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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Madonna of the Desert | Mrs. Brown | 1948-02-23 |
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Letter from an Unknown Woman | Frau Kohner (uncredited) | 1948-04-28 |
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Shed No Tears | Mrs. Peet (Uncredited) | 1948-06-09 |
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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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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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Joe Palooka, Champ | Mrs. Stafford | 1946-05-26 |
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Undercurrent | Saleslady (uncredited) | 1946-11-11 |
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They Were Expendable | Officer's Wife (uncredited) | 1945-12-07 |
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Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood | Mrs. Murdock (uncredited) | 1945-10-05 |
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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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A Fig Leaf for Eve | Lavinia Sardham | 1944-07-04 |
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Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat | Mrs. Manning | 1944-05-20 |
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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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Crime Doctor | Mrs. Harrington | 1943-06-22 |
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Spotlight Scandals | Mrs. Baker | 1943-09-24 |
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Girls in Chains | Mrs. Grey | 1943-05-17 |
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Bar 20 | Mrs. Stevens | 1943-10-01 |
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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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Piano Mooner | Society Woman | 1942-12-11 |
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Freckles Comes Home | Minerva Potter | 1942-01-02 |
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House of Errors | Mrs. Martha Randall | 1942-04-10 |
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Tuxedo Junction | Miss Hornblower | 1941-11-25 |
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Our Wife | Minor Role (uncredited) | 1941-08-20 |
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Puddin' Head | Mrs. Bowser | 1941-06-25 |
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Sis Hopkins | Mrs. Farnsworth | 1941-04-12 |
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Honky Tonk | Mrs. Wilson | 1941-10-01 |
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Top Sergeant Mulligan | Mrs. Lewis | 1941-10-16 |
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Federal Fugitives | Marcia | 1941-03-29 |
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The Miracle Kid | Madame Gloria | 1941-11-14 |
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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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Gangster's Boy | Mrs. Davis | 1938-11-16 |
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Life in Sometown, U.S.A. | Mrs. Himber (uncredited) | 1938-02-26 |
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Hold That Kiss | Wedding Guest at Piermont's | 1938-05-13 |
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Romance of the Limberlost | Mrs. Parker | 1938-06-16 |
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Delinquent Parents | Mrs. Wharton | 1938-07-15 |
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Espionage | Train Passenger | 1937-02-26 |
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Topper | Mrs. Goodrich (uncredited) | 1937-07-16 |
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What Do You Think? (Number Two) | 1937-12-25 | |
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Rainbow on the River | Flower Buyer (uncredited) | 1936-12-18 |
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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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Yours for the Asking | May (uncredited) | 1936-07-23 |
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The Perfect Clue | Ursula Chesebrough | 1935-03-13 |
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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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Western Courage | Mrs. Hanley | 1935-10-29 |
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Cheers of the Crowd | Lil Langdon Walton | 1935-08-05 |
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The Scarlet Letter | Innkeeper | 1934-09-18 |
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Night Alarm | Mrs. Elizabeth Van Dusen | 1934-12-10 |
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Two Heads on a Pillow | Mrs. Agnes Walker | 1934-10-02 |
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A Girl of the Limberlost | Mrs. Parker | 1934-10-14 |
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Badge of Honor | Mrs. Claire van Alstyne | 1934-04-01 |
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Money Means Nothing | Mrs. Ferris | 1934-06-14 |
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Ever Since Eve | Mrs. Vandergrift | 1934-03-25 |
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Before Midnight | Mavis Fry | 1933-11-18 |
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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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Lena Rivers | Mathilda Nichols | 1932-03-27 |
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Back Street | Gossip (uncredited) | 1932-08-04 |
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Tom Brown of Culver | Dolores Delight | 1932-06-30 |
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Stars of Yesterday | Self | 1931-12-31 |
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Into No Man's Land | The Countess | 1928-06-15 |
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Sisters of Eve | Mrs. Wenham Gardner | 1928-09-01 |
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Glorious Betsy | Princess Fredericka | 1928-04-25 |
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Domestic Troubles | Carrie | 1928-03-28 |
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Stolen Love | Modiste | 1928-12-02 |
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Snowbound | Julia Barry | 1927-05-01 |
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A Million Bid | Mrs. Gordon | 1927-05-27 |
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The Girl from Gay Paree | Mademoiselle Fanchon | 1927-10-01 |
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Percy | Lolita | 1925-04-05 |
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She | Ayesha | 1925-06-20 |
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Southern Love | 1924-01-01 | |
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Folly of Vanity | Mrs. Ridgeway (modern sequence) | 1924-12-21 |
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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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Fair Lady | Countess Margherita | 1922-03-19 |
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How Women Love | Rosa Roma | 1922-10-15 |
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Charge It | Mille Garreth | 1921-06-11 |
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Disraeli | 1921-08-21 | |
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The Queen of Sheba | Queen of Sheba | 1921-04-10 |
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The Silver Horde | Mildred Wayland | 1920-05-09 |
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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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Nomads of the North | Nanette | 1920-09-25 |
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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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Slander | 1916-04-09 |
