Roberta Haynes (born Roberta Arline Schack; August 19, 1927 – April 4, 2019) was an American actress who was active from 1947 until 1989.
Early life She was born Roberta Arline Schack in Wichita Falls, Texas on August 19, 1927, to William Schack and Jewel Eichel Schack.Texas, US, Birth Certificates, 1903-1932, 1927 > 057101-0600001, retrieved from Ancestry.com She had one older brother.1940 United States Federal Census for Roberta Schack, California > Los Angeles > Los Angeles > 60-192, retrieved from Ancestry.com Her parents were both originally from New York City. Her mother had been a dancer with a Shubert road company and an Eddie Cantor revue. Her father was an electrical engineer; in 1930 he took a job with the Canada Electric Company in Toronto.Canada, Border Crossings from U.S. to Canada, 1908-1935 for Roberta Schack, Ontario > Manifests > 1930 > October, retrieved from Ancestry.com Canadian border control records from that time identified the family as being of "Hebrew" race. By 1935 the family had moved to Los Angeles, California.
She attended John Burroughs Junior High School thru 1942, where the yearbook listed her desired occupation as "actress".U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999 for Roberta Schack, California > Los Angeles > John Burroughs Junior High School > 1942 > page 36, retrieved from Ancestry.com She took dancing lessons from an early age, studied with drama coach Grace Bowman, and performed in variety shows for charity. She then went to North Hollywood High School where as a senior she played a 19th Century California senorita in a student stage production. This event marked two "firsts" that would be repeated many times in her long career: getting her photo in the newspaper, and being cast as an ethnic "type".
Early stage career After graduating from high school in June 1945, "Bobbi" Schack married John E. Freund, who had just received a master's degree at UCLA. The couple moved to New York City, where Freund entered a Ph.D. program at Columbia University, while she studied drama with Herbert Berghof. Schack also took a course in modern dance from Martha Graham. But her marriage ended by January 1946, so Schack returned to Los Angeles and enrolled in classes at UCLA, majoring in Drama and French.
Her first known professional credit as "Roberta Haynes" came in February 1947, with her casting in a production of Charley's Aunt. This old farce hadn't played in Los Angeles for twenty-five years; it was presented by the "Stage Inc." troupe and mounted at the Musart Theater. Critics seemed to like Haynes, despite what was felt to be weak staging, and her photo appeared in several Los Angeles newspapers. For Haynes, it also meant getting her Actors' Equity card.
Her next known performance was an original play by John Bright called City of Angels, which premiered at the Musart Theater in June 1948. Directed by Anthony Quinn, Haynes had a minor role as a pachuca in East Los Angeles who gets swept up in riots following a policeman's murder. The play itself nearly caused a riot; fourteen cast members walked out on opening night due to shoddy production values. When the play finally did open a week later, it was shut down after two nights by the Los Angeles Police, ostensibly because it lacked a permit. They refused to issue a permit until the playwright and producer agreed to drop certain objectionable lines from the script. The play then reopened for another two weeks of performances.
The notoriety of City of Angels coupled with newspapers running photos of Haynes in it may have led to her receiving uncredited parts in two movies, Knock on Any Door and We Were Strangers, filmed in 1948 for release the next year.
Haynes next known stage credit was for Elaine Ryan's adaption of Bemelmans' 1943 novel Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. The production was produced and directed by Hume Cronyn and combined professional actors with drama students at Stanford University. Performed at Stanford's Memorial Theatre during July 1949, the production starred Jessica Tandy and Akim Tamiroff, with Jeanne Bates, Feodor Chaliapin, Milton Parsons and Haynes as the supporting professionals.
The Madwoman of Chaillot Haynes went to New York City in September 1949 to make an episode of a combined radio and TV show, Starring Boris Karloff. (She may also have had some expectation of resuming her role in Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, which Cronyn had sold to new producers for Broadway). This was her first experience with television, which would become her predominant performing medium in later years. While in New York she was offered a part in the touring company for The Madwoman of Chaillot, which she joined in late December 1949. The touring company included Martita Hunt in the title role, with Estelle Winwood, John Carradine, Jacques Aubuchon, Jonathan Harris, Martin Kosleck, Fay Roope and a dozen others.
Haynes, as "Irma the Waitress", replaced Leora Dana, who had been with the play since it opened on Broadway in 1948. Her character had the only romance in the story, with "Pierre the Architect" (Alan Shayne).
The tour played Philadelphia and Detroit, where reviewers mentioned Haynes favorably, Boston, and Baltimore, where the local paper ran a photo of Haynes as "Irma" accepting a flower from John Carradine as "The Ragpicker". By March 1950 it was in Chicago, where the Tribune printed a series of photos illustrating the storyline of the play. The play stayed six weeks at Chicago's Erlanger Theater before moving on to a host of smaller cities.
By June 1950 the production was back on Broadway, where it finished up with a three-week run at the City Center theatre.According to IBDB this was a standard practice after a successful tour, letting the production go back to Broadway for a brief run at discounted prices Haynes had clearly established herself as a stage actress with this long tour.
Back to West Coast In the remaining months of 1950 Haynes did episodes of two New York based shows, Somerset Maugham TV Theatre and the hour-long Pulitzer Prize Playhouse. She did another episode of the former in January 1951. During the fall months of 1950 she also had an understudy role in The House of Bernarda Alba for American National Theater and Academy. By February 1951 Haynes was back on the West Coast, where she and her mother were contestants on a radio quiz show called Managing Editor, broadcast on KGIL.
Haynes appeared as the daughter in a barebones version of Tartuffe, the Imposter during May 1951. Presented at the Ivar Theater in Los Angeles for a two-week run, it starred Sam Jaffe in the title role, with Alec Gerry, D. J. Thompson, William Schallert, Richard Vath, Mira McKinney, Kathleen Freeman, and Lamont Johnson. Albert Band produced and directed the production. While most reviewers praised Haynes performance, one said she was "quite competent but not overly inspired".
Haynes was signed for the cast of High Noon in early September 1951. A columnist who met her that fall on location in Sonora described her: "She's slender, dark-skinned, Latin in looks and not at all a Hollywood 'cover girl' type". Unfortunately, her part in the well-known western classic was cut during editing.
During December 1951 and January 1952 Haynes filmed her brief but important part in The Fighter, where she plays star Richard Conte's doomed fiancé. March 1952 saw the broadcast of the first of two episodes she made for the series Rebound, with the other hitting the airwaves in May.
Return to Paradise After the disappointment of High Noon Haynes received a second chance to work with Gary Cooper. Producer Theron Warth and director Mark Robson selected her for one of the two female leads in Return to Paradise. Based on James Michener's short story Mr. Morgan set on the fictional island of Matareva, the film was to be shot on location in the South Pacific.
Haynes and director Robson left from Honolulu for the island of Upolu in Western Samoa on May 9, 1952. She would spend a month in the small village of Matautu, Lefaga before the rest of the Hollywood cast and crew arrived, to soak up local customs, speech patterns, and ways of moving. The other female lead was played by local Moira MacDonald, whom Robson had discovered in Apia, the capital of Western Samoa.
Her selection as Cooper's romantic interest after being edited out of High Noon triggered a wave of "Cinderella" themed stories in the press. (MacDonald would play their characters' daughter, the storyline taking place over a period of twenty years).
Haynes would spend four and half months in Samoa making the film. She wrote occasional letters back home from which her mother fed snippets to the local papers, and even spoke with her parents via short-wave radio courtesy of a neighboring ham. She also wrote an article for Jimmie Fidler's syndicated column about her experiences and the film company's progress in making the movie.Mark Robson wrote a similar article detailing the enormous effort involved in filming at such a remote locale. Over 100 tons of equipment and material had to be shipped out from the states, and several temporary buildings, including a refrigerated storage area for the technicolor film, had to be constructed. See "Life on an Island Paradise" in Los Angeles Daily News for July 10, 1952, page 29
Location filming completed in late September 1952, and the Hollywood cast flew back to Los Angeles by the end of the month. As in The Fighter, Haynes character would die midway through the film, nevertheless she had finally broken out of ingenue roles into leading woman status. Return to Paradise was released in late July 1953 to a generally favorable reception by critics. Edwin Schallert said "Haynes depicts the native girl Maeva like a native, one of the most convincing portrayals in the picture...". Howard McClay wrote Haynes "brings a warm, almost childlike quality to a role that could easily have been overdone in less understanding hands".
Controversial photo During October 1952 a full page photo of Haynes appeared on the back cover of a trade magazine that caused a stir in Hollywood.Columnist Herb Rau said the credit lines on the page read "Lingerie by Juel Park, Photo by John Engstead, Public Relations by Birdwell, Roberta Haynes by God". According to Hedda Hopper's syndicated column "the Breen Office put in a strong objection to it, and three studios asked to interview Roberta". Louella O. Parsons denounced the photo ad as "bad taste". Y. Frank Freeman issued a statement for the Association of Motion Picture Producers denouncing "salacious" photos of females and warning they would not lead to success.
However, columnists Erskine Johnson and Sheilah Graham both wrote in praise of Haynes and her career prospects. Parsons reversed herself quickly when it became known that Columbia had signed Haynes to a contract, stating the photo ad wasn't Haynes fault. Haynes told her side of the story to journalist Aline Mosby in a later interview carried by UPI. The interview reproduced the photo, letting readers judge for themselves.
Columbia contract Shortly after returning to the states, Haynes option with Aspen ProductionsThis was director Mark Robson, producer Theron Warth, and financier Harry Lenart. Gary Cooper was also part owner of Aspen, which wasn't widely known was picked up for a picture per year over four years time. It was not an exclusive contract, so Haynes was free to take on other work when Aspen didn't need her.
When Columbia signed Haynes to a long-term contract in December 1952,Columbia may have bought out her Aspen contract; nothing more is heard of it the prevailing rumor was that she would be cast in From Here to Eternity. She was given five screen tests for the part that eventually went to Donna Reed. The rumor reported by Sheilah Graham was that producer Jerry Wald wanted Haynes, but director Fred Zinneman didn't. Harry Cohn cast the tie-breaker, giving the nod to Donna Reed.