Popcorn Disability: Susan Peters, First Disabled Lady of Television

And why we'll never get to see her TV work.

Welcome to this installment of Popcorn Disability, where I look at disability through the lens of popular culture. Because July is Disability Awareness Month I’ll be covering a different disabled movie every Friday in July! If you want to read the full story consider becoming a paid-subscriber. Not only do you get access to the awesomeness below, but you’ll be able to read every paid post including our monthly watch diaries, disability stories, and more. I also cross post these over at The Film Maven Patreon where you can subscribe, at the same price, without supporting Substack itself. Subscribe and show your support for independent journalism.

Read more about the history of disability in film by pre-ordering my upcoming book, Popcorn Disabilities: The Highs and Lows of Disabled Representation in the Movies. I not only expand on what you’re reading here, but examine the stereotypes, tropes, and the good, bad (and really ugly) of disabled movies. Preorder the book by clicking this link!

Actresses have struggled for better representation on-screen, but there aren’t nearly as many examples of disabled actresses to pull from. Where disabled men play characters who are brilliant, flawed, courageous, and desirable, disabled women and the characters they play are couched in terms of their sex appeal, or lack thereof. A great example of this is the life and career of Susan Peters, an actress you probably haven’t heard of. It’s a shame, because Peters tried hard to break down the barriers placed in front of her, not only as a woman but as a disabled woman. She only made twenty films in her entire career but she left an imprint on the history of disabled women in film.

Susan Peters was born Suzanne Carnahan in Spokane, Washington. Prior to her accident, Peters made her mark in prestigious feature films like 1940’s Santa Fe Trail, opposite Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, 1941’s Meet John Doe, and 1942’s Random Harvest. I recently watched this for the first time (in anticipation of my next book) and Peters is filled with such an ethereal quality to her, though I do wonder how my viewing of her, pre-disability, would have changed had I not known she was eventually disabled. It was in Random Harvest that Peters earned her only Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Her mounting success set her up to become one of MGM’s most promising stars.