Betsy Blair

Betsy Blair began her career on stage in the early 1940s and, after a break for marriage and motherhood with her first husband, dancing legend Gene Kelly, made her film debut in "The Guilt of Janet Ames" (1947).

She went on to draw notice for her turn as a down-on-her-luck rich girl in "Another Part of the Forest" and as one of the mad women in "The Snake Pit" (both 1948). Blair, though, was perhaps best remembered for her sensitive portrayal of the plain schoolteacher who finds love with Ernest Borgnine in "Marty" (1955), for which she earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.

After separating from Kelly, Blair moved to Europe where she played another schoolteacher in Juan Antonio Bardem's "Calle Mayor" ("The Lovemaker") (1956). However, this time her character's attempts to realize a lasting romance came to naught. She acted in Michelangelo Antonioni's "Il Grido" ("The Outcry") (1957) and Claude Berri's "Marry Me, Marry Me" (1969), but for the most part remained content in a state of virtual retirement, from which she emerged periodically for projects like Tony Richardson's film version of Edward Albee's "A Delicate Balance" (1973), Costa-Gavras' "Betrayed" (1988) in which she starred as Tom Berenger's mother, and the CBS miniseries "Scarlett" (1994).

In 2001, the flame-haired actress re-emerged once again to play a key role in the film adaptation of "The Hours," starring Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore. She died of cancer on March 13, 2009 at the age of 85.