Ann Blyth obit

Ann Blyth Dead: Oscar-Nominated ‘Mildred Pierce’ Actress Was 98

 

She was not on the list.

Ann Blyth, the actress of Hollywood’s Golden Age whose breakout came in 1945’s Mildred Pierce, has died. She was 98.

The Academy Award nominee “died peacefully of natural causes” on Wednesday, according to KABC’s George Pennacchio, who noted her passing comes two months before her 99th birthday.

Born Aug. 16, 1927 in Mount Kisko, New York, Blyth began performing on children’s radio shows at age 6, before landing her first Broadway role in Lillian Hellman’s Watch on the Rhine in 1941. While touring with the show in Los Angeles, she landed a contract with Universal Studios.

Making her onscreen debut in the 1944 teen musical Chip Off the Old Block, Blyth gave her breakout performance in Mildred Pierce (1945) as Veda Pierce, the scheming daughter of Joan Crawford’s titular character. The role earned 16-year-old Blyth an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Blyth went on to appear in such films as Killer McCoy (1947), Brute Force (1947), Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948), Our Very Own (1950) and The Great Caruso (1951), as well as episodes of Wagon Train, The Twilight Zone, Quincy M.E. and Murder She Wrote.

On stage, she starred in shows like The King and I, The Sound of Music and Show Boat.

Blyth is survived by her five children, whom she shared with late husband Dr. James McNulty, as well as 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

 

Filmography

Film

Year     Title     Role     Notes

1944    Chip Off the Old Block          Glory Marlow III       

The Merry Monahans Sheila DeRoyce         

Babes on Swing Street            Carol Curtis    

Bowery to Broadway  Bessie Jo Kirby          

1945    Mildred Pierce Veda Pierce Forrester  Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

1946    Swell Guy       Marian Tyler  

1947    Brute Force     Ruth   

Killer McCoy  Sheila Carrson

1948    A Woman's Vengeance            Doris Mead     Alternative title: The Gioconda Smile

Another Part of the Forest       Regina Hubbard         

Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid            Lenore the Mermaid   

1949    Red Canyon    Lucy Bostel    

Top o' the Morning      Conn McNaughton    

Once More, My Darling         Marita Connell           

Free for All      Ann Abbott    

1950    Our Very Own Gail Macaulay

1951    Katie Did It     Katherine Standish     

The Great Caruso        Dorothy Park Benjamin         

Thunder on the Hill     Valerie Carns   Alternative title: Bonaventure

I'll Never Forget You  Helen Pettigrew / Martha Forsyth       Alternative titles: The House in the Square (USA)

Man of Two Worlds

The Golden Horde      Princess Shalimar        Alternative title: The Golden Horde of Genghis Khan

1952    The World in His Arms           Countess Marina Selanova    

Sally and Saint Anne  Sally O'Moyne           

One Minute to Zero    Mrs. Landa Day         

1953    All the Brothers Were Valiant Priscilla "Pris" Holt    

1954    Rose Marie      Rose Marie Lemaitre  

The Student Prince      Kathie Ruder  

1955    The King's Thief         Lady Mary     

Kismet Marsinah        

1957    Slander            Connie Martin

The Buster Keaton Story        Gloria Brent   

The Helen Morgan Story        Helen Morgan Alternative titles are Both Ends of the Candle and

Why Was I Born?

Vocals dubbed by Gogi Grant

Television

Year     Title     Role     Notes

1954    Lux Video Theatre      Angela Episode: "A Place in the Sun"

1958–1963      The Christophers                     2 episodes

1959    The DuPont Show with June Allyson Martha Episode: "Suspected"

1959–1963      Wagon Train    Nancy Winters / Eve Newhope / Clementine Jones / Martha Barham / Jenny / Phoebe Tannen            5 episodes

1960    The Citadel      Christine          Television movie

1962    The Dick Powell Show           Lizzie Hogan  Episode: "Savage Sunday"

1963    Saints and Sinners       Edith Berlitz    Episode: "The Year Joan Crawford Won the Oscar"

1964    The Twilight Zone      Pamela Morris / Constance Taylor     Episode: "Queen of the Nile"

1964–1965      Burke's Law    Deidre DeMara

Valerie 2 episodes

1965    Kraft Suspense Theatre           Lady Mei         Episode: "Jungle of Fear"

1969    The Name of the Game           Kay Martin      Episode: "Swingers Only"

1975    Switch Miriam Estabrook       Episode: "Mistresses, Murder and Millions"

1979–1983      Quincy, M.E.   Velma Whitehead

Dorothy Blake 2 episodes

1985    Murder, She Wrote      Francesca Lodge         Episode: "Reflections of the Mind" (final appearance)

Radio appearances

Year     Program           Episode/source

1948    Lux Radio Theatre      A Woman's Vengeance

1952    Family Theater            The Presentation

1952    Lux Radio Theatre      Top o' the Morning

1953    Family Theater            The Finding in the Temple