Susan Hayward won the Best Actress Oscar® for her shattering portrayal of B-girl Barbara Graham, who went to San Quentin's gas chamber in June 1955 after being convicted of the pistol-whipping death of a Burbank, California, widow during the course of a robbery in March 1953. Until the moment of her execution, Barbara Graham insisted she was innocent. The outcome of her sensational trial made her a nationwide cause célèbre.