Ann Blyth's Chart

American actress and singer nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Veda, the scheming, ungrateful daughter of Joan Crawford, in the 1945 film Mildred Pierce. Having performed from age five, Blyth was 17 when she made the film. Today she is one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema, and became the earliest living Academy Award nominee for acting upon the death of Angela Lansbury in October 2022. Anne Marie Blythe (she later dropped the "e" from her first and last names) was born to English-born Harry Blyth and Dublin-born Ann ("Annie" or "Nan") Blyth, nee Lynch. After her father left the family, Anne, her elder sister (Elizabeth "Dorothy" Blyth, born 23 July 1918, NYC) and their mother moved to New York City. Blyth performed on children's radio shows in New York for six years, making her first appearance when she was five. When she was nine, she joined the New York Children's Opera Company. Blyth's first acting role was on Broadway in Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine, 1941-1942. She played the part of Paul Lukas's daughter, Babette. After the New York run, the play went on tour, and while performing at the Biltmore Theatre in Los Angeles, Blyth was offered a contract with Universal Studios. She made her film debut in 1944, teamed with Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan in the teenager musical Chip Off the Old Block (1944). Her mother died in Los Angeles on 22 July 1946, and her father remarried, to Anne Marie Davidson, on 15 October 1946 in Manhattan, New York. Blyth was borrowed by MGM for The Great Caruso (1951) opposite Mario Lanza, which was a massive box-office hit. Also at MGM, Blyth had the lead in the remake of Rose Marie (1954) with Howard Keel, which earned over $5 million, but lost money due to high costs. From the late 1950s into the 1970s, Blyth worked in musical theatre and summer stock, starring in the shows The King and I, The Sound of Music, and Show Boat. She also appeared sporadically on television, usually in guest roles until her retirement in 1985. In Los Angeles on 27 June 1953, Blyth married obstetrician James Vincent McNulty, brother of singer Dennis Day, who had introduced them. The couple had five children, one in 1954, 1955, 1957, 1960 and 1963. Blyth was widowed when McNulty died on 13 May 2007 in La Jolla, California, aged 89.