Maggie Hayes on AllMovie

Brunette leading lady Margaret Hayes was signed by Paramount after a brief stage career in 1941. At first billed as Dana Dale, Hayes was seen in other-woman and villainess roles in such pictures as The Lady Has Plans (1942) and The Glass Key (1942). She truly blossomed as an actress in the 1950s, thanks largely to her extensive television work, wherein she was usually billed as Maggie Hayes. Her most conspicuous screen assignment of this period was the role of terrified inner-city schoolteacher Lois Hammond in The Blackboard Jungle (1955). After retiring from show business in 1962, Hayes pursued a variety of successful business ventures, ranging from jewelry design to public relations. Margaret Hayes was married twice, to actor Leif Erickson and producer Herbert Bayard Swope Jr.