Betty Blythe
Acting • Born 1893-08-31 – Died 1972-04-07
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.
Filmography
112 credits
Tuxedo Junction
Movie • 1941
Miss Hornblower
The Women
Movie • 1939
Mrs. South (uncredited)
Earl of Puddlestone
Movie • 1940
Millicent Potter-Potter
I've Been Around
Movie • 1935
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Movie • 1946
Customer (uncredited)
Slander
Movie • 1916
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Movie • 1947
Floor Manager (uncredited)
The Scarlet Letter
Movie • 1934
Innkeeper
Something in the Wind
Movie • 1947
Society Matron (uncredited)
Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat
Movie • 1944
Mrs. Manning
Gangster's Boy
Movie • 1938
Mrs. Davis
Hollywood Story
Movie • 1951
Herself
Percy
Movie • 1925
Lolita
The Spanish Cape Mystery
Movie • 1935
Mrs. Godfrey
Stars of Yesterday
Movie • 1931
Self
Crime Doctor
Movie • 1943
Mrs. Harrington
Southern Love
Movie • 1924
Dolores
Girls in Chains
Movie • 1943
Mrs. Grey
The Gorgeous Hussy
Movie • 1936
Mrs. Wainwright
Lena Rivers
Movie • 1932
Mathilda Nichols
She
Movie • 1925
Ayesha
The Perfect Clue
Movie • 1935
Ursula Chesebrough
Murder at Glen Athol
Movie • 1936
Ann Randel
Before Midnight
Movie • 1933
Mavis Fry
Freckles Comes Home
Movie • 1942
Minerva Potter
The Truth About Wives
Movie • 1923
Helen Frazer
A Fig Leaf for Eve
Movie • 1944
Lavinia Sardham
A Girl of the Limberlost
Movie • 1934
Mrs. Parker
Chu-Chin-Chow
Movie • 1924
Zahrat
Over the Top
Movie • 1918
Madame Arnot
Federal Fugitives
Movie • 1941
Marcia
Adventure
Movie • 1945
Mrs. Buckley (uncredited)
Sarong Girl
Movie • 1943
Miss Ellsworth
Romance of the Limberlost
Movie • 1938
Mrs. Parker
Delinquent Parents
Movie • 1938
Mrs. Wharton
Misbehaving Husbands
Movie • 1940
Effie Butler
Western Courage
Movie • 1935
Mrs. Hanley
Mr. Muggs Steps Out
Movie • 1943
The Undercurrent
Movie • 1919
Mariska
The Queen of Sheba
Movie • 1921
Queen of Sheba
In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter
Movie • 1924
Rita Sismondi
Letter from an Unknown Woman
Movie • 1948
Frau Kohner (uncredited)
Two Heads on a Pillow
Movie • 1934
Mrs. Agnes Walker
Shed No Tears
Movie • 1948
Mrs. Peet (Uncredited)
Money Means Nothing
Movie • 1934
Mrs. Ferris
Domestic Troubles
Movie • 1928
Carrie
Night Alarm
Movie • 1934
Mrs. Elizabeth Van Dusen
Life in Sometown, U.S.A.
Movie • 1938
Mrs. Himber (uncredited)
Hold That Kiss
Movie • 1938
Wedding Guest at Piermont's
Back Street
Movie • 1932
Gossip (uncredited)
Docks of New York
Movie • 1945
Mrs. Darcy
Cheers of the Crowd
Movie • 1935
Lil Langdon Walton
Ever Since Eve
Movie • 1934
Mrs. Vandergrift
Runaway Daughters
Movie • 1956
Party Guest (uncredited)
Stolen Love
Movie • 1928
Modiste
Sis Hopkins
Movie • 1941
Mrs. Farnsworth
Puddin' Head
Movie • 1941
Mrs. Bowser
Rainbow on the River
Movie • 1936
Flower Buyer (uncredited)
Espionage
Movie • 1937
Train Passenger
Glorious Betsy
Movie • 1928
Princess Fredericka
Yours for the Asking
Movie • 1936
May (uncredited)
Spotlight Scandals
Movie • 1943
Mrs. Baker
Madonna of the Desert
Movie • 1948
Mrs. Brown
Top Sergeant Mulligan
Movie • 1941
Mrs. Lewis
The Miracle Kid
Movie • 1941
Madame Gloria
House of Errors
Movie • 1942
Mrs. Martha Randall
Tom Brown of Culver
Movie • 1932
Dolores Delight
Piano Mooner
Movie • 1942
Society Woman
A Million Bid
Movie • 1927
Mrs. Gordon
Topper
Movie • 1937
Mrs. Goodrich (uncredited)
Our Wife
Movie • 1941
Minor Role (uncredited)
The Girl from Gay Paree
Movie • 1927
Mademoiselle Fanchon
Dawn on the Great Divide
Movie • 1942
Mrs. Elmira Corkle
The Undercover Woman
Movie • 1946
Cissy Van Horn
Bar 20
Movie • 1943
Mrs. Stevens
Honky Tonk
Movie • 1941
Mrs. Wilson
Luxury Liner
Movie • 1948
Miss Fenmoor (uncredited)
Disraeli
Movie • 1921
Charge It
Movie • 1921
Mille Garreth
My Fair Lady
Movie • 1964
Lady at Ball (uncredited)
Nomads of the North
Movie • 1920
Nanette
What Do You Think? (Number Two)
Movie • 1937
Snowbound
Movie • 1927
Julia Barry
Undercurrent
Movie • 1946
Saleslady (uncredited)
Presenting Lily Mars
Movie • 1943
Dowager
Joe Palooka, Champ
Movie • 1946
Mrs. Stafford
Beating the Odds
Movie • 1919
Hebe Norse
Jiggs and Maggie in Society
Movie • 1947
Mrs. Vacuum
Inflation
Movie • 1942
Next Door Neighbor Who Begins Hoarding (uncredited)
Only Yesterday
Movie • 1933
Mrs. Vincent (Uncredited)
Badge of Honor
Movie • 1934
Mrs. Claire van Alstyne
Sisters of Eve
Movie • 1928
Mrs. Wenham Gardner
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood
Movie • 1945
Mrs. Murdock (uncredited)
The Silver Horde
Movie • 1920
Mildred Wayland
How Women Love
Movie • 1922
Rosa Roma
Folly of Vanity
Movie • 1924
Mrs. Ridgeway (modern sequence)
Fair Lady
Movie • 1922
Countess Margherita
They Were Expendable
Movie • 1945
Officer's Wife (uncredited)
Burnt Wings
Movie • 1920
Helen
Pilgrimage
Movie • 1933
Janet Prescot
Into No Man's Land
Movie • 1928
The Countess
Occasionally Yours
Movie • 1920
Bunny Winston
The Spitfire
Movie • 1924
Jean Bronson
The Breath of Scandal
Movie • 1924
Sybil Russell
Miss Ambition
Movie • 1918
Edith Webster
His Wife's Husband
Movie • 1922
Olympia Brewster
The Business of Life
Movie • 1918
Elena Clydesdale
The Third Generation
Movie • 1920
Helen Van Dusen
The Green God
Movie • 1918
Muriel Temple
A Game with Fate
Movie • 1918
Elaine Huntington
The King of Diamonds
Movie • 1918
Lucille Bennett
Mother o' Mine
Movie • 1921
Fan Baxter