I need your help. I’ve been remembering a movie from my childhood and trying to find information on the internet, but I am having no luck.
Here is the background information. I remember staying up late (or waking up) to be with my mother when she got home from the second shift at the hospital. I might have been five (maybe 1963 or 1964). Mom was folding laundry and watching the late movie on television. The movie was in black and white.
This cottage is similar to the one occupied by Susan Hayward.
My memories include an English countryside dotted with quaint cottages, gently sloping hills, stone hedgerows. The main characters might have been Richard Chamberlain and Susan Hayward. Chamberlain was a country doctor (no, this was not an episode of Dr. Kildaire). He and Hayward were lovers. They might have been married. Maybe not. Maybe he was married to a dying woman and couldn’t leave her to be with Hayward. Near the end of the movie, Hayward is on the telephone with him, crying happily because he is finally on his way to her. Next scene, Chamberlain is speeding on dark curvy country roads to get to her. Of course, he crashes and is killed in the accident. Hayward worries what is keeping him. She hears sirens in the distance. She knows something horrible has happened and she waits by the phone for the phone call that never comes. Or, maybe the call does come at the end. Either way, the movie ends with her alone and crying.
That’s all I can remember about it. I have looked up Richard Chamberlain, Susan Hayward and every other actor I can think of from that time frame. I have read hundreds of movie synopses. I cannot tell you how many hours I have spent on the internet trying to find it. And, of course, the more I search, and the more I fail, the more I need to find it. It has become quite an obsession.
Please help if you can!
Everyone, thank you so much for your comments! In case you missed it, one commenter was able to provide the movie title. Please scroll through the comments to see!
I cannot tell you what a relief it is to finally put this to rest!
i used to loveeeeee watching movies with nanny!!!! she got me into betty davis!
Cool! I love Davis, too! I’m sure it’s because of nanny!
Sounds like a movie we should all rent.
Now, that I have found the movie and read more about it, the answer is that yes, we should rent it, together, as it is the ultimate chick flick! I don’t know if we can rent it anywhere, though, and I have seen it for sale on Amazon for $69.95! The movie is “Back Street” with Susan Heyward and John Gavin.
Sounds like a very tragic movie.
It was a very tragic movie. A real tear jerker, too!
That storyline sounds very familiar but I have no idea of the title. You need to send a tweet to @rogerebert!
Maija, asking Roger Ebert was a great suggestion! If I did not get a correct response, I could have asked him next! My previous commenter, claire_delune saved my sanity with the correct movie!
This movie is “Back Street” with Susan Hayward and not Richard Chamberlain but John Gavin, who resembles Chamberlaine
I had looked up EVERY movie with Susan Hayward and could not find the one I was looking for. The cover for “Back Street” was not right, actor’s name John Gavin not right so I must have skipped over it while poring over others.
I looked at a You Tube clip of the movie, and although the whole car accident scene is quite different than my memory, THIS IS IT!
Thank you so much for the answer!
Are you sure it’s Richard Chamberlain? It seems to me that he would have been too young to play opposite Susan Hayward.
You are right about Richard Chamberlain, but in my memory that is who it was!