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Born Susan Ker Weld in New York City, her father died when she was a child of three and her widowed mother and two siblings were left in difficult financial circumstances. Weld's mother took advantage of her beauty and found work for her as a child model that provided income to help sustain the family.
Using her resumé from modelling, her mother got her an agent and Tuesday Weld made her acting debut on television at age 12 and her motion picture debut at the age of 13 in a bit role in the Alfred Hitchcock crime drama, The Wrong Man . She then got the lead in a film celebrating the advent of Rock and Roll called Rock, Rock, Rock that featured record promoter Alan Freed and singers Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon, and Johnny Burnette, plus others. In the film, Connie Francis did the vocals for Weld's singing parts. In 1959, still only sixteen years old, she was given a role in the CBS television show, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Although Weld was only a cast member for a few months, the show gave her considerable national publicity and she was named a co-winner of a "Most Promising Newcomer" award at the Golden Globe Awards.
Unfortunately, despite her talent, beauty, and early success, Tuesday Weld is frequently described as the poster-girl for self-destruction. The product of a dysfunctional family , she was a very troubled girl who, at age nine, suffered a nervous breakdown. Without parental guidance from a mother with whom she would have a lifelong strained relationship, by age ten she had begun smoking cigarettes and using alcohol. Physically, she appeared well beyond her twelve years and at that age had already began dating older boys, losing her virginity in hapless relationships that, combined with her other problems, led to a suicideSuicide (from Latin sui caedere to kill oneself) is the act of ending one's own life. It is considered a sin in many religions, and a crime in some jurisdictions. On the other hand, some cultures have viewed it as an honorable way to exit certain shameful attempt. Added to her problem in a business where looks are everything, she had to deal with a weight problem throughout most of her life.
In 1961, after starring opposite Elvis PresleyElvis Aron Presley ( January 8, 1935 August 16, 1977), known as The King of Rock and Roll, or as just "The King", was an American singer who had an immeasurable effect on world culture. He started his career under the name the Hillbilly Cat and was later in Wild in the Country , the two began an off-screen romance. However, in Hollywood, her reputation for a reckless lifestyle was fodder for the gossip columnists and Louella ParsonsLouella Parsons ( August 6, 1881 December 9, 1972) was an American gossip columnist. She was born Louella Rose Oettinger in Freeport, Illinois, a daughter of Joshua Oettinger ( 1859- May 26, 1890) and Helen Stein (born November 1859). She had two brothers reportedly said, as politely as possible, that "Miss Weld is not a very good representative for the motion picture industry." The romance with Elvis did not last long after Colonel Tom ParkerColonel Tom Parker was the pseudonym of Andreas Cornelius van Kuijk (b. 1909 or 1910 in Breda, Netherlands d. January 21, 1997, Las Vegas, NV), the manager who handled Elvis Presley for virtually all of his career and whose influence over Presley was crit cautioned Presley against the relationship, fearful it would harm his image.
Tuesday Weld appeared with Jackie GleasonAudrey Meadows in an episode of The Honeymooners Jackie Gleason ( February 26, 1916 June 24, 1987) was a Brooklyn-born comedian famous for brash humor and fast ad-libs who immortalized his Brooklyn neighborhood in The Honeymooners playing bus driver Ralph and Steve McQueenSteve McQueen ( March 24, 1930 November 7, 1980) was an American movie actor. He was born Terence Steven McQueen in Beech Grove, Indiana. He never knew his father, who abandoned his wife and child shortly after McQueen was born. He was raised in Slater, M in the 1963 comedy/drama, Soldier in the Rain and although her performance was well received, the film was only a minor success. Although frequently typecast as the "blonde in the tight sweater," both the critics and working members of the film industry acknowledged her talent. However, Weld never achieved the level of stardom many thought her looks and talent could bring. In part, her lack of great success was as a result of her turning down roles in films that were great successes and that made mega-stars out of others such as LolitaLolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first published in 1955. The novel is famous both for its innovative style and for its controversial subject. The novel's unreliable narrator and main character, Humbert Humbert, a middle-aged European emigre living, the lead in Bonnie and Clyde, and in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice . Although Weld had the final say in such matters, many question the quality of advice her agent was providing. Actor Roddy McDowall, who co-starred with her in a 1966 film, said: "no actress was ever so good in so many bad films."
Weld married screenwriter Claude Harz in 1965, the same year she appeared in the successful 1965 Norman Jewison film, The Cincinatti Kid . Although a box-office success, Weld nevertheless had to share the spotlight with actress Ann-Margret. In her thirties, she began acting in a number of made-for-television films but for her big screen role in Play It As It Lays , she was nominated for a 1973 Golden Globe. After divorcing her first husband with whom she had had a daughter, in 1975 she married British actor Dudley Moore, giving birth to their son the following year. In 1977, she gave a strong performance in Looking for Mr. Goodbar that earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
In 1980 she was divorced from Dudley Moore and in 1985 married the renowned IsraelI concert violinist, Pinchas Zukerman. After thirteen years, that marriage also ended in divorce.
Tuesday Weld continues to makes occasional appearances in film or television.
Partial filmography: