Betty Blythe on AllMovie

Formerly an art student at USC, Betty Blythe began her stage work in such tried-and-true theatrical pieces as So Long Letty and The Peacock Princess. After touring Europe and the States, Betty entered films in 1918 at the Vitagraph Studios in Brooklyn, then was brought to Hollywood's Fox Studios as a replacement for screen vamp Theda Bara. As famous for her revealing costumes as for her dramatic skills, Betty became a star in such exotic vehicles as The Queen of Sheba (1921) and She (1925). Her stage training served her well during the transition to talkies, but Ms. Blythe's facial features had matured rather quickly, and soon she was consigned to supporting roles. She spent most of the 1940s in touring companies of Broadway hits like The Man Who Came to Dinner and Wallflower, supplementing her income by giving acting and diction lessons. Betty Blythe's final screen appearance was a one-line bit in the Embassy Ball sequence in My Fair Lady (1964), in which she was lovingly photographed by her favorite cameraman from the silent days, Harry Stradling.