Ann Blythe, who earned an Oscar nomination for playing Joan Crawford’s malicious and deceitful teenage daughter in the 1945 classic melodrama “Mildred Pierce” and succeeded in light and heavy roles during Hollywood’s Golden Age, died Wednesday at the age of 98, according to media reports.
According to reports, Blythe, who trained as an opera singer and was comfortable in film musicals, drama and even a farce in which she played a mermaid, died of natural causes.
He made more than 30 films during his film career from 1944 to 1957. Blythe was only 16 years old when she gave an amazing performance in the film for which she is best remembered – “Mildred Pierce.” The film also gave a mind-boggling Cinema legend Crawford The only Academy Award of his career.
Blythe made her on-screen debut as Crawford’s status-seeking, obnoxious and murderous daughter Veda, who competes with her mother for the same man, her stepfather, played by Zachary Scott. In one scene, Blythe slaps Crawford in the face, causing her to fall down.
An angry Crawford told Blythe, “Get out before I kill you.”
The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, whose other films included the classics “Casablanca,” “The Adventures of Robin Hood” and “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”
“He had a lot of confidence in me, so that helped me,” Blythe told the Los Angeles Times in 2013 about Curtiz.
Film historian Alan Rohde told the Times, referring to Blythe, “She shocked everybody.” “It’s definitely Joan Crawford’s movie, but she’s really the backbone of the movie. She’s the epitome of the film noir daughter from hell. It’s just an amazing performance that stands the test of time.”
“Mildred Pierce” was a hit with the public and critics, and earned an Oscar nomination as Best Picture. Crawford won an Oscar as Best Actress, while Blythe and co-star Eve Arden were both nominated as Best Supporting Actress, but did not win.
Blythe’s career momentum was stunted after “Mildred Pierce” when she broke her back in a toboggan accident.
His versatility enabled him to shine in musicals such as “Kismet” (1955) and “The Student Prince” (1954), spectaculars such as “The Golden Hoard” (1951), comedies including “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid” (1948) co-starring William Powell, and dramas such as “One Minute to Zero” (1952) with Robert Mitchum.
The beautiful, brunette actress appeared alongside other top male stars including Burt Lancaster in “Brute Force” (1947), Mickey Rooney in “Killer McCoy” (1947), Bing Crosby in “Top o’ the Morning” (1949), Mario Lanza in “The Great Caruso” (1951), Gregory Peck in “The World in His Arms” (1952) Gave. Paul Newman in “The Helen Morgan Story” (1957), his last film.
She had a beautiful soprano voice and performed on the operatic stage early in her career.
Blythe was a natural for film music, although for the songs in “The Helen Morgan Story” the studio insisted on dubbing her vocals with another singer.
She appeared in occasional TV roles after her last film appearances, ending with “The Twilight Zone” in 1964 and “Murder, She Wrote” in 1985.
Ann Marie Blythe was born on August 16, 1928 in Mount Kisco, New York.
She trained as a singer and actress during her childhood. While touring with a Broadway play in Los Angeles as a teenager, she was given a screen test that led to her Hollywood career.
Blyth had five children with her husband, James McNulty, who died in 2007.
Leave a Reply