Hayes was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Her father was Jack Lewis Ottenheimer, a "musician, theatrical man and joke book writer." While a student at Forest Park High School, she joined the Emerson Cook Stock Company to gain more acting experience. She entered Johns Hopkins University to become a nurse, but stuck to her dramatic ambitions. At the school, she joined "The Barnstormers", a theatrical organization, becoming the first female member of that group.
Changing names
Using the name Dana Dale, Hayes found work as a model, "featured in the best cigarette, auto and fashion advertisements. Her screen test for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind was unsuccessful, but she received a movie contract anyway. Publicists at her studio recommended Dana Edwards as a better name for movies, so she began using it. Eventually, she changed to Margaret Hayes for public purposes, and was called Maggie by her friends.
Film
Hayes' initial contract was with Warner Bros.. Having little success there, she signed with Paramount Pictures. Hayes was often billed as Maggie Hayes in her film credits. She is perhaps best known for her role as Lois Judby Hammond in the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle, which starred Glenn Ford. In 1956, she guest-starred as Dora Hand in three episodes of The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. She appeared in the episode "The San Saba Incident" of Trackdown, playing a female convict, named Abby Lindon. Hayes' films included The Glass Key, Sullivan's Travels and Good Day for a Hanging. In 1958, in the film Damn Citizen, Hayes appeared opposite Keith Andes in the role of a real person, Dorothy Maguire Grevemberg, the wife of the crusading Louisiana State Police superintendent Francis Grevemberg. She made four guest appearances on CBS's Perry Mason, including as defendant Sybil Granger in 1957 episode "The Case of the Nervous Accomplice". In 1961, she portrayed the part of Mrs. North in the episode "Incident of the Night on the Town" on CBS"s Rawhide. In the same year she also guest starred in an episode of Bonanza, "The Countess", as Lady Linda Chadwick.
Journalism
After marrying Herbert Bayard Swope in 1946, Hayes temporarily retired from acting and turned to journalism, eventually becoming assistant fashion editor for Life magazine.
Hayes had her first child, a daughter Nan, from her brief first marriage to Charles DeBuskey. The couple divorced in 1939, and Hayes subsequently married actor Leif Erickson on June 12, 1942, eloping with him to Minden, Nevada. They separated 28 days later, and Hayes received a divorce on October 2, 1942. She married a third time, to producer Herbert B. Swope, Jr., in 1947. The couple had a daughter, actress Tracy Brooks Swope, and a son, Herbert Swope III. She and Swope divorced in 1973.
