Betty Lou Keim
{{Short description|American actress (1938–2010)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Betty Lou Keim
| image = Wallace Ford Betty Lou Keim The Deputy.jpg
| imagesize =
| alt =
| caption = Keim with Wallace Ford on The Deputy
| birth_date = {{birth date|1938|9|27}}
| birth_place = Malden, Massachusetts, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2010|01|27|1938|09|27}}
| death_place = Chatsworth, California, U.S.
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1949–1960
| spouse = {{marriage|Warren Berlinger|1960}}
| children = 4
}}
Betty Lou Keim (September 27, 1938 – January 27, 2010) was an American stage, film, and television actress.
Early life and career
Keim was born in Malden, Massachusetts, as the daughter of a choreographer and a dancer, and she grew up in New York from the age of five.{{cite news|title=Teen Ager on Broadway Finds Roses on Her Path|first=Lucile|last=Preuss|newspaper=The Milwaukee Journal|date=January 1, 1956|page=10}} She started getting dance lessons from her father at the age of six and later took voice lessons. Her stage debut followed at age seven under the direction of José Ferrer in Strange Fruit. After several stage parts, she debuted on Broadway, and she became most remembered for playing a mean-spirited girl in the play A Roomful of Roses in 1956. Her other work on Broadway included The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1953), Texas, Li'l Darlin' (1949), and Crime and Punishment (1947).{{cite web |title=Betty Lou Keim |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/betty-lou-keim-78010 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |accessdate=April 18, 2020 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418214435/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/betty-lou-keim-78010 |archivedate=April 18, 2020}}
Keim also acted on television, guest starring in numerous TV series. In 1953, she landed a co-starring role in the short-lived sitcom My Son Jeep.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/7207731/Lives-Remembered.html|title=Lives Remembered|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=February 10, 2010}}
Three years later, she made her film debut with a role alongside Barbara Stanwyck and James Cagney in These Wilder Years. The same year, she repeated her A Roomful of Roses role in its movie adaptation Teenage Rebel as Ginger Rogers' daughter. In 1957, she had a supporting role in 20th Century Fox's The Wayward Bus. The following year, she appeared in Some Came Running. When not acting, Keim attended the Lodge Tutoring School. Her final acting experience was on The Deputy, in which she starred as Fran McCord from 1959 to 1960.{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7|pages=252–253|edition=2nd}}
Personal life
Keim retired from acting in 1960 after marrying actor Warren Berlinger, with whom she had four children. She died at her home in Chatsworth, California, aged 71, from lung cancer.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-passings24-2010feb24-story.html|title=Actress Known for Rebel Roles|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=February 24, 2010}} She was interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery.[https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/betty-berlinger-obituary?id=22020648 Betty Berlinger]
Filmography
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | These Wilder Years | Suzie | |
| 1956 | Teenage Rebel | Dorothy 'Dodie' McGowan | |
| 1957 | The Wayward Bus | Norma, the counter girl | |
| 1958 | Some Came Running | Dawn Hirsh |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0445100}}
- {{Find a Grave|47951452}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keim, Betty Lou}}
Category:Actresses from Boston
Category:American television actresses
Category:Deaths from lung cancer in California
Category:People from Malden, Massachusetts
Category:American child actresses
Category:American film actresses
Category:American stage actresses
Category:Western (genre) television actors
Category:20th-century American actresses