Jill Haworth

The Contract That Devoured Her Childhood

Jill Haworth never set out to make movies. Otto Preminger found her at a ballet school in London when she was only fourteen years old.

The director was looking for a new face for Exodus in 1960 and saw in her the perfect blend of innocence and British toughness. But that discovery came at a high price, in the form of a seven-year exclusivity contract. Preminger controlled her life, her image and her movements with a rigidity that bordered on obsession.

The young girl suddenly found herself filming in Israel alongside Paul Newman.

Before turning eighteen, she had already filmed The Cardinal in 1963 and In Harm's Way in 1965. In the latter, she shared the screen with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. But working for Preminger was an exercise in mental endurance. The director would shout at her on set until she cried in front of the entire crew.

And the gamble paid off.

Despite the pressure, Haworth earned a Golden Globe nomination as New Star of the Year. Her face appeared in every fashion magazine, and her style embodied the vibrant London that was beginning to export trends around the world.

The Sally Bowles Critics Didn't Understand

In 1966, she made the leap that would change her career forever. Harold Prince chose her to star in the original Broadway production of Cabaret. She was the authentic Sally Bowles (long before the movies fixed Liza Minnelli's image in the public imagination).

But the New York press was merciless about her vocal performance.

They said her voice wasn't powerful enough for musical theater. What many failed to understand is that Haworth played the character exactly as written in Christopher Isherwood's novel. Sally was not a great nightclub singer but a mediocre young woman trying to survive in Weimar Berlin.

She held her ground through 1,165 consecutive performances at the Broadhurst Theatre.

Her relationship with Sal Mineo during that period filled the gossip magazines. They were the it couple, but their romance was full of shadows and secrets that only came to light decades later. Mineo confessed years later that Haworth was the only woman he had truly been in love with.

B-Movie Screams and a Quiet Retirement

When her contract with Preminger ended, the industry didn't know what to do with her. Haworth turned to low-budget British horror films. In 1967, she made It!, and later The Haunted House of Horror in 1969. She went from being a protégée of the major studios to running through dark hallways in B-movies.

Because the studio system was dying, and she was dying with it.

During the 1970s, her presence faded into occasional television appearances. She took part in series such as Mission: Impossible and Baretta. In 1972, she shot Tower of Evil, a psychological horror film that is now a cult favorite among genre completists but was ignored by the industry at the time.

She chose to step away from the cameras gradually, without any dramatic announcements.

She settled permanently in New York and devoted herself to voice-over and dubbing work. In 2001, she lent her voice to the video game Grand Theft Auto III, playing a supporting character. It was one of her last professional ties to the entertainment world before she disappeared from the public eye.

Jill Haworth died of natural causes at her Manhattan home on January 3, 2011.