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)
Letter from an Unknown Woman
as Frau Kohner (uncredited)
(1948)
Madonna of the Desert
as Mrs. Brown
(1948)
Luxury Liner
as Miss Fenmoor (uncredited)
(1948)
Shed No Tears
as Mrs. Peet (Uncredited)
(1947)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
as Floor Manager (uncredited)
(1947)
Jiggs and Maggie in Society
as Mrs. Vacuum
(1947)
Something in the Wind
as Society Matron (uncredited)
(1946)
The Postman Always Rings Twice
as Customer (uncredited)
(1946)
Undercurrent
as Saleslady (uncredited)
(1946)
Joe Palooka, Champ
as Mrs. Stafford
(1946)
The Undercover Woman
as Cissy Van Horn
(1945)
They Were Expendable
as Officer's Wife (uncredited)
(1945)
Adventure
as Mrs. Buckley (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)
Girls in Chains
as Mrs. Grey
(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)
Spotlight Scandals
as Mrs. Baker
(1942)
Dawn on the Great Divide
as Mrs. Elmira Corkle
(1942)
Inflation
as Next Door Neighbor Who Begins Hoarding (uncredited)
(1942)
House of Errors
as Mrs. Martha Randall
(1942)
Freckles Comes Home
as Minerva Potter
(1942)
Piano Mooner
as Society Woman
(1941)
Honky Tonk
as Mrs. Wilson
(1941)
Our Wife
as Minor Role (uncredited)
(1941)
Federal Fugitives
as Marcia
(1941)
Tuxedo Junction
as Miss Hornblower
(1941)
The Miracle Kid
as Madame Gloria
(1941)
Sis Hopkins
as Mrs. Farnsworth
(1941)
Top Sergeant Mulligan
as Mrs. Lewis
(1941)
Puddin' Head
as Mrs. Bowser
(1940)
Misbehaving Husbands
as Effie Butler
(1940)
Earl of Puddlestone
as Millicent Potter-Potter
(1939)
The Women
as Mrs. South (uncredited)
(1938)
Gangster's Boy
as Mrs. Davis
(1938)
Hold That Kiss
as Wedding Guest at Piermont's
(1938)
Delinquent Parents
as Mrs. Wharton
(1938)
Life in Sometown, U.S.A.
as Mrs. Himber (uncredited)
(1938)
Romance of the Limberlost
as Mrs. Parker
(1937)
Topper
as Mrs. Goodrich (uncredited)
(1937)
Espionage
as Train Passenger
(1937)
(1936)
Murder at Glen Athol
as Ann Randel
(1936)
The Gorgeous Hussy
as Mrs. Wainwright
(1936)
Yours for the Asking
as May (uncredited)
(1936)
Rainbow on the River
as Flower Buyer (uncredited)
(1935)
Cheers of the Crowd
as Lil Langdon Walton
(1935)
Western Courage
as Mrs. Hanley
(1935)
The Spanish Cape Mystery
as Mrs. Godfrey
(1935)
The Perfect Clue
as Ursula Chesebrough
(1935)
(1934)
The Scarlet Letter
as Innkeeper
(1934)
Night Alarm
as Mrs. Elizabeth Van Dusen
(1934)
Two Heads on a Pillow
as Mrs. Agnes Walker
(1934)
Money Means Nothing
as Mrs. Ferris
(1934)
Badge of Honor
as Mrs. Claire van Alstyne
(1934)
A Girl of the Limberlost
as Mrs. Parker
(1934)
Ever Since Eve
as Mrs. Vandergrift
(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)
Glorious Betsy
as Princess Fredericka
(1928)
Sisters of Eve
as Mrs. Wenham Gardner
(1928)
Stolen Love
as Modiste
(1928)
Domestic Troubles
as Carrie
(1928)
Into No Man's Land
as The Countess
(1927)
Snowbound
as Julia Barry
(1927)
The Girl from Gay Paree
as Mademoiselle Fanchon
(1927)
A Million Bid
as Mrs. Gordon
(1925)
She
as Ayesha
(1925)
Percy
as Lolita
(1925)
Folly of Vanity
as Mrs. Ridgeway (modern sequence)
(1924)
In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter
as Rita Sismondi
(1924)
Chu-Chin-Chow
as Zahrat
(1924)
(1923)
The Truth About Wives
as Helen Frazer
(1922)
How Women Love
as Rosa Roma
(1922)
Fair Lady
as Countess Margherita
(1921)
Charge It
as Mille Garreth
(1921)
(1921)
The Queen of Sheba
as Queen of Sheba
(1920)
Nomads of the North
as Nanette
(1920)
The Silver Horde
as Mildred Wayland
(1920)
Burnt Wings
as Helen
(1920)
Occasionally Yours
as Bunny Winston
(1919)
The Undercurrent
as Mariska
(1919)
Beating the Odds
as Hebe Norse
(1918)
Over the Top
as Madame Arnot
(1916)