Ann Blyth, who earned an Oscar nomination playing Joan Crawford’s evil and deceitful teenage daughter in the classic 1945 melodrama “Mildred Pierce” and thrived in light and heavy roles during Hollywood’s Golden Age, died Wednesday at the age of 98, according to media reports.
Blyth, who trained as an opera singer and was comfortable in film musicals, dramas and even a farce in which she played a mermaid, died of natural causes, according to reports.
She made more than thirty films during a film career that lasted from 1944 to 1957. Blyth was only sixteen when she gave a tour de force performance in the film for which she is best remembered, ‘Mildred Pierce’. The film also gave temperamental cinema legend Crawford her only career Academy Award.
Blyth more than held her own on screen as Crawford’s status-seeking, spiteful and murderous daughter Veda, who competes with her mother for the same man, her stepfather, played by Zachary Scott. In one scene, Blyth punches Crawford in the face, causing her to fall down.
“Get out before I kill you,” an angry Crawford tells Blyth.
The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, whose other films include the classics ‘Casablanca’, ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’ and ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’.
“He had great faith in me, which in turn helped me,” Blyth told the Los Angeles Times in 2013 about Curtiz.
“She just blew everyone away,” film historian Alan Rode told the Times, referring to Blyth. “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 audiences and critics, earning an Oscar nomination for ‘best picture’. Crawford won the Oscar for Best Actress, while both Blyth and co-star Eve Arden were nominated for Best Supporting Actress but did not win.
Blyth’s career momentum was stunted after “Mildred Pierce,” when she suffered a broken back in a sledding accident.
Her versatility allowed her to star in musicals such as “Kismet” (1955) and “The Student Prince” (1954), spectacles such as “The Golden Horde” (1951), comedies such as “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid” (1948) starring William Powell, and dramas such as “One Minute to Zero” (1952) with Robert Mitchum.
The petite, 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) and Paul Newman in “The Helen Morgan Story” (1957), her last movie.
She had a beautiful soprano voice and performed on the opera stage early in her career.
Blyth was a natural for movie musicals, although for the songs in “The Helen Morgan Story,” the studio insisted on having her vocals dubbed with another singer.
She appeared occasionally in TV roles after his last film, including 1964’s ‘The Twilight Zone’ and ending with ‘Murder, She Wrote’ in 1985.
Ann Marie Blyth was born on August 16, 1928 in Mount Kisco, New York.
As a child she trained as a singer and actress. While touring a Broadway play in Los Angeles as a teenager, she had a screen test that led to her Hollywood career.
Blyth had five children with her husband James McNulty, who died in 2007.
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