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