (1966), she played a drunk socialite. In both, she looked the part of an aging beauty queen.

Passed over for the role of Marion Crane in "Psycho," a part that immortalized Janet Leigh, Hyer took a role in 1964 in a cheap imitation called "Pyro: The Thing without a Face," a year which also saw her in something called  “Bikini Beach." Maybe T.V. was a safer haven. She appeared in guest spots on such popular ‘60s programs as Family Affair, Bewitched, The Beverly Hillbillies, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.


Publicity still for
"The Chase"

Over the course of her 25 years in Hollywood, Hyer played with some of the biggest stars of her time. In addition to Hudson, Curtis, Grant, and Bogart, she also worked with such disparate names as Bob Hope and Marlon Brando, Joan Crawford and John Wayne, Robert Mitchum and Robert Redford, Jane Wyman and Jane Fonda.

She hung up her acting career in 1974 to focus on her social life and marriage to Hal Wallis, the famed producer of many great Warner Brothers movies of the studio era, which had already come to an end by the time Hyer married him in 1966. The glamorous Hollywood they knew was pretty much over by then anyway.

When Wallis died in 1986, Hyer apparently found religion and left California to live out retirement in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She was glad to leave behind Hollywood, saying, “When you live with fame as a day-to-day reality, the allure of privacy and anonymity is as strong as the desire for fame for those who never had it.”

This insightful quote about the price of fame makes me wonder if the so-called stars of today (reality show and otherwise), who pursue their stardom like it’s the ultimate prize of solid gold, will ever have that revelation.

At her finest, Hyer struck a regal pose that added an elegant figure to the proceedings. She represents a pre-feminist view of femininity; but perhaps feminists can learn a thing or two from what she represents: A woman with knowing self-possession who may have been beautiful, but was also in control of herself. (Compared to the way celebrity women self-objectify today, Martha Hyer's persona seems downright radical in retrospect.)

As far as the entertainment industry goes, it’s hard to imagine that we’ll ever see her type of unreachable beauty and aloof attitude again. True, Martha Hyer has been out of the public eye for four decades, and her velvety style was passé by the time she finished with the business. Maybe we didn’t really miss her while she was away. But sometimes we don’t realize what we once had until it’s finally gone.

See a nice photo compilation here.