---
name: "Margaret Sullavan"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/margaret-sullavan"
fi1m_id: "margaret-sullavan"
imdb_id: "nm0837925"
tmdb_id: 14869
wikidata_id: "Q238036"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "16 May 1909"
died: "1 January 1960"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-25T02:58:19.058824+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Margaret Sullavan

## Identity

Margaret Sullavan

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/margaret-sullavan
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** margaret-sullavan
- **IMDb ID:** nm0837925
- **TMDB ID:** 14869
- **Wikidata ID:** Q238036
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sullavan, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q238036, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0837925/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/14869

Actor. Born 16 May 1909 in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. Died 1 January 1960.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 16 May 1909, Norfolk, Virginia, USA
- **Died:** 1 January 1960
- **Also known as:** Margaret Brooke Sullavan, Маргарет Саллаван
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sullavan, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q238036, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0837925/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/14869

## Fi1m on Margaret Sullavan

> Margaret Sullavan makes vulnerability felt beneath a composed surface, with a husky voice that is hard to mistake. We value her restraint most: in *The Mortal Storm*, she makes the romance matter without joining in the film’s insistence.

In *The Mortal Storm* (1940), Margaret Sullavan is tender without becoming solemn. As Freya Roth, she gives James Stewart’s Martin Breitner affection we can believe, and leaves the film to do the explaining. Frank Borzage’s melodrama benefits from an actress who does not press every opportunity to make us feel sorry for her. The husky voice catches the ear, but her willingness to hold back makes us attend to the person speaking. We recommend her here even where we have reservations about the film.

Her screen career began with *Only Yesterday* (1933), and reached its peak in the late 1930s. *Three Comrades* (1938) gave her scope for restrained dramatic playing; *The Shop Around the Corner* (1940), opposite Stewart, brought out her impish comic touch. The latter also makes room for intelligence and vulnerability, rather than asking charm to do all the work. Those qualities help explain why she is worth following between comedy and melodrama.

She and Stewart made four films together, with *The Mortal Storm* their last pairing. Here his sincerity makes a good partner for her restraint, and neither needs much assistance to hold our attention. We were moved by their tenderness, because their affection makes the threat to their freedom feel personal. The plotting is less persuasive, and Borzage sometimes adds sentiment where the performances would have been enough. Sullavan cannot repair that, but she keeps her own scenes from becoming stiff.

Her preference for theatre helps explain a screen career of only sixteen films, with a retreat in the early 1940s and a final return for *No Sad Songs for Me* (1950). Some stage reviewers found her delivery mannered, and a voice this recognisable can draw attention to itself. In *The Mortal Storm*, though, it never distracts us from Freya’s affection for Martin. Begin there, with some patience for the extra prompting neither Sullavan nor Stewart needs.

## Biography

Margaret Sullavan was an American actress. She began her career on the stage in 1929 and made her screen debut in 1933 in *Only Yesterday*.

She appeared in sixteen films, preferring stage work. Among her best-known screen roles are Klara Novak in *The Shop Around the Corner* (1940) and Freya Roth in *The Mortal Storm* (1940). Sullavan received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her performance in *Three Comrades* (1938). She retired from film in the early 1940s but returned for *No Sad Songs for Me* (1950).

Sullavan died on 1 January 1960.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *The Mortal Storm* (1940), Fi1m 76, as Freya Roth — [page](https://film.one/film/the-mortal-storm.md)

## Complete filmography (18)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Schlitz Playhouse of Stars* (1951), series, Actor
- *No Sad Songs for Me* (1950), as Mary Scott
- *Studio One* (1948), series, as Janet Layton Willson
- *Cry 'Havoc'* (1943), as Lieutenant Smith
- *Appointment for Love* (1941), as Jane Alexander
- *So Ends Our Night* (1941), as Ruth Holland
- *Back Street* (1941), as Ray Smith
- *The Mortal Storm* (1940), as Freya Roth — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/the-mortal-storm.md)
- *The Shop Around the Corner* (1940), as Klara Novak
- *The Shining Hour* (1938), as Judy Linden
- *The Shopworn Angel* (1938), as Daisy Heath
- *Three Comrades* (1938), as Patricia Hollmann
- *The Moon's Our Home* (1936), as Cherry Chester / Sarah Brown
- *Next Time We Love* (1936), as Cicely Hunt Tyler
- *So Red the Rose* (1935), as Valette Bedford
- *The Good Fairy* (1935), as Luisa
- *Little Man, What Now?* (1934), as Lammchen
- *Only Yesterday* (1933), as Mary Lane

## Gallery

- ![Margaret Sullavan](https://film.one/media/person/3858555/gallery-990caf1555fd.jpg) Margaret Sullavan — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Studio_publicity_Margaret_Sullavan.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![L'attrice Margaret Sullavan in una immagine pubblicata in Italia nel 1934 (2016)](https://film.one/media/person/3858555/gallery-cb1ed511634d.jpg) L'attrice Margaret Sullavan in una immagine pubblicata in Italia nel 1934 (2016) — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Sullavan-margaret_1934.jpg/1280px-Sullavan-margaret_1934.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Photograph of Margaret Sullavan and Leland Hayward (1942)](https://film.one/media/person/3858555/gallery-c233d5e937f1.jpg) Photograph of Margaret Sullavan and Leland Hayward (1942) — Photoplay Publishing Company; Hyman Fink, photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Sullavan-Hayward-1942.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Margaret Sullavan](https://film.one/media/person/3858555/gallery-070c78847dd9.jpg) Margaret Sullavan — Image via TMDB
- ![Margaret Sullavan](https://film.one/media/person/3858555/gallery-0ba826680fac.jpg) Margaret Sullavan — Image via TMDB
- ![Margaret Sullavan](https://film.one/media/person/3858555/gallery-4d1d490a0aae.jpg) Margaret Sullavan — Image via TMDB
- ![Margaret Sullavan](https://film.one/media/person/3858555/gallery-5b36b1f5f5e6.jpg) Margaret Sullavan — Image via TMDB
- ![Margaret Sullavan](https://film.one/media/person/3858555/gallery-019be48c76b5.jpg) Margaret Sullavan — Image via TMDB
- ![Margaret Sullavan](https://film.one/media/person/3858555/gallery-73c9e3ea5ad7.jpg) Margaret Sullavan — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1939: Best Actress (nominated), for *Three Comrades*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/margaret-sullavan