Ann Blyth, Golden Age Star of ‘Mildred Pierce,’ Dies at 98

Ann Blyth, a Golden Age of Hollywood actress who was Oscar-nominated for her work in “Mildred Pierce,” died Wednesday at her home in L.A., local reporter George Pennacchio confirmed.

She was 98.

Born August 16, 1927, in Mount Kisco, New York, Blyth's career began at the age of 6 as a singer, when Herbert Hoover was president. She jumped from local theater roles to Broadway, taking her first bows in “Watch on the Rhine” in 1941, when she was just 13.

The anti-Nazi play was so popular she was part of a command performance for President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House.

Touring with the play in L.A., she was signed to Universal following a screen test. She made a winning movie debut opposite Donald O'Connor in the musical “Chip Off the Old Block” (1944), quickly becoming known for light, comedic fare.

With 1945's “Mildred Pierce,” which she filmed at 16, she played against type as hard-working Mildred's sociopathic daughter Veda, holding her own in scenes opposite one of the Queens of Hollywood, Joan Crawford.

“I had a wonderful representative at that time,” she told The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg 13 years ago. “He was so certain that I was capable of doing that part, and so he went to the studio and said, ‘At least give her a test...’ I was the lucky one because Joan Crawford did the test with me, and it made a world of difference. People just didn't do that — not of her stature.”

Blyth's emotionally charged scene with Crawford in which daughter viciously belittles mother, slapping her when Mildred tears up an ill-gotten check, is one of the most famous in movie history. “You're cheap and horrible,” Crawford tells Blyth in the scene — and Blyth, in real life a devout Roman Catholic with a reputation for kindness, relished playing both.

She was honored with an Oscar nomination for her work in that film, and Crawford won her first and only statuette for what became one of the year's biggest hits and an iconic movie.

The night was a challenge for Blyth, who had broken her back immediately after filming ended. By the time she was appearing at the Oscars ceremony, she was out of her cast and wearing a brace that the studio concealed with a specially made gown.

Blyth struggled to repeat her critical success, though she appeared in many successful films, among them “Brute Force” (1947); “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid” (1948); the smash hit “The Great Caruso” (1951), opposite Mario Lanza; and the Vincente Minnelli-directed “Kismet” (1955).

She was praised for her work in the title role of “The Helen Morgan Story” (1957), but it was her last-ever feature film.

After that, she made just 22 TV appearances, though was also active in the theater and with a club act in Las Vegas when it was still an up-and-coming town.

On TV, she starred in one of the juiciest episodes of “The Twilight Zone,” 1964's “Queen of the Nile,” in which she played a mysteriously ageless Hollywood actress who mock-innocently asks a nosy reporter, “Is 38 terribly old?” In truth, her glamorous Pamela Morrison is ... older. Much older.

Other TV work included “Wagon Train” (1959-1963), “Switch” (1975), “Quincy, M.E.” (1979 & 1983), and her swan song, “Murder, She Wrote” (1985).

In the ‘70s, Blyth was a Hostess pitchwoman, assuring the public, “Freshness never tasted so good,” as she served her five children with Dr. James McNulty Twinkies and Crumb Cakes, “The light little cakes with the grown-up taste.”

Blyth was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. James McNulty (the brother of singer Dennis Day), in 2007. She is survived by their five children.