Betty Blythe
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1893-08-31
Day of Death
1972-04-07 (78 years old)
Place of Birth
Los Angeles, California, USA
Betty Blythe
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.
Known For
Acting
(1964)
My Fair Lady
as Lady at Ball (uncredited)
(1956)
Runaway Daughters
as Party Guest (uncredited)
(1951)
Hollywood Story
as Herself
(1948)
Madonna of the Desert
as Mrs. Brown
(1948)
Letter from an Unknown Woman
as Frau Kohner (uncredited)
(1948)
Shed No Tears
as Mrs. Peet (Uncredited)
(1948)
Luxury Liner
as Miss Fenmoor (uncredited)
(1947)
Jiggs and Maggie in Society
as Mrs. Vacuum
(1947)
Something in the Wind
as Society Matron (uncredited)
(1947)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
as Floor Manager (uncredited)
(1946)
The Undercover Woman
as Cissy Van Horn
(1946)
Undercurrent
as Saleslady (uncredited)
(1946)
The Postman Always Rings Twice
as Customer (uncredited)
(1946)
Joe Palooka, Champ
as Mrs. Stafford
(1945)
Adventure
as Mrs. Buckley (uncredited)
(1945)
They Were Expendable
as Officer's Wife (uncredited)
(1945)
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood
as Mrs. Murdock (uncredited)
(1945)
Docks of New York
as Mrs. Darcy
(1944)
A Fig Leaf for Eve
as Lavinia Sardham
(1944)
Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat
as Mrs. Manning
(1943)
Spotlight Scandals
as Mrs. Baker
(1943)
Bar 20
as Mrs. Stevens
(1943)
Crime Doctor
as Mrs. Harrington
(1943)
Presenting Lily Mars
as Dowager
(1943)
(1943)
Sarong Girl
as Miss Ellsworth
(1943)
Girls in Chains
as Mrs. Grey
(1942)
Piano Mooner
as Society Woman
(1942)
Dawn on the Great Divide
as Mrs. Elmira Corkle
(1942)
Inflation
as Next Door Neighbor Who Begins Hoarding (uncredited)
(1942)
Freckles Comes Home
as Minerva Potter
(1942)
House of Errors
as Mrs. Martha Randall
(1941)
Honky Tonk
as Mrs. Wilson
(1941)
Top Sergeant Mulligan
as Mrs. Lewis
(1941)
Federal Fugitives
as Marcia
(1941)
Puddin' Head
as Mrs. Bowser
(1941)
Tuxedo Junction
as Miss Hornblower
(1941)
The Miracle Kid
as Madame Gloria
(1941)
Our Wife
as Minor Role (uncredited)
(1941)
Sis Hopkins
as Mrs. Farnsworth
(1940)
Earl of Puddlestone
as Millicent Potter-Potter
(1940)
Misbehaving Husbands
as Effie Butler
(1939)
The Women
as Mrs. South (uncredited)
(1938)
Life in Sometown, U.S.A.
as Mrs. Himber (uncredited)
(1938)
Hold That Kiss
as Wedding Guest at Piermont's
(1938)
Gangster's Boy
as Mrs. Davis
(1938)
Romance of the Limberlost
as Mrs. Parker
(1938)
Delinquent Parents
as Mrs. Wharton
(1937)
Topper
as Mrs. Goodrich (uncredited)
(1937)
Espionage
as Train Passenger
(1937)
(1936)
Rainbow on the River
as Flower Buyer (uncredited)
(1936)
The Gorgeous Hussy
as Mrs. Wainwright
(1936)
Murder at Glen Athol
as Ann Randel
(1936)
Yours for the Asking
as May (uncredited)
(1935)
Western Courage
as Mrs. Hanley
(1935)
(1935)
The Spanish Cape Mystery
as Mrs. Godfrey
(1935)
Cheers of the Crowd
as Lil Langdon Walton
(1935)
The Perfect Clue
as Ursula Chesebrough
(1934)
Night Alarm
as Mrs. Elizabeth Van Dusen
(1934)
Ever Since Eve
as Mrs. Vandergrift
(1934)
Two Heads on a Pillow
as Mrs. Agnes Walker
(1934)
The Scarlet Letter
as Innkeeper
(1934)
Badge of Honor
as Mrs. Claire van Alstyne
(1934)
A Girl of the Limberlost
as Mrs. Parker
(1934)
Money Means Nothing
as Mrs. Ferris
(1933)
Only Yesterday
as Mrs. Vincent (Uncredited)
(1933)
Pilgrimage
as Janet Prescot
(1933)
Before Midnight
as Mavis Fry
(1932)
Lena Rivers
as Mathilda Nichols
(1932)
Back Street
as Gossip (uncredited)
(1932)
Tom Brown of Culver
as Dolores Delight
(1931)
Stars of Yesterday
as Self
(1928)
Domestic Troubles
as Carrie
(1928)
Into No Man's Land
as The Countess
(1928)
Glorious Betsy
as Princess Fredericka
(1928)
Stolen Love
as Modiste
(1928)
Sisters of Eve
as Mrs. Wenham Gardner
(1927)
A Million Bid
as Mrs. Gordon
(1927)
Snowbound
as Julia Barry
(1927)
The Girl from Gay Paree
as Mademoiselle Fanchon
(1925)
She
as Ayesha
(1925)
Percy
as Lolita
(1924)
(1924)
In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter
as Rita Sismondi
(1924)
Chu-Chin-Chow
as Zahrat
(1924)
Folly of Vanity
as Mrs. Ridgeway (modern sequence)
(1923)
The Truth About Wives
as Helen Frazer
(1922)
How Women Love
as Rosa Roma
(1922)
Fair Lady
as Countess Margherita
(1921)
(1921)
The Queen of Sheba
as Queen of Sheba
(1921)
Charge It
as Mille Garreth
(1920)
Nomads of the North
as Nanette
(1920)
Burnt Wings
as Helen
(1920)
Occasionally Yours
as Bunny Winston
(1920)
The Silver Horde
as Mildred Wayland
(1919)
Beating the Odds
as Hebe Norse
(1919)
The Undercurrent
as Mariska
(1918)
Over the Top
as Madame Arnot
(1916)