Character Relationship Map: Deadline - U.S.A.

Characters

• Ed Hutcheson (played by Humphrey Bogart) — protagonist

  Crusading managing editor of The Day newspaper. He fights to keep the paper in business by investigating a gangland murder, defying threats and corporate interests to publish the truth.

• Margaret Garrison (played by Ethel Barrymore) — protagonist

  Publisher and widow of the newspaper's founder. She faces financial pressure and is on the verge of selling The Day to interests that plan to permanently cease its operation.

• Nora Hutcheson (played by Kim Hunter) — supporting

  Ed Hutcheson's former wife. Her impending remarriage adds personal tension and distraction for the protagonist during the newspaper's critical survival crisis.

• Alice Garrison Courtney (played by Fay Baker) — supporting

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Margaret Garrison → Alice Garrison Courtney (Family Mother And Daughter)

  The plot identifies Margaret as the mother of Alice and says Alice agrees to sell The Day before Margaret decides to buy it herself.

• Ed Hutcheson → Nora Hutcheson (Family Former Spouses)

  The plot says Nora is Ed's former wife and that they are divorced. She tells him she plans to marry her advertising-agency boss, and Ed says their rel...

• Ed Hutcheson → Margaret Garrison (Professional Managing Editor And Publisher)

  Ed is identified as The Day's managing editor, while Margaret is its publisher. Ed fights to keep the newspaper working, and Margaret decides to buy i...

Story Analysis

A newspaper's investigation and its staff's personal struggles unfold as they fight to preserve the paper and its standards.

Plot Progression

1. A Newspaper in Peril
2. A Mystery Opens
3. Private Strain and Public Stakes
4. A Last-Minute Reversal
5. Publication and Uncertainty