Allison Hayes

Born Mary Jane Hayes in Charleston, West Virginia, she was in the class of 1948 at Calvin Coolidge High School. Hayes won the title of Miss District of Columbia. She went on to represent D.C. in the 1949 Miss America pageant. Although she did not win the competition, it provided her with the opportunity to work in local television before moving to Hollywood to work for Universal Pictures in 1954. Taking the name Allison Hayes, she played small roles in a handful of films at Universal for a couple of years. In 1955 she filed a lawsuit against the studio over injuries she sustained while filming her second picture, SIGN OF THE PAGAN. Universal released Hayes from her contract, and she was subsequently signed by Columbia Pictures. After appearing in a handful of Columbia films including COUNT THREE AND PRAY, MOHAWK, and WOLF DOG, Hayes was given in the lead role in ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN (1958). The film would eventually gain a cult following and become the performance for which she is best known. However, it did not escalate Hayes's career at the time. For several years she remained consistently employed in movies and on television (including an extended stint on the soap opera "General Hospital" and several appearances on her friend Raymond Burr's "Perry Mason" series). By the mid-1960s, though, Allison Hayes's career was all but over and she was beset by health problems. She would later admit that the pain of her illness led her to contemplate suicide, and that her symptoms were not taken seriously by doctors. After reading about metal poisoning in factory workers and recognizing the similarity of the symptoms described to her own, she hired a toxicologist to test a calcium supplement she'd been using for an extended time. The tests revealed that the pills contained an extreme amount of lead, and that Hayes was likely suffering from lead poisoning. She mounted a campaign to pressure the Food and Drug Administration into banning the supplement, but her condition deteriorated to the point of total incapacity. In 1976 she was diagnosed with leukemia, and began regular cancer treatment. Allison Hayes died February 26, 1977 at the UCSD Medical Center in La Jolla, California, just short of her 47th birthday. In a letter that arrived after her death, the FDA informed her of amendments being made to the laws governing the importation of nutritional supplements, largely as a result of her advocacy.

Known For: Acting

Born: Charleston, West Virginia, USA, 1930-03-06

Died: 1977-02-27

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1954	Francis Joins the WACS	Lieutenant Dickson	58
2	1954	Sign of the Pagan	Ildico	52
3	1954	So This Is Paris	Carmen	85
4	1955	The Prodigal	(uncredited)	40
5	1955	The Purple Mask	Irene de Bournotte	50
6	1955	Double Jeopardy	Barbara Devery	54
7	1955	Chicago Syndicate	Joyce Kern, alias Sue Morton	58
8	1955	Count Three and Pray	Georgina Decrais	48
9	1956	The Steel Jungle	Mrs. Archer	53
10	1956	Mohawk	Greta Jones	56
11	1956	Gunslinger	Erica Page	40
12	1957	The Undead	Livia	45
13	1957	Zombies of Mora Tau	Mona Harrison	55
14	1957	The Unearthly	Grace Thomas	36
15	1957	The Disembodied	Tonda Metz	44
16	1958	Attack of the 50 Foot Woman	Nancy Fowler Archer	48
17	1958	Wolf Dog	Ellen Hughes	65
18	1958	Lust to Kill	Sherry	75
19	1958	Hong Kong Confidential	Elena Martine	51
20	1959	Counterplot	Connie Lane	47
21	1959	Pier 5, Havana	Monica Gray	46
22	1960	The Hypnotic Eye	Justine	57
23	1960	The High Powered Rifle	Sharon Hill	60
24	1963	The Crawling Hand	Donna	29
25	1963	Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?	Mrs. Grayson	58
26	1965	Tickle Me	Mabel	59
27	1968	The Movie Orgy	Self (archive footage)	65

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Christine	63
2	1955	The Millionaire	Linda Kendall	50
3	1956	Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre	Paris	55
4	1957	Richard Diamond, Private Detective	Angel Case	62
5	1957	Perry Mason	Sadie Bradford	77
6	1957	Perry Mason	Jane Weeks	77
7	1957	Perry Mason	Pearl Chute	77
8	1957	Perry Mason	Stella Radom	77
9	1957	Perry Mason	Cho Sin	77
10	1957	Tombstone Territory	Carole Thayer	60
11	1958	Bat Masterson	Ellie Winters	61
12	1958	77 Sunset Strip		67
13	1959	Rawhide		72
14	1959	Men Into Space	Mandy Holcomb	70
15	1959	The Alaskans		55
16	1960	Surfside 6		50
17	1961	Acapulco	Chloe	50
18	1961	Ripcord	Laura	65
19	1964	Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.	Rose Pilchek	71
20	1965	The F.B.I.	Anne Frazier	55

Allison Hayes

Film

Television