Betty Blythe

Betty Blythe
Otto Rothschild

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Betty Blythe
Film: East side of the 1700 block of Vine Street
Actress
Born Elizabeth Slaughter on Sept. 1, 1893 in Los Angeles, CA
Died April 7, 1972 in Motion Picture and Television Country House, CA

Betty Blythe was the statuesque star of such silent film classics as "The Queen of Sheba" and "She."

The former $1 million-a-year actress created a sensation in 1921 in a scene as Sheba wearing ropes of pearls and nothing else.

The tall (5 feet, 8 1/2 inches) veteran of 63 silent movies and 56 talkies got her start in motion pictures when she visited the old Vitagraph Studios in New York and was asked if she could play a lead.

Her reply, "I can play that part better than any actress in the world," launched her long and colorful career.

Film successes in this country and Europe kept her fame and earning high through the '20s and at one time she bought and sold a section of what is now the Sunset Strip and reportedly made $3.5 million in the transaction.

The 1929 stock market crash, however, wiped her out financially. She reportedly lost $15 million in one day.

She appeared in such later films as "Disraeli," "The Dead End Kids," "The Women," "The Helen Morgan Story" and "Women Behind Bars." Her final acting assignment was in the 1964 production of "My Fair Lady."

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