Betty Blythe
Born: 1893-08-31 in Los Angeles, California, USA
Died: 1972-04-07
Known For: Acting
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Betty Blythe (born Elizabeth Blythe Slaughter, September 1, 1893 – April 7, 1972) was an American actress best known for her dramatic roles in exotic silent films such as The Queen of Sheba (1921). She appeared in 63 silent films and 56 talking pictures (known as talkies) over the course of her career. She is famous for being one of the first actresses to appear on film in the nude, or nearly so, during the Roaring Twenties. She is reported to have said, "A director is the only man besides your husband who can tell you how much of your clothes to take off." Blythe began her stage work in such theatrical pieces as So Long Letty and The Peacock Princess. She worked in vaudeville as the "California Nightingale" singing songs such as "Love Tales from Hoffman". After touring Europe and the States, she entered films in 1918 at the Vitagraph Studios in Brooklyn, then she was brought to Hollywood's Fox studio as a replacement for actress Theda Bara. As famous for her revealing costumes as for her dramatic skills, she became a star in such exotic films as The Queen of Sheba (1921) (in which she wore nothing above the waist except a string of beads), Chu-Chin-Chow (made in 1923; released by MGM in the US 1925) and She (1925). She was also seen to good advantage in less revealing films like Nomads of the North (1920) with Lon Chaney and In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter (1924), produced by Samuel Goldwyn. Other roles were as an opera star, unbilled in Garbo's The Mysterious Lady. She continued to work as a character actress. One of her last roles was a small uncredited role in a crowd scene in 1964's My Fair Lady. Betty Blythe's name lives on through the Betty Blythe Vintage TeaRoom in West Kensington.
Filmography
1964
- My Fair Lady as Lady at Ball (uncredited)
1956
- Runaway Daughters as Party Guest (uncredited)
1951
- Hollywood Story as Herself
1948
- Luxury Liner as Miss Fenmoor (uncredited)
- Letter from an Unknown Woman as Frau Kohner (uncredited)
- Shed No Tears as Mrs. Peet (Uncredited)
- Madonna of the Desert as Mrs. Brown
1947
- The Secret Life of Walter Mitty as Floor Manager (uncredited)
- Something in the Wind as Society Matron (uncredited)
- Jiggs and Maggie in Society as Mrs. Vacuum
1946
- Undercurrent as Saleslady (uncredited)
- The Postman Always Rings Twice as Customer (uncredited)
- The Undercover Woman as Cissy Van Horn
- Joe Palooka, Champ as Mrs. Stafford
1945
- Adventure as Mrs. Buckley (uncredited)
- They Were Expendable as Officer's Wife (uncredited)
- Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood as Mrs. Murdock (uncredited)
- Docks of New York as Mrs. Darcy
1944
- A Fig Leaf for Eve as Lavinia Sardham
- Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat as Mrs. Manning
1943
- Crime Doctor as Mrs. Harrington
- Bar 20 as Mrs. Stevens
- Presenting Lily Mars as Dowager
- Mr. Muggs Steps Out
- Girls in Chains as Mrs. Grey
- Sarong Girl as Miss Ellsworth
- Spotlight Scandals as Mrs. Baker
1942
- Piano Mooner as Society Woman
- Freckles Comes Home as Minerva Potter
- Dawn on the Great Divide as Mrs. Elmira Corkle
- House of Errors as Mrs. Martha Randall
- Inflation as Next Door Neighbor Who Begins Hoarding (uncredited)
1941
- Puddin' Head as Mrs. Bowser
- Federal Fugitives as Marcia
- The Miracle Kid as Madame Gloria
- Tuxedo Junction as Miss Hornblower
- Our Wife as Minor Role (uncredited)
- Sis Hopkins as Mrs. Farnsworth
- Top Sergeant Mulligan as Mrs. Lewis
- Honky Tonk as Mrs. Wilson
1940
- Earl of Puddlestone as Millicent Potter-Potter
- Misbehaving Husbands as Effie Butler
1939
- The Women as Mrs. South (uncredited)
1938
- Delinquent Parents as Mrs. Wharton
- Hold That Kiss as Wedding Guest at Piermont's
- Gangster's Boy as Mrs. Davis
- Romance of the Limberlost as Mrs. Parker
- Life in Sometown, U.S.A. as Mrs. Himber (uncredited)
1937
- Topper as Mrs. Goodrich (uncredited)
- Espionage as Train Passenger
- What Do You Think? (Number Two)
1936
- Rainbow on the River as Flower Buyer (uncredited)
- The Gorgeous Hussy as Mrs. Wainwright
- Murder at Glen Athol as Ann Randel
- Yours for the Asking as May (uncredited)
1935
- Western Courage as Mrs. Hanley
- The Spanish Cape Mystery as Mrs. Godfrey
- I've Been Around
- Cheers of the Crowd as Lil Langdon Walton
- The Perfect Clue as Ursula Chesebrough
1934
- Night Alarm as Mrs. Elizabeth Van Dusen
- Two Heads on a Pillow as Mrs. Agnes Walker
- Money Means Nothing as Mrs. Ferris
- Ever Since Eve as Mrs. Vandergrift
- The Scarlet Letter as Innkeeper
- Badge of Honor as Mrs. Claire van Alstyne
- A Girl of the Limberlost as Mrs. Parker
1933
- Pilgrimage as Janet Prescot
- Only Yesterday as Mrs. Vincent (Uncredited)
- Before Midnight as Mavis Fry
1932
- Lena Rivers as Mathilda Nichols
- Back Street as Gossip (uncredited)
- Tom Brown of Culver as Dolores Delight
1931
- Stars of Yesterday as Self
1928
- Glorious Betsy as Princess Fredericka
- Sisters of Eve as Mrs. Wenham Gardner
- Into No Man's Land as The Countess
- Stolen Love as Modiste
- Domestic Troubles as Carrie
1927
- Snowbound as Julia Barry
- A Million Bid as Mrs. Gordon
- The Girl from Gay Paree as Mademoiselle Fanchon
1924
- The Spitfire as Jean Bronson
- In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter as Rita Sismondi
- Chu-Chin-Chow as Zahrat
- Folly of Vanity as Mrs. Ridgeway (modern sequence)
- Southern Love
1923
- The Truth About Wives as Helen Frazer
1922
- Fair Lady as Countess Margherita
- How Women Love as Rosa Roma
1921
- The Queen of Sheba as Queen of Sheba
- Charge It as Mille Garreth
- Disraeli
1920
- Nomads of the North as Nanette
- The Silver Horde as Mildred Wayland
- Occasionally Yours as Bunny Winston
- Burnt Wings as Helen
1919
- The Undercurrent as Mariska
- Beating the Odds as Hebe Norse
1918
- Over the Top as Madame Arnot