Betsy Palmer (1926 - 2015)

Palmer was born Patricia Betsy Hrunek in East Chicago, Indiana, the daughter of Marie (née Love), who launched the Chicago Business College, and Rudolph Vincent Hrunek, an industrial chemist who was an immigrant from Czechoslovakia. She graduated from DePaul University, where she studied theater. Palmer married Dr. Vincent J. Merendino on May 8, 1954; the […]

Betsy von Furstenberg (1931 - 2015)

Betsy von Furstenberg was born Elizabeth Caroline Maria Agatha Felicitas Therese, Freiin von Fürstenberg-Herdringen in Arnsberg. Her parents were Franz-Egon, Graf (Count) von Fürstenberg-Herdringen (1896–1975) and his first wife, Elizabeth Foster Johnson (1899–1961), a native of Memphis, Tennessee. Her stepmothers were Gloria Rubio, Clara Ghyczy, and Joan Siegel. She has two half siblings from her father’s […]

Bette Davis (1908 - 1989)

Bette Davis At age ten her parents divorced and she was raised by her mother after a move to New York City. She began her career on Broadway. Bette Davis appeared in over 100 films receiving two Oscars, 10 nominations and three Emmy awards. A few of her major motion pictures: “Dangerous (Oscar winner) Jezebel […]

Bettie Page (1923 - 2008)

Bettie Page Page was born in Nashville, Tennessee, the second of six children to Walter Roy Page and Edna Mae Pirtle. At a young age, Page had to face the responsibilities of caring for her younger siblings. Her parents divorced when she was 10 years old. (In the 1930 Census, a few weeks before Bettie’s […]

Betty Bronson (1906 - 1971)

Betty Bronson Betty Bronson was born in Trenton, New Jersey, to Frank and Nellie Smith Bronson. She began her film career at the age of sixteen with a bit part in Anna Ascends. At seventeen, she was interviewed by J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan. Although the role had been sought by such established […]

Betty Balfour (1903 - 1977)

Actress. One of England’s most popular silent screen idols of the 1920s.  Nicknamed “The British Mary Pickford”,  she typically mixed comedy and pathos in her roles.  Her films include “Nothing Else Matters” (1920), “Squibs”(1921), “Mord Em’ly” (1922), “Wee MacGregor’s Sweetheart” (1922), “Squibs Wins The Calcutta Sweep” (1922), “Squibs M.P.” (1923), “Squibs’ Honeymoon” (1923), “Revelle” (1924), […]

Betty Bascomb (1914 - 2003)

Actress. Born in London, England, she began performing in traveling shows and made her film debut in “Bad Bascomb” (1946). Her other movies included “It Always Rains On Sunday” (1948), “Tread Softly” (1952), “Father Brown” (1954), “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (1956), Your Money Or Your Wife” (1960) and “Dr. Crippen” (1962),. She also […]

Betty Blue (1931 - 2000)

Actress/Model. She was the Playboy Playmate for the month of November 1956. She appeared in the films “Not Tonight Henry” (1961), as ‘Betty,’ and “Andy Warhol’s Women In Revolt” (1972), as ‘Pocahontas.’

Betty Blythe (1893 - 1972)

Actress. One of Hollywood’s earliest sex symbols. Born Elizabeth Blythe Slaughter in Los Angeles, she studied at USC and appeared on Broadway and the London stage before making her film debut in 1918. Two years later she signed with Fox Films as a replacement for screen vamp Theda Bara and became a very popular matinee […]

Betty Burbridge (1895 - 1987)

Actress, Screenwriter. She worked almost exclusively in westerns, from 1926 until the late 1940s. He movie credits include “The Night Riders” (1939) “Three Texas Steers” (1939) and “Pals of the Saddle” (1938). She wrote many scripts, mainly in the western genre. (bio by: MC)

Betty Comden (1917 - 2006)

Lyricist, Screenwriter. Born Elizabeth Cohen in Brooklyn. Along with her longtime collaborator Adolph Green, she wrote the lyrics and often the librettos for some of the most celebrated musicals of stage and screen. During a professional partnership that lasted for more than 60 years, and which finally ended with Adolph Green’s death in 2002, they […]

Betty Compson (1897 - 1974)

Compson began in silents with her first film in November 1915. She made 41 films in 1916 alone, although all of them were shorts for Al Christie with the exception of one feature Almost a Widow. She continued this pace of making numerous short films well into the middle of 1918 when after a long […]

Betty Driver (1920 - 2011)

At the age of 8, Betty Driver began performing professionally, forced by her mother to appear with Terence Byron Repertory Theatre Company.[4] She was singing for the BBC by the age of 10 and began touring across the UK in her first revue at the age of 12. While performing in London at the age […]

Betty Field (1913 - 1973)

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, to George and Katharine (née Lynch) Field, Betty Field began her acting career on the London stage in Howard Lindsay’s farce, She Loves Me Not. Following its run she returned to the United States and appeared in several stage successes, before making her film debut in 1939. Her role as Mae, […]

Betty Ford (1918 - 2011)

Betty Ford She was born Elizabeth Ann Bloomer in 1918 in Chicago, Illinois, the third child and only daughter of Hortense (née Neahr; July 11, 1884 – November 20, 1948) and William Stephenson Bloomer, Sr. (July 19, 1874 – July 18, 1934), who was a traveling salesman for Royal Rubber Co. She was called Betty as a child. Hortense and William married […]

Betty Francisco (1900 - 1950)

American stage and motion picture actress of the 1920s and 30s. The majority of her film work was in the silent era. (bio by: A.J. Marik)

Betty Friedan (1921 - 2006)

Author/Feminist.   Wrote “The Feminine Mystique” which became a best seller in the 1960s and laid the groundwork for the start of the modern feminist movement.  She died at her home of congestive heart failure on her 85th birthday. (bio by: The Perplexed Historian)  Family links:  Parents:  Harry M. Goldstein (1881 – 1943)  Miriam Goldstein […]

Betty Furness (1916 - 1994)

Elizabeth Mary “Betty” Furness was born in New York City, the daughter of wealthy business executive George Choate Furness and his wife Florence. Betty Furness made her stage debut in the school holidays in the title role of Alice in Wonderland. She also posed for commercial advertising. She began her professional career as a model […]

Betty Garrett (1919 - 2011)

Betty Garrett was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the daughter of Elizabeth Octavia (née Stone) and Curtis Garrett. Shortly after her birth, her parents relocated to Seattle, Washington, where her mother managed the sheet music department in Sherman Clay, while her father worked as a traveling salesman. His alcoholism and inability to handle finances eventually […]

Betty Grable (1916 - 1973)

Betty Grable During her lifetime, she would become one of the most prolific singing actresses of her time, starring in over one hundred films, including ‘Pin Up Girl’ and ‘How To Marry A Millionaire’. In 1929, the Grable family went on holiday to California, and Lilian, Betty’s Mother, decided that she and her daughter should […]

Betty Hutton (1921 - 2007)

Betty Hutton Ms. Hutton, a brassy, energetic performer with a voice that could sound like a fire alarm, had the lead role in the 1950 film version of Irving Berlin’s “Annie Get Your Gun” and a starring role in Cecil B. DeMille’s 1952 spectacular, “The Greatest Show on Earth.” She was known for her renditions […]

Betty Lago (1955 - 2015)

Brazilian Actress. Lago, born Elizabeth Lago Netto, was an actress known for numerous roles on television and film. She started her career as a model, but turned to acting, first on film and then television.  Lago’s first role was in “Dona Flor e seus dois maridos” (1976), but it was later cut out by the […]

Betty Lou Beets (1937 - 2000)

Born Betty Lou Dunevant to Margaret Louise Smithwick (April 20, 1917 – June 16, 1993) and James Garland Dunevant (September 15, 1912 – February 14, 2003), Beets was hearing-impaired since her childhood and claimed she was sexually abused by her father. According to her supporters, all of her marriages were also plagued with sexual abuse […]

Betty Lou Keim (1938 - 2010)

Actress. She made her name portraying rebellious teenagers in several 1950s films. Drawn to the theater early, she appeared on Broadway in Johnny Mercer’s 1949 “Texas Li’l Darlin’”, then made her television debut in “Doorway to Death”. Keim was seen on “Armstrong Circle Theater”, “Hallmark Hall of Fame”, “Philco Television Playhouse”, and had the recurring […]

Betty Midgley Furness (1916 - 1994)

Actress, Consumer Advocate, Commentator.  She was born Elizabeth Mary Furness in New York City the daughter of pioneering radio executive George Furness.  A child model starting at age 14, she was signed at 16 by RKO Studios to a film contract.  With a new name Betty, she appeared in some forty mostly B-melodramas in the […]

Betty Paul (1921 - 2011)

Actress, Screenwriter. She shall be remembered for co-creating the 1966 ITV series “Weaver’s Green”. Born Betty Percheron, she took to the stage early and quit school at 14 to persue a theatrical career. Betty made her debut at 15 as Adele in a production of “Jane Eyre” begining a long stage career, then joined CB […]

Betty Ross Clarke (1892 - 1970)

Betty Ross Clarke was born May Clarke on May 1, 1892, in Langdon, North Dakota, the daughter of Charles Willard Clarke and Cora Ross. Her maternal grandfather was Leonard F. Ross, a brigadier general in the American Civil War, and her maternal great-grandfather was Ossian M. Ross, a prominent pioneer settler in Illinois who founded […]

Betty Scott (1883 - 1955)

Actress. American motion picture figure and writer of the 1910s and 1920s. Appeared briefly during the 1940s and 1950s in film and television. Married to actor Sam Hardy. (bio by: A.J. Marik)

Betty White (1922 - 2021)

Betty White Betty White was born in Oak Park, Illinois, to Christine Tess (Cachikis), a homemaker, and Horace Logan White, a lighting company executive for the Crouse-Hinds Electric Company. She is of Danish, Greek, English, and Welsh descent. Although best known as the devious Sue Ann Nivens on the classic sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970) […]

Bettye Ackerman Jaffe (1924 - 2006)

Actress. She was a stage performer in the New York Theatre when she met and married actor Sam Jaffe in 1956. The two relocated to Hollywood and she made her film debut in “Face of Fire” (1959). Considered a great character actress, she was best known for appearing as a regular on many television series […]