There were several deaths to note in the past few days and weeks. The most notable recently was the passing of actress Ann Blyth, 98, known for many appearances in dramas and musicals during the studio era, but her greatest role may have been the one she got when she was only 16 years old. She played Veda Pierce in the 1945 film noir classic, Mildred Pierce, opposite Joan Crawford. It was the role of a lifetime playing one of the screen's greatest villains, and Blyth made the most of it. As far as I am concerned, she should have won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, although she, along with co-star Eve Arden, were indeed nominated (neither won). Her performance was one of the greatest supporting role performances in movie history. She played a character who was so rotten, it begs the question whether Joan Crawford's daughter Christina decided to emulate Veda in many respects.
Some, especially younger people, point out that the 1945 film wasn't faithful to the book, as Veda ended up with Monty Beragon (played in the film by Zachary Scott) and Mildred was much less sympathetic, but as far as I am concerned, the movie made a huge improvement on the book. The studio system had to deal with Hays Office and other censorship groups and therefore the book had to be "adapted," which it clearly states in the credits, but the filmmakers knew how to do it. Instead of a soap opera-type of film, they turned the film into a brilliantly shot, wonderfully scored (by Max Steiner) mystery classic. As an aside, there was a miniseries or something a few years ago that was more faithful to the book, but nobody remembers it or ever will.
Ann Blyth went against type as Veda. She always played goody-goody, wholesome roles. Indeed, in her life, she never had even a hint of scandal. She was long married to an obstetrician who happened to be the brother of singer and Jack Benny sidekick Dennis Day. That is about as wholesome as it gets. She had five children in all, and several of those children if not all of them were featured with her in the popular Hostess Twinkies ads in the 1970s. She was also an excellent singer, put to good use in musicals opposite the likes of Mario Lanza.
My favorite part of Mildred Pierce, after Veda managed to get an annulment from a husband she married for the money:
Ann Blyth and Joan Crawford were lifelong friends, but that haymaker was real. I bet Ann was crying after knocking her friend off her feet!
Anne Marie Blythe was born on Aug. 16, 1927, in Mount Kisco, N.Y., the younger of two daughters of Harry Blythe, a butler born in Bath, England, and Annie (Lynch) Blythe, known as Nan, who was born in County Meath, Ireland.
Her parents divorced soon after she was born, and she grew up in a Manhattan tenement while her mother did odd jobs to scrape by during the Depression.
She made an early start in show business, acting in radio plays when she was about 6, singing with the San Carlo Opera Company and attending the Professional Children’s School in Manhattan. There she was spotted by Herman Shumlin, the theater producer and director, who cast her as Paul Lukas’s daughter in Hellman’s “Watch on the Rhine” in 1941. It was Anne’s first and last Broadway play.
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In another obit from past few days, David Clayton-Thomas, 84, a UK-born singer best known for his work in the band Blood, Sweat & Tears after band founder Al Kooper decided to quit the group to move on to other projects, died a few days ago.
Snip:
Born David Henry Thomsett in Surrey, England, on September 13, 1941, Clayton-Thomas joined Blood, Sweat & Tears in 1968, following the departure of the band's original frontman Al Kooper. He landed the gig after folk singer Judy Collins heard him performing and told Blood, Sweat & Tears drummer Bobby Colomby about him.
With Clayton-Thomas singing lead, Blood, Sweat & Tears’ 1968 self-titled sophomore album became a huge hit, spending seven weeks on top of the Billboard Albums chart and winning the Grammy for album of the year in 1970, beating The Beatles’ Abbey Road.
The album spawned three hits: “You've Made Me So Very Happy,” “Spinning Wheel” and “And When I Die.” All three songs peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 13 weeks in that position.
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I completely missed this death from last month. Texas-based televangelist James Robison, 82, died in May. Early on, with the rise of the religious right, especially with he televangelists in national politics during the Reagan years, Robison was quite visible with his hellfire-style of preaching. However, he later toned down his act considerably because his wife, Betty, was upset he was not the man she married. Robison was still active in Republican politics and had been a friend of then-governor and later president George W. Bush, but he was way more low-key in his style and activities.
Robison was born in the charity ward of a Houston hospital on Oct. 9, 1943, according to biographical information on Life Today's website.
His biological mother was a victim of rape, and she placed an ad in the newspaper asking that a Christian couple take care of her son.
Robison was adopted by H.D. Hale and his wife, who raised him for the first five years of his life.
Then, when Robison was 5, his biological mother came to get him, and they moved to Austin for 10 years.
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