BETSY BLAIR - ACTRESS BLAIR DIES

ACTRESS BLAIR DIES

Award-winning actress BETSY BLAIR has died at the age of 85.
Blair died on Friday (13Mar09) in London after suffering from a long illness, according to her daughter Kerry Kelly Novick.
The redheaded actress climbed to international fame playing Clara Snyder in the 1955 film adaptation of television play Marty, which earned her a BAFTA award for Best Foreign Actress in 1956 and Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.
At 17 years old, Blair married legendary actor Gene Kelly, Kerry's father. Details of their 16-year marriage were resurrected nearly five decades after their split, for the actress' 2003 memoir The Memory of All That.
In 1940, Blair made her Broadway debut dancing in the Cole Porter musical Panama Hattie. She later took the lead in Willliam Saroyan's play The Beautiful People and understudied the role of Laura in the Broadway production of The Glass Menagerie.
Blair also appeared in a handful of American films including 1948 movies Another Part of the Forest and The Snake Pit, and Kind Lady, in 1951, before she was banned from work for her political affiliations and placed on the infamous Hollywood blacklist.
She then moved to Paris and finally settled in London when roles dried up in the U.S., starring in European films including Calle Mayor, in 1956, Il Grido, in 1957 and All Night Long, in 1962.
One year later (63), Blair married director Karel Reisz, who died in 2002.
In addition to her daughter, she is survived by eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.