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Lillian Roth | |
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.JPG) Roth in 1929. | |
| Born | Lillian Rutstein (1910-12-13)December 13, 1910 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | May 12, 1980(1980-05-12) (aged 69) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1917–1980 |
| Spouse(s) | William C. Scott (1931–1932; divorced) Benjamin Shalleck (1933–1939; divorced) Eugene Weiner (1940–1941; divorced) Edward Goldman (1942–1945; divorced) Thomas Burt McGuire (1947[1]: 298 –1963; divorced) |
Lillian Roth (December 13, 1910 – May 12, 1980) was an American singer and actress.
Her life story was told in the 1955 filmI'll Cry Tomorrow, in which she was portrayed bySusan Hayward, who was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Actress for her performance.
Roth was born on December 13, 1910, inBoston, Massachusetts, to Katie (née Silverman) and Arthur Rutstein, who were both Jewish.[2] At the age of six, Roth was taken by her mother toEducational Pictures, where she became the company's trademark, symbolized by a living statue holding a lamp of knowledge. In her 1954 autobiographyI'll Cry Tomorrow, Roth alleged that she had been molested by the man who had painted her as a statue. She attended theProfessional Children's School in New York City with classmatesRuby Keeler andMilton Berle.
In 1917, Roth made herBroadway debut as the character Flossie inThe Inner Man.[3] Her film debut occurred the following year, when she performed as an extra in the government documentaryPershing's Crusaders. She and her sister Ann also toured together during this period as Lillian Roth and Co., although at times they were billed as the Roth Kids. According to Roth's autobiography, one of the highlights of the tour was meeting U.S. presidentWoodrow Wilson, who attended the girls' vaudeville act and later allowed them to ride with him briefly in his chauffeur-driven car.
Roth entered the Clark School of Concentration in the early 1920s. She appeared inArtists and Models in 1923 andRevels withFrank Fay. The 13-year-old Roth lied to the show's producers, telling them that she was 19 years old.
In 1927, at the age of 17, Roth returned to Broadway to perform in the first of threeEarl Carroll Vanities, which was followed byMidnight Frolics, aFlorenz Ziegfeld production.
Roth signed a seven-year contract withParamount Pictures, where she appeared inThe Love Parade (1929) withMaurice Chevalier andJeanette MacDonald,The Vagabond King (1930),Paramount on Parade (1930),Honey (1930) (in which she introduced "Sing You Sinners"),Cecil B. DeMille'sMadam Satan (1930) withReginald Denny andKay Johnson,Sea Legs withJack Oakie and theMarx Brothers' second film,Animal Crackers (1930). She tookEthel Merman's stage role inthe film version ofTake a Chance, singing "Eadie Was a Lady". After leaving Paramount, Roth was cast by Warner Bros. in a supporting role in the 1933 women's prison filmLadies They Talk About starringBarbara Stanwyck.
Roth headlined thePalace Theatre in New York and performed in theEarl Carroll Vanities in 1928, 1931 and 1932.
During this time, Roth's personal life increasingly was overshadowed by heralcoholism. Although her parents were not stereotypical stage parents, as a response to their influence, Roth came to rely too much on other people. In her books and interviews, she said she was too trusting of husbands who made key decisions concerning her money and contracts.
Roth was out of the limelight by the late 1930s. Her personal and spiritual feelings led her to convert toCatholicism in 1948.[2] Friends accused her of forsaking Judaism; however, in her autobiography, Roth explained that although her parents had believed in God, she and her sister had not been brought up with a religious foundation.
In February 1953, Roth appeared on an episode of the television seriesThis Is Your Life, hosted byRalph Edwards, and related her story of alcoholism. As a result, she received more than 40,000 letters.
In 1962, Roth was featured asElliott Gould's mother in the Broadway musicalI Can Get It for You Wholesale, in whichBarbra Streisand made her Broadway debut. Despite the acclaim for Streisand, producerDavid Merrick realized that Roth's name still sold tickets, and he elevated her to top star billing after the show's opening, with Gould, Streisand andSheree North listed below. Roth remained with the show for its full run of 301 performances and recorded the cast album for Columbia Records.
In 1965, Roth was featured as Rose Brice (mother ofFanny Brice) in the national touring company ofFunny Girl (withMarilyn Michaels as Fanny), again receiving top billing. Her final Broadway appearance was in the short-lived musical70, Girls, 70.
Her theme song, which she began singing as a child performer, was "When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along)".
Roth wrote her autobiographyI'll Cry Tomorrow with author-collaboratorGerold Frank in 1954, and a softened version of the story became the basis of a hitfilm of the same title the following year, starringSusan Hayward, who was nominated for an Academy Award. The book became a bestseller worldwide and sold more than seven million copies in 20 languages, and the film renewed the public's interest in Roth. She recorded four songs for theCoral label (the first commercial recordings of her career), which were followed by an LP forEpic and another forTops. She also headlined a vaudeville revival at thePalace Theatre on Broadway. A highlight of her act was an imitation of Hayward's imitation of Roth singing "Red, Red Robin".
In 1958, Roth published a second book,Beyond My Worth, which was not as successful as its predecessor. Roth tried to reinvent herself as a major concert and nightclub performer. She appeared at venues inLas Vegas and New York'sCopacabana and was a popular attraction inAustralia.
Roth was married six times: to aviator William C. Scott (Willie Richards), Judge Benjamin Shalleck, Mark Harris, security salesman Eugene J. Weiner, Edward Goldman (Vic) and Thomas Burt McGuire. Before her marriages, she was engaged to David Lyons, who died of tuberculosis.[1]
She divorced her first husband, William C. Scott, in 1932 after 13 months of marriage.[5]
She married her second husband, Judge Benjamin Shalleck, in 1933. They met when he heard a case she had brought disputing a garage bill, in which he ruled against her. Claiming that he objected to her career, she obtained a divorce in California in 1939.
In 1947, she met McGuire, scion ofFunk and Wagnalls Publishing Company at anAlcoholics Anonymous meeting. McGuire managed Roth until September 1963, when he sent her a note stating that their marriage was finished.
In 1970, Roth lived inPalm Springs, California.[6] She returned to Broadway in 1971 in theKander and Ebb musical70, Girls, 70 and played a pathologist in the 1976 cult horror filmAlice, Sweet Alice. Her last film wasBoardwalk (1979) withLee Strasberg,Ruth Gordon andJanet Leigh. Roth's successful concert atThe Town Hall was released as an album by AEI Records after her death. One of her final appearances came in a club act at the New York nightclub Reno Sweeney.[citation needed]
After suffering a stroke at her New York apartment in February 1980, Roth died at age 69 on May 12 at De Witt Nursing Home in Manhattan.[2][7]
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