Betty Blythe

Born Elizabeth Blythe Slaughter in Los Angeles, she attended Westlake School for Girls and the University of Southern California. She adopted the name Betty Blythe when she and three other women posed for a photo shoot of the newest swim fashion, a bathing suit, which was considered daring at the time. Before film, she worked on stage in productions like So Long Letty and The Peacock Princess, and in vaudeville as the "California Nightingale," singing songs such as "Love Tales from Hoffman." Her film career began with an unbilled part in Bella Donna in 1915, and she rose to prominence after a leading role in A Game with Fate (1918).

Blythe was as famous for her revealing costumes as for her acting, starring in films like Chu-Chin-Chow (1923) and She (1925), and appearing alongside Lon Chaney in Nomads of the North (1920). She continued working into the 1960s, with a small uncredited role in My Fair Lady (1964). She married director Paul Scardon in 1919, and they remained together until his death in 1954. She reportedly made $3.5 million selling land that is now part of the Sunset Strip, but lost her fortune in the 1929 stock market crash. Blythe died of a heart attack in 1972 and is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the Betty Blythe Vintage Tearoom in London is named in her honor. She was 5'8" with brown hair and blue eyes.