LIZABETH SCOTT BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
Lizabeth Scott was born September 29th, 1922 with the birth name Emma Matzo in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She had 5 other siblings and her parents had immigrated to the United States from Uzhgorod which we now know as Ukraine.
Lizabeth attended Central High School and after graduating she went to College at Marywood College. She also relocated to New York during the summer working with a small Manhattan summer stock company and went on to study at Alvienne School of Drama in New York. After some back and forth discussions of needding Scott to understudy actress Miriam Hopkins, she finally did get the chance to play the leading role of Sabina in a stage production. Shortly after Scott was at the Stork Club and it was there that she was discovered by Hal B. Wallis. When she returned home she received notice that she was being offered the lead for, "The Skin of Our Teeth".
It was from this Broadway Production that she was credited as Elizabeth, but too be different she dropped the 'E' and hence her stage name Lizabeth came to be. When Scott posed for a magazine shoot in Harper's Bazaar, she was spotted by a movie agent, Charles Fledman who was intriguerd by her look and offered to take Scott on as a client.
It was with Warner Brothers that Scott made her first screen test, which was not actually very good, but her potential was recognized and when they offered to sign her, they were too late as she had proceeed with Paramount Pictures.
Scott's film debut was on, "You Came Along" (1945) which starred Robert Cummings, Don DeFore, Julie Bishop, Charles Drake, Kim Hunter, Helen Forrest and Rhys Williams. Paramount was trying to make Scott comparable to Lauren Bacall and Veronica Lake. Scott was just as sexy with her look and husky voice. She starred next in, "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" (1946) starring with Van Heflin, Barbara Stanwyck, Judith Anderson, Darryl Hickman and Kirk Douglas, which was a financial success and continued to get cast in a series of noir thrillers. Even though she was a talented actress, she was never cast in very many sucessful films, many of her roles were forgotten.
Scott continued to work with an Independent Production Company that worked alongside Paramount releasing her next role, "Dead Reckoning" (1947) which was a moderate success. In 1948 Scott worked with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in, "I Walk Alone" (1948) and also starring Wendell Corey, however the plot was not a very good one and the film lacked any type of major success.
Scott worked oposite Humphrey Bogart in, "Dead Reckoning" (1947) and along with Bogie it starred Morris Carnovsky, William Prince, Marvin Miller, Wallace Ford and Robert Scott, and her portrayal of her character was quite well received. Even though she never really received the lead role to show off her talent, Scott continued to get cast in a variety of films such as, "Pitfall" (1948) with Dick Powell, Raymond Burr, John Litel, Ann Doran and Jane Wyatt, followed by, "Too Late For Tears" (1949) starring alongside Don DeFore, Dan Duryea and Arthur Kennedy, "Easy Living" (1949) with Lucille Ball, Victor Mature, Sonny Tufts, Art Baker, Jeff Donnell, Gordon Jones, Don Beddoe, Charles Lang, Richard Erdman, Paul Stewart, Lloyd Nolan and Jim Backus.
On October 20th, 1949, Lizabeth finally appeared in court to legally change her name to her chosen stage name.
Moving into the 1950's, Scott had appeared in over nine films but still was not getting the attention she deserved. She was never given the opportunity throughout her entire acting career to take on a more challenging role then her portrayal of a usiual good girl making a bad choice. However, she still was cast in role after role such as on the films, "Red Mountain" with Alan Ladd and Arthur Kennedy, "Two of a Kind" opposite Edmond O'Brien and Terry Moore, "The Racket" starring Robert Mitchum and Robert Ryan, (all 1951) and "Bad For Each Other" (1953) with Charlton Heston and Dianne Foster.
Scott's final film role was in, "Loving You" (1957) with Elvis Presley, Dolores Hart, James Gleason, Skip Young and Wendell Corey. She did do one very small part im a British film, "Pulp" (1972) with Michael Caine and Mickey Rooney but besides that her film career was for the most part over and she made a couple small appearances on television such as on, "Burke's Law" (1963).
When she completed her final film role she decided to put more effort into her music career and signed a recording contract with Vik, a subsidiary of RCA. She recorded an album In 1957 titled, "Lizabeth".
Lizabeth never married and had no children. She stayed moslty in retirement and declined interviews but she did make one stage appearance at the American Film Institute for a tribute to Hal Wallis in 1987.
Lizabeth did receive a variety of honors such as in 2001 being listed as one of the celebrity guests for the Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary special and she was also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to the Motion Picture Industry.
Filmography
1945 You Came Along
1946 The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
1947 Dead Reckoning
1947 Desert Fury
1947 Variety Girl
1948 I Walk Alone
1948 Pitfall
1949 Too Late for Tears
1949 Easy Living
1949 Family Theatre
1950 Paid in Full
1950 Dark City
1951 The Company She Keeps
1951 Two of a Kind
1951 Red Mountain
1951 The Racket
1952 Stolen Face
1953 Scared Stiff
1953 Bad for Each Other
1954 Silver Lode
1955 Studio 57
1955 The Eddie Cantor Comedy Theater
1956 The 20th Century-Fox Hour
1960 Adventures in Paradise
1963 Burke's Law
1965 The Third man
1957 The Weapon
1957 Loving You
1972 Pulp
