ANN BLYTH BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
Ann Blyth was born on August 16th, 1928 in Mount Kisco, New York with the birth name Ann Marie Blyth to parents Harry and Nan Blyth. When she was very young her parents divorced and she moved with her mother and sister to New York City. Growing up she attended a number of Catholic schools and grew interested in performing from a very young age.
She first attended Manhattan's Professional Children's School and had already gained some performance experience on radio as well as a number of soap dramas during her elementary school years.
Blyth was also a member of New York's Children's Opera Company and made her Broadway debut in 1941 on, "Watch on the Rhine" which she remained as a performer for two years. While she was on tour, a director with Universal Pictures, Henry Koster took notice of her and gave her a screen test. Ann was signed right away and made her film debut in, "Chip Off the Old Block" (1944) followed by a role in, "The Merry Monahans" (1944) and "Babes on Swing Street" (1944).
When Warner Brothers borrowed her from Universal to star in the film, "Mildred Pierce" (1945) her career began to really take off. Warner Brothers borrowed her for a second time to star in the film, "Danger Signal" (1945), however, she suffered an injury in a sledding accident and had to be replaced in the role. She was put in a wheel chair and had to wear a back brace for over a year and a half, however, he career was not stopped as Universal used her for a film called, "Brute Force" (1947) allowing her character to be in a wheel chair.
When Blyth recovered from her injury, Hollywood welcomed her back with a number of starring roles in such films as, "Swell Guy" (1946), "Killer McCoy" (1947) and "Another Part of the Forest" (1948). Even as she entered the mid 1950's, her career remained strong with more starring roles on such films as, "Our Very Own" (1950), "Thunder on the Hill" (1951), "The Great Caruso" (1951) and "Katie Did It" (1951).
In the Mid 50's, Blyth signed with MGM during the musical era and worked on just a couple films with them before the musical era came to an end and her career suffered greatly as she lost her contract with the studio in 1956. She was then cast in the film, "The Helen Morgan Story" (1957) which was a success, even though her signing voice was not up to par and was dubbed by a songstress, Gogi Grant.
She was not quite ready to give up acting though, so she began to center her focus more as a stage actress and every once in a while she would make a couple television appearances. Her final television appearances were on, "Quincy, M.E." (1976) and "Murder, She Wrote" (1984).
Ann Blyth married only once to Dr. James McNulty on June 27th, 1953 and they remained together having a total of five children all born in Los Angeles, California. Her husband passed away on May 13th, 2007.
Blyth was the recipient of the Living Legacy Award by the Women's International Center in 2003.
Filmography
1985 Murder, She Wrote
1979-1983 Quincy, M.E.
1975 Switch
1969 The Name of the Game
1965 Kraft Suspense Theatre
1964-1965 Burke's Law
1964 Twilight Zone
1959-1963 Wagon Train
1958-1963 The Christophers
1963 Saints and Sinners
1962 The Dick Powell Theatre
1960 The Citadel
1959 The DuPont Show with June Allyson
1957 The Helen Morgan Story
1957 The Buster Keaton Story
1957 Slander
1955 Kismet
1955 The King's Thief
1954 The Student Prince
1954 Rose Marie
1954 Lux Video Theatre
1953 All the Brothers Were Valiant
1952 One Minute to Zero
1952 Sally and Saint Anne
1952 The World in His Arms
1951 I'll Never Forget You
1951 The Golden Horde
1951 Thunder on the Hill
1951 The Great Caruso
1951 Katie Did It
1950 Our Very Own
1949 Free for All
1949 Once More, My Darling
1949 Top o' the Morning
1949 Red Canyon
1948 Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
1948 Another Part of the Forest
1948 A Woman's Vengeance
1947 Killer McCoy
1947 Brute Force
1946 Swell Guy
1945 Mildred Pierce
1944 Bowery to Broadway
1944 Babes on Swing Street
1944 The Merry Monahans
1944 Chip Off the Old Block
