Betsy Blair
Desert Island Discs: Archive 2005-2010
BBC
4.4 • 804 Ratings
🗓️ 12 June 2005
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sue Lawley's castaway this week is Betsy Blair. She was an actress in Hollywood during its heyday and is best known for her role in Marty, the Oscar-winning tale of a shy butcher and lonely teacher who, against the advice of friends and family, fall in love. She was barely 16 when she began her career as a dancer and it was while she was on her way to an early audition that she met Gene Kelly. She was still a teenager and he was 12 years her senior, but they were married and the couple set up home in one of Hollywood's most glamorous addresses - Rodeo Drive. They were known for throwing open their doors on Saturday night for star-studded parties; their guests included Tyrone Power, Judy Garland and Greta Garbo.
After 16 years, the marriage broke up and Betsy moved first to France then England where she met and married Karel Reisz, director of The French Lieutenant's Woman. She embraced a career in European films, working with celebrated directors including Juan Antonio Bardem and Michelangelo Antonioni. Her 1955 film Marty was shown again as one of the classic films at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, it's Nicola Cochlin. Young people have been making history for years, but we don't often hear about them. My brand new series on BBC Sounds sets out to put this right. In history's youngest heroes, I'll be revealing the fascinating stories of 12 young people who've played a major role in history and who've helped shape our world. Like Audrey Hepburn, Nelson Mandela, Louis Braille and Lady Jane Grey. |
| 0:24.7 | History's youngest heroes with me, Nicola Cochlin. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.7 | Hello, I'm Krista Young and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. |
| 0:35.6 | For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music. |
| 0:38.8 | The program was originally broadcast in 2005, |
| 0:42.3 | and the presenter was Sue Lawley. |
| 0:44.2 | Music My castaway this week is an actress. Born in New Jersey, 82 years ago, her life changed dramatically when at the age of 17 she married a New York nightclub choreographer. |
| 1:11.2 | His name was Jean Kelly. |
| 1:13.3 | Throughout the 1940s and early 50s, they led a merry dance in Hollywood. |
| 1:17.7 | In 1956, she landed her most famous role playing opposite Ernest Borgnine |
| 1:22.0 | in the Oscar-winning film Marty. |
| 1:24.5 | Her marriage to Kelly broke up, and always something of a free spirit, she took herself off to |
| 1:29.1 | Paris, where she appeared in rather different sorts of films being made by directors such as |
| 1:33.5 | Antonioni. She married again, this time to the British film director Carol Rice, and together |
| 1:38.9 | they moved to North London, where she's lived ever since. Outspoken, left wing, and very much the American |
| 1:45.7 | Europhile. Hers is a story of a strong, independent character, content to live in the shadow, |
| 1:51.8 | perhaps, of men she loved and respected. I just know the rest of my life was worth it, she says. |
| 1:58.0 | She is Betsy Blair. It's very rare Betsy in the 21st century to be able |
| 2:03.1 | to talk to somebody who was in Hollywood, in its heyday, you know, the sort of patriarchal |
| 2:08.0 | Hollywood where the studio was king and Rodeo Drive was a kind of village street. Was it as glamorous |
| 2:14.3 | as we tend to think it was? I think probably it was as glamorous. I just didn't see it that way because I had nothing to compare it with. But having all those people, I mean, you had regular Saturday night. You lived on Rodeo Drive. Yes, yes, yes. And you had Saturday night parties? Yes, and we had lots of famous, famous people, but they were all, |
| 2:37.7 | Jean was by then under contract to MGM and becoming a movie star, and it just seemed perfectly |
... |
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