I’ll Cry Tomorrow (1955)

Directed by Daniel Mann with a screenplay by Helen Deutsch (Lili (1953)) and Jay Richard Kennedy this slightly above average biographical drama about the rise and fall (& recovery) of singer-actress Lillian Roth earned Susan Hayward who sings her fourth unrewarded Best Actress Oscar nomination (she would win on her fifth & last nomination for I Want to Live! (1958)). Based on an autobiography co-written by Roth it details her fast track to fame as a teenager due to a stereotypical unrelenting ambitious mother (Katie played by Jo Van Fleet) the death of her childhood friend David Tredman (Ray Danton) her “pick me up” drinking which led to alcoholism two failed marriages attempted suicide and ultimately her recovery with the help of Burt McGuire (Eddie Albert) a recovering alcohol who helps her. Don Taylor and Richard Conte play Roth’s husbands; Taylor a youngster named Wallie and Conte a particularly sadistic brute named Tony Bardeman who uses Roth’s weakness against her to get her money. The film won an Academy Award for its B&W Costume Design (Helen Rose The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)) and also received Oscar nominations for its B&W Art Direction-Set Decoration & Cinematography (Arthur Arling The Yearling (1946)). Almost an advertisement for Alcoholics Anonymous the film includes the Serenity Prayer:

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.”

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