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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Rebecca | Mrs. Danvers | 1950-11-06 |
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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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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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Jiggs and Maggie in Society | Mrs. Vacuum | 1947-12-12 |
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The Secret Life of Walter Mitty | Floor Manager (uncredited) | 1947-09-01 |
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Something in the Wind | Society Matron (uncredited) | 1947-07-21 |
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The Undercover Woman | Cissy Van Horn | 1946-01-01 |
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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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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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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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Sarong Girl | Miss Ellsworth | 1943-06-11 |
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Mr. Muggs Steps Out | 1943-10-29 | |
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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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Crime Doctor | Mrs. Harrington | 1943-06-22 |
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Presenting Lily Mars | Dowager | 1943-04-29 |
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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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Dawn on the Great Divide | Mrs. Elmira Corkle | 1942-12-18 |
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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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The Miracle Kid | Madame Gloria | 1941-11-14 |
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Top Sergeant Mulligan | Mrs. Lewis | 1941-10-16 |
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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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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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Federal Fugitives | Marcia | 1941-03-29 |
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Earl of Puddlestone | Millicent Potter-Potter | 1940-08-31 |
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Misbehaving Husbands | Effie Butler | 1940-12-20 |
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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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Romance of the Limberlost | Mrs. Parker | 1938-06-16 |
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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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Delinquent Parents | Mrs. Wharton | 1938-07-15 |
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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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Espionage | Train Passenger | 1937-02-26 |
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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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Murder at Glen Athol | Ann Randel | 1936-02-27 |
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Rainbow on the River | Flower Buyer (uncredited) | 1936-12-18 |
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I've Been Around | 1935-03-05 | |
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The Perfect Clue | Ursula Chesebrough | 1935-03-13 |
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The Spanish Cape Mystery | Mrs. Godfrey | 1935-10-09 |
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Cheers of the Crowd | Lil Langdon Walton | 1935-08-05 |
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Western Courage | Mrs. Hanley | 1935-10-29 |
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Ever Since Eve | Mrs. Vandergrift | 1934-03-25 |
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The Scarlet Letter | Innkeeper | 1934-09-18 |
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A Girl of the Limberlost | Mrs. Parker | 1934-10-14 |
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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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Money Means Nothing | Mrs. Ferris | 1934-06-14 |
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Badge of Honor | Mrs. Claire van Alstyne | 1934-04-01 |
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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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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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Sisters of Eve | Mrs. Wenham Gardner | 1928-09-01 |
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Into No Man's Land | The Countess | 1928-06-15 |
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Stolen Love | Modiste | 1928-12-02 |
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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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Snowbound | Julia Barry | 1927-05-01 |
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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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She | Ayesha | 1925-06-20 |
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Percy | Lolita | 1925-04-05 |
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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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The Spitfire | Jean Bronson | 1924-05-04 |
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Southern Love | Dolores | 1924-01-01 |
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In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter | Rita Sismondi | 1924-09-28 |
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Chu-Chin-Chow | Zahrat | 1924-05-15 |
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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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His Wife's Husband | Olympia Brewster | 1922-05-14 |
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Mother o' Mine | Fan Baxter | 1921-06-05 |
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Disraeli | 1921-08-21 | |
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Charge It | Mille Garreth | 1921-06-11 |
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The Queen of Sheba | Queen of Sheba | 1921-04-10 |
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The Third Generation | Helen Van Dusen | 1920-01-05 |
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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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The Silver Horde | Mildred Wayland | 1920-05-09 |
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Burnt Wings | Helen | 1920-03-29 |
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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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The King of Diamonds | Lucille Bennett | 1918-10-14 |
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A Game with Fate | Elaine Huntington | 1918-06-03 |
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The Green God | Muriel Temple | 1918-09-02 |
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The Business of Life | Elena Clydesdale | 1918-04-18 |
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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 |
