THE TRAGEDY OF ALLISON HAYES

If I were ever to be attacked by a 50-foot woman, I'd want it to be Allison Hayes from the 1958 Allied Artists movie.

Often compared in looks to Jane Russell, the beautiful Allison Hayes had a promising career, but despite finding steady work in films and television, she was destined to nearly always be cast in less prominent roles. Born Mary Jane Hayes on March 6, 1930 in Charleston, West Virginia, her father was a naval engineer and his responsibilities took them to Washington, D.C.

Miss District of Columbia 1949.

Hayes graduated from Calvin Coolidge High School in 1948 and won Miss District of Columbia in August 1949. She represented her state in the 1949 Miss America Pageant at the age of 19, but did not place. Afterwards, she modeled and worked for a local television network, then moved to Hollywood to pursue an acting career.

After signing a contract with Universal, she changed her first name to Allison and was cast in her first film role in the 1954 comedy, FRANCIS JOINS THE WACS. She had a larger role in her next film the same year, SIGN OF THE PAGAN with Jack Palance. During the shoot, she suffered an injury which resulted in several broken ribs. She filed a lawsuit and true to the nature of the soulless Hollywood Studios at the time, she was released from her contract. However, her career didn't skip a beat as she signed with Columbia in 1955.

Allison Hayes (right) in Francis Joins the WACS.

Her most well-known roles were in SIGN OF THE PAGAN and ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN. She was in a number of other genre films, including THE UNDEAD (1957), ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU (1957), THE UNEARTHLY (1957), THE DISEMBODIED (1957), THE HYPNOTIC EYE (1960), and THE CRAWLING HAND (1963). She also played in many television shows, such as THE UNTOUCHABLES, BAT MASTERSON, MICHAEL SHAYNE, HAWAIIAN EYE, 77 SUNSET STRIP and GENERAL HOSPITAL.

With Mamie Van Doren, Myrna Hansen and Colleen Miller.

Then tragedy struck. While guesting over several episodes on the PERRY MASON TV show, she began experiencing unexplained health issues that were debilitating enough for her to require the use of a cane. Her work subsequently dried up and she contemplated suicide after her doctors passed off her malady as nothing serious. She decided to research her sickness on her own, and when reading a book about the diseases of metal workers she noticed that their symptoms matched her own. Connecting the discovery with her long-time use of a certain calcium supplement prescribed by a doctor years before, she had the supplement tested by a toxicologist and the results were not good: the pills contained a high concentration of lead in the bone meal that was used as an ingredient.

Chelation therapy had begun use in the late 1940s, but apparently she still couldn't convince health professionals of her condition and it was left untreated. In 1976, she was diagnosed with leukemia and by that time her medical treatments were to no avail.

Allison Hayes died on February 27, 1977 at the age of 46 in San Diego, and buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.

GALLERY

LURED TO THE HOUSE OF MONSTERS!

How can you resist a monster movie that claims "Guaranteed to Frighten!" on a gold seal of approval? Well, it sure as hell frightened me as a young Monster Kid watching it on our local horror host TV program!

Released in 1957, THE UNEARTHLY stars John Carradine, Allison Hayes, Sally Tod and the cult favorite Tor Johnson. Carradine's Dr. Charles Conway practices glandular transplants on the hapless patients at his psychiatric hospital. We don't find out near the end that all his failed experiments are lurking about in the basement as horribly disfigured creatures. This one's a real B-movie gem.

BEFORE THEY WERE SCREAM QUEENS

Many of the scream queens and horror hotties that we have come to know and love have not always first appeared -- fully formed, as it were -- on the horror screen. Most of them got their start in modeling and other types of film roles.

The 13 NOVEMBER 1956 issue of the bi-weekly digest TEMPO (Vol. 7 No. 10) featured an article, What's In a Face?, that included photos of two future scream queens.

Allison Hayes was pictured in a one-piece swimsuit, posing with a beach bag thrown casually over her shoulder, and described as a former "Miss Washington". As we horror fans know, Hayes went on to become one of the Atom Age cinema icons when she starred as the titular ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN (1958).

Valerie French, seen in the article lounging in a provocative pose and holding a cigarette after her role in JUBAL, later played the part of Alison Drake in the Vogue Pictures horror melodrama, THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE (1959). At one time a "Miss Galaxy" and married for a few years to Thayer David (Professor Stokes and other characters in the original DARK SHADOWS), she finished off her acting career playing in soap operas such as ALL MY CHILDREN.