Theatre Register

Betsy Blair

Shows · Betsy Blair

Actor 1923–2009 On stage 1940–1960

Betsy Blair (born Elizabeth Winifred Boger; December 11, 1923 – March 13, 2009) was an American actress of film and stage, long based in London. Blair pursued a career in entertainment from the age of eight, and as a child worked as an amateur dancer, performed on radio, and worked as a model, before joining the chorus of Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe in 1940. There she met Gene Kelly; they were married the following year, when she was age 17 and divorced sixteen years later in 1957. After work in the theatre, Blair began her film career playing supporting roles in films such as A Double Life (1947) and Another Part of the Forest (1948). Her interest in Marxism led to an investigation by th…

On stage 4 productions, 20 years

1940 Panama Hattie 46th Street Theatre · Original · directed by Edgar MacGregor 501 perf.
1941 The Beautiful People Lyceum Theatre · Original 120 perf.
1951 King Richard II City Center · Revival · directed by Margaret Webster 15 perf.
1960 Face of a Hero Eugene Oneill Theatre · Original · directed by Alexander Mackendrick 36 perf.

Each row is a staging this name appears in the cast list of, read from the production record rather than from the person record. The person record names works instead, and a work cannot say which run somebody was in — that is how Elaine Stritch ends up filed under Show Boat 1927 when she was in the 1994 revival. No row here says what part was played, because no cast list records it.

In the literature5 passages

  • “I thought ‘Make It Another Old-Fashioned, Please’ was the most sophisticated song I had ever heard,” recalled Betsy Blair. “My impression of Ethel Merman was of this tornado on the stage. She was very tough with her equals and her bosses.” At the same time, Ethel was remarkably patient with Betty Hutton’s brash antics backstage. (Hutton…ebooks/Kellow, Brian/Ethel Merman_ A Life - Brian Kellow.txt
  • Hollywood success was also achieved by chorus girls June Allyson, Vera-Ellen, Lucille Bremer, Betsy Blair, and Doris Dowling.ebooks/Kellow, Brian/Ethel Merman_ A Life - Brian Kellow.txt
  • “I thought ‘Make It Another Old-Fashioned, Please’…” Betsy Blair, interview with author, December 12, 2005ebooks/Kellow, Brian/Ethel Merman_ A Life - Brian Kellow.txt
  • The lunch celebrating the end of shooting The Snake Pit: Betsy Blair peering around an unidentified man, Tola Litvak, his secretary Ann Selepegno, Olivia de Havilland and the uncredited screenwriter.ebooks/Laurents, Arthur/Original Story By_ A Memoir of Broadway and Hollywood - Arthur Laurents.txt
  • Betsy Blair, whom I knew back when she lived on Rodeo Drive married to Gene Kelly, had been living in London for a long time married to director Karel Reisz. I hadn't seen her in years, then saw her twice in one day in New York-the second time at a party where even before "Hello" she said, "I couldn't ask her. I like her too much." No tra…ebooks/Laurents, Arthur/Original Story By_ A Memoir of Broadway and Hollywood - Arthur Laurents.txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

What this page does not know

  • What this person played. No cast list we hold records a character against a performer.
  • Which of the credits above the roles on this record — actor — apply to. The roles sit on the person and never on a credit, so a director who also acted looks the same here as one who did not.

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