1893-08-31 Los Angeles, California, USA
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.
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My Fair Lady | Lady at Ball (uncredited) | 1964-12-01 |
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Runaway Daughters | Party Guest (uncredited) | 1956-01-20 |
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Hollywood Story | Herself | 1951-06-01 |
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Luxury Liner | Miss Fenmoor (uncredited) | 1948-11-09 |
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Shed No Tears | Mrs. Peet (Uncredited) | 1948-06-09 |
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Letter from an Unknown Woman | Frau Kohner (uncredited) | 1948-04-28 |
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Madonna of the Desert | Mrs. Brown | 1948-02-23 |
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Something in the Wind | Society Matron (uncredited) | 1947-07-21 |
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The Secret Life of Walter Mitty | Floor Manager (uncredited) | 1947-09-01 |
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Jiggs and Maggie in Society | Mrs. Vacuum | 1947-12-12 |
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Undercurrent | Saleslady (uncredited) | 1946-11-11 |
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Joe Palooka, Champ | Mrs. Stafford | 1946-05-26 |
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The Postman Always Rings Twice | Customer (uncredited) | 1946-05-02 |
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The Undercover Woman | Cissy Van Horn | 1946-01-01 |
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Adventure | Mrs. Buckley (uncredited) | 1945-12-28 |
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Docks of New York | Mrs. Darcy | 1945-02-24 |
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Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood | Mrs. Murdock (uncredited) | 1945-10-05 |
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They Were Expendable | Officer's Wife (uncredited) | 1945-12-07 |
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Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat | Mrs. Manning | 1944-05-20 |
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A Fig Leaf for Eve | Lavinia Sardham | 1944-07-04 |
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Spotlight Scandals | Mrs. Baker | 1943-09-24 |
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Crime Doctor | Mrs. Harrington | 1943-06-22 |
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Bar 20 | Mrs. Stevens | 1943-10-01 |
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Girls in Chains | Mrs. Grey | 1943-05-17 |
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Sarong Girl | Miss Ellsworth | 1943-06-11 |
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Presenting Lily Mars | Dowager | 1943-04-29 |
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Mr. Muggs Steps Out | 1943-10-29 | |
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Dawn on the Great Divide | Mrs. Elmira Corkle | 1942-12-18 |
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Inflation | Next Door Neighbor Who Begins Hoarding (uncredited) | 1942-01-01 |
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House of Errors | Mrs. Martha Randall | 1942-04-10 |
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Freckles Comes Home | Minerva Potter | 1942-01-02 |
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Piano Mooner | Society Woman | 1942-12-11 |
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Puddin' Head | Mrs. Bowser | 1941-06-25 |
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Top Sergeant Mulligan | Mrs. Lewis | 1941-10-16 |
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Our Wife | Minor Role (uncredited) | 1941-08-20 |
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Tuxedo Junction | Miss Hornblower | 1941-11-25 |
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The Miracle Kid | Madame Gloria | 1941-11-14 |
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Sis Hopkins | Mrs. Farnsworth | 1941-04-12 |
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Federal Fugitives | Marcia | 1941-03-29 |
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Honky Tonk | Mrs. Wilson | 1941-10-01 |
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Misbehaving Husbands | Effie Butler | 1940-12-20 |
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Earl of Puddlestone | Millicent Potter-Potter | 1940-08-31 |
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The Women | Mrs. South (uncredited) | 1939-09-01 |
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Hold That Kiss | Wedding Guest at Piermont's | 1938-05-13 |
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Life in Sometown, U.S.A. | Mrs. Himber (uncredited) | 1938-02-26 |
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Gangster's Boy | Mrs. Davis | 1938-11-16 |
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Delinquent Parents | Mrs. Wharton | 1938-07-15 |
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Romance of the Limberlost | Mrs. Parker | 1938-06-16 |
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Espionage | Train Passenger | 1937-02-26 |
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What Do You Think? (Number Two) | 1937-12-25 | |
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Topper | Mrs. Goodrich (uncredited) | 1937-07-16 |
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Rainbow on the River | Flower Buyer (uncredited) | 1936-12-18 |
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Yours for the Asking | May (uncredited) | 1936-07-23 |
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Murder at Glen Athol | Ann Randel | 1936-02-27 |
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The Gorgeous Hussy | Mrs. Wainwright | 1936-08-28 |
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Western Courage | Mrs. Hanley | 1935-10-29 |
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The Perfect Clue | Ursula Chesebrough | 1935-03-13 |
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Cheers of the Crowd | Lil Langdon Walton | 1935-08-05 |
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I've Been Around | 1935-03-05 | |
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The Spanish Cape Mystery | Mrs. Godfrey | 1935-10-09 |
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Badge of Honor | Mrs. Claire van Alstyne | 1934-04-01 |
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Ever Since Eve | Mrs. Vandergrift | 1934-03-25 |
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A Girl of the Limberlost | Mrs. Parker | 1934-10-14 |
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Two Heads on a Pillow | Mrs. Agnes Walker | 1934-10-02 |
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Money Means Nothing | Mrs. Ferris | 1934-06-14 |
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Night Alarm | Mrs. Elizabeth Van Dusen | 1934-12-10 |
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The Scarlet Letter | Innkeeper | 1934-09-18 |
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Pilgrimage | Janet Prescot | 1933-07-12 |
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Only Yesterday | Mrs. Vincent (Uncredited) | 1933-11-01 |
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Before Midnight | Mavis Fry | 1933-11-18 |
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Tom Brown of Culver | Dolores Delight | 1932-06-30 |
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Back Street | Gossip (uncredited) | 1932-08-04 |
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Lena Rivers | Mathilda Nichols | 1932-03-27 |
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Stars of Yesterday | Self | 1931-12-31 |
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Domestic Troubles | Carrie | 1928-03-28 |
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Glorious Betsy | Princess Fredericka | 1928-04-25 |
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Sisters of Eve | Mrs. Wenham Gardner | 1928-09-01 |
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Stolen Love | Modiste | 1928-12-02 |
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Into No Man's Land | The Countess | 1928-06-15 |
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The Girl from Gay Paree | Mademoiselle Fanchon | 1927-10-01 |
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A Million Bid | Mrs. Gordon | 1927-05-27 |
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Snowbound | Julia Barry | 1927-05-01 |
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Percy | Lolita | 1925-04-05 |
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She | Ayesha | 1925-06-20 |
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The Spitfire | Jean Bronson | 1924-05-04 |
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The Breath of Scandal | Sybil Russell | 1924-09-01 |
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Folly of Vanity | Mrs. Ridgeway (modern sequence) | 1924-12-21 |
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Southern Love | 1924-01-01 | |
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Chu-Chin-Chow | Zahrat | 1924-05-15 |
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In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter | Rita Sismondi | 1924-09-28 |
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The Truth About Wives | Helen Frazer | 1923-02-03 |
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How Women Love | Rosa Roma | 1922-10-15 |
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Fair Lady | Countess Margherita | 1922-03-19 |
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The Queen of Sheba | Queen of Sheba | 1921-04-10 |
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Charge It | Mille Garreth | 1921-06-11 |
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Disraeli | 1921-08-21 | |
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Nomads of the North | Nanette | 1920-09-25 |
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Occasionally Yours | Bunny Winston | 1920-09-19 |
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Burnt Wings | Helen | 1920-03-29 |
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The Silver Horde | Mildred Wayland | 1920-05-09 |
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Beating the Odds | Hebe Norse | 1919-05-12 |
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The Undercurrent | Mariska | 1919-11-16 |
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Over the Top | Madame Arnot | 1918-03-31 |
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Miss Ambition | Edith Webster | 1918-11-25 |
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Slander | 1916-04-09 |