Somehow I missed this last week, but - Ann Blyth, who had one of the top 5 smiles to ever hit the silver screen, has passed at the age of 98.
I became aware of Blyth at the same time I became aware of the sheer magnificence that is Joan Crawford as an actor rather than a punchline when I watched Mildred Pierce back in college. In what is her most enduring role, the lovely Blyth played the absolute worst person as Crawford's b of a daughter. She is *stellar* in this movie.
The only other movies she starred in I think I've seen are Brute Force (great prison movie. Check it out.) and Kismet, which is worth seeing some time just for the visuals.*
But, once you've seen Blyth's Colgate smile, you do not forget it.
Blyth was very generous with TCM and was interviewed by Robert Osbourne. Here's a tribute TCM released.
*and by visuals I mean Blyth and Dolores Gray