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