Ann Blyth

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Actress | Singer Born Ann Marie Blyth on Aug. 16, 1928 in Mount Kisco, NY

Ann Blyth began her vocal training as a child and was performing in radio and with an opera company at a young age. At 13, she was on Broadway with Paul Lukas in “Watch on the Rhine” and at 15 she was appearing in teen musicals at Universal Studios, including “The Merry Monahans” and “Chip Off the Old Block.” She earned a best supporting actress nomination for 1945’s film noir “Mildred Pierce” as the ambitious, ruthless Veda Pierce.

A back fracture halted her career momentum, but she had returned to the screen by 1947, appearing in dramas and comedies, including 1949’s “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid.” Blyth was cast in several musicals in the 1950s, including 1951’s “The Great Caruso,” 1954’s “Rose Marie” and “The Student Prince” and 1955’s “Kismet.” She retired from films after 1957’s “The Helen Morgan Story,” in which her operatic voice was over-dubbed by the pop singer Gogi Grant.

Blyth appeared in numerous TV series, including “Wagon Train,’ “The Twilight Zone” and ‘Murder, She Wrote” and toured the country performing in operettas and musicals. During the 1970s, she appeared with her daughters in a series of commercials for Hostess.

— Susan King for the Los Angeles Times June 28, 2010

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