Monday, May 10, 2010

Ann Blyth




Blyth first acting role was on Broadway in Watch on the Rhine (from 1941 until 1942). She signed on with Universal Studios, and made her film debut in Chip Off the Old Block in 1944. In musical films such as Babes on Swing Street, and Bowery to Broadway (both 1944).

On loan to Warner Brothers, Blyth was cast as Veda Pierce, the scheming, daughter of Joan Crawford in the 1945 film Mildred Pierce. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.(Crawford won the Best Actress award for that film.)

Having injured her back after Mildred Pierce, she was still able to make a few more films. She played the part of Regina Hubbard in Another Part of the Forest, and was successful playing a mermaid in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid.


Her other films include : Our Very Own (with Farley Granger), The Great Caruso (with Mario Lanza), One Minute to Zero (with Robert Mitchum), The World in His Arms (with Gregory Peck), Rose Marie, The Student Prince, Kismet, The Buster Keaton Story, and The Helen Morgan Story (with Paul Newman). Even though her voice was more like the original Helen Morgan, her vocals were dubbed by Gogi Grant.

During the 1960s, Blyth worked in musical theater, summer stock, and television, including a starring role in a 1960, A. J. Cronin's The Citadel. She appeared as the character Martha in "Suspected" in December 1959 in the series The DuPont Show with June Allyson. Blyth also became the spokesperson for Hostess Cupcakes. Her most recent TV performances was in episodes of Quincy in 1983 and Murder, She Wrote in 1985.

Blyth has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to motion pictures at 6733 Hollywood Boulevard.

Blyth married James McNulty, brother of singer Dennis Day, in 1953. The couple had five children.



Anne Blyth Films:

1944 Chip Off the Old Block
The Merry Monahans
Babes on Swing Street
Bowery to Broadway
1945 Mildred Pierce
1946 Swell Guy
1947 Brute Force
Killer McCoy
1948 A Woman's Vengeance
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
1949 Red Canyon
Top o' the Morning
Once More, My Darling
Free for All
1950 Our Very Own
1951 Katie Did It
The Great Caruso
Thunder on the Hill
The Golden Horde
The House in the Square
1952 Sally and Saint
One Minute to Zero
The World in His Arms
1953 All the Brothers Were Valiant
1954 Rose Marie
The Student Prince
1955 The King's Thief
1956 Slander
1957 The Buster Keaton Story
The Helen Morgan Story

5 comments:

  1. It takes real talent and skill to play a character so evil or unlikable like Ann did in Mildred Pierce. But she did it and gave one of the best performances in film ever.

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  2. I didn't know Dennis Day had a brother.

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  3. I can not believe that I have only seen one Ann Blyth, movie. I also.. did not know Dennis Day had a brother.

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  4. Thunder on the Hill with Claudette Colbert is another great Ann Blyth movie. She plays a convicted murderess who is stranded with her guards at a convent. Colbert is a nun who becomes convinced Blyth is innocent and starts "investigating" by using old newspapers in the convent cupboard.

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  5. Gilby, I will look for, Thunder on the Hill. It has to be a great movie with Claudette Colbert, performing in it.

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