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 film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

s such as ''

The Queen of Sheba The Queen of Sheba ( he, מַלְכַּת שְׁבָא‎, Malkaṯ Šəḇāʾ; ar, ملكة سبأ, Malikat Sabaʾ; gez, ንግሥተ ሳባ, Nəgśətä Saba) is a figure first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. In the original story, she bring ...

'' (1921). She appeared in 63 silent films and 56 talkies over the course of her career.

Early life

She was born Elizabeth Blythe Slaughter in Los Angeles, where she attended

Westlake School for Girls Harvard-Westlake School is an independent, co-educational university preparatory day school consisting of two campuses located in Los Angeles, California, with approximately 1,600 students enrolled in grades seven through twelve. Its two predec ...

, and the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

. Betty had already shortened her name to Betty Blythe when she and three other women posed for a photo shoot of the newest swim fashion for women, a bathing suit. Prior to then, women were expected to wear stockings with full dresses or skirts into the water.

Career

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". In 1915, she had an unbilled part in '' Bella Donna'' for Famous Players Film Company. After her first

Vitagraph Studios Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907, ...

role in the 1917 vehicle, she was given a leading role in the studio's 1918 film ''A Game With Fate''. 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 She most commonly refers to: *She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English. She or S.H.E. may also refer to: Literature and films *'' She: A History of Adventure'', an 1887 novel by H. Rider Hagga ...

'' (1925). She was also seen to good advantage in less revealing films like ''

Nomads of the North ''Nomads of the North'' is a 1920 American drama film of the North Woods co-directed and co-written by David Hartford and James Oliver Curwood, and featuring Lon Chaney, Betty Blythe, and Lewis Stone. The film was based on Curwood's own 1919 n ...

'' (1920) with

Lon Chaney Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...

and ''

In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter ''In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter'' is a 1924 American silent comedy film, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, released through Associated First National Pictures, and directed by Alfred E. Green. A sequel of sorts, the Jewish ethnic comedy ...

'' (1924), produced by

Samuel Goldwyn Samuel Goldwyn (born Szmuel Gelbfisz; yi, שמואל געלבפֿיש; August 27, 1882 (claimed) January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-born American film producer. He was best known for being the founding contributor an ...

.Other roles were as an opera star, unbilled in Garbo's ''

The Mysterious Lady ''The Mysterious Lady'' (1928) is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer silent film romantic drama, starring Greta Garbo, Conrad Nagel, and Gustav von Seyffertitz, directed by Fred Niblo, and based on the novel ''War in the Dark'' by Ludwig Wolff. The film ...

''. 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 ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...

''.

Personal life

Blythe was married to the movie director

Paul Scardon Paul Scardon (6 May 1874 – 17 January 1954) was an actor, a producer, and a director on both Australian and New York stages. When he was 15, Scardon debuted on stage as a contortionist in vaudeville. He progressed from that to pantomime and t ...

from 1919 until his death in 1954. She reportedly made $3,500,000 when she sold a section of land that is now part of the Sunset Strip. She lost her fortune in the 1929 stock market crash. She died of a heart attack in

Woodland Hills, California Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Geography Woodland Hills is in the southwestern region of the San Fernando Valley, which is located east of Ca ...

in 1972, aged 78. She is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from 191,719 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth-larges ...

Awards and memorials

For her contributions to the film industry, Betty Blythe has a motion pictures star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif ...

located at 1708

Vine Street Vine Street is a street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California that runs north–south between Franklin Avenue and Melrose Avenue. The intersection with Hollywood Boulevard was once a symbol of Hollywood itself. The famed intersection fell into d ...

. Her name lives on through the Betty Blythe Vintage Tea Room in West Kensington, London, England.

Gallery

File:Belladonna-newspaper-scene-1915.jpg, '' Bella Donna'', L-R, L'Estrange, Blythe, Frederick File:Betty Blythe Queen of Sheba adjusted.jpg, ''Queen of Sheba'' File:Betty Blythe - The Queen of Sheba - Movie Stars Postcard Set.jpg, ''Queen of Sheba'' poster File:Photoplay September 1921 - Betty Blythe.jpg, ''Photoplay'' cover File:Betty Blythe 2 - Dec 1919 Shadowland.jpg, ''Shadowland'' File:The Darling of the Rich (1922) - 1.jpg, ''Darling of the Rich'' advertisement

Filmography

References

External links

* * *
Betty Blythe
at Virtual History {{DEFAULTSORT:Blythe, Betty 1893 births 1972 deaths Actresses from Los Angeles American film actresses American silent film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Harvard-Westlake School alumni University of Southern California alumni 20th-century American actresses 20th Century Studios contract players