Ann Blyth, 'Mildred Pierce' Oscar Nominee, Dies at 98
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Ann Blyth died peacefully of natural causes on Wednesday at age 98, two months before her 99th birthday, according to KABC's George Pennacchio
- Born Aug. 16, 1927 in Mount Kisco, New York, she was performing on children's radio at age 6 and made her Broadway debut at 14 in Lillian Hellman's 1941 play 'Watch on the Rhine'
- Her 1945 turn as the scheming daughter Veda opposite Joan Crawford in 'Mildred Pierce' earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress — when she was just 16
- After signing with Universal Studios, she built a six-decade career spanning film ('Brute Force,' 'The Great Caruso'), TV ('The Twilight Zone,' 'Murder, She Wrote'), and Broadway ('The King and I,' 'The Sound of Music,' 'Show Boat')
- She is survived by five children with late husband Dr. James McNulty, 10 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren
Why it matters: Blyth's death at 98 closes a career arc that began on children's radio at 6, peaked with a 1945 Oscar nomination at 16, and stretched across six decades of Broadway, film, and television — a trajectory that traces Hollywood's transition from the studio contract system through the TV age and into the Broadway-revival circuit.
