Lizabeth Scott: Film Noir Actress + Elvis Presley Leading Lady

Lizabeth Scott: Film noir star of the 1940s and 1950s + Elvis Presley leading lady

Lizabeth Scott, a Paramount star in the 1940s usually cast as film noir heroines, died on Jan. 31 in Los Angeles. Scott, born (as Emma Matzo) on Sept. 29, 1922, was 92. (See also: Lizabeth Scott photo.)

Among the two dozen film featuring Lizabeth Scott – whose hair-style and husky line delivery were clearly inspired by Paramount’s own Veronica Lake (along with Warner Bros.’ Lauren Bacall) – were the following:

• John Farrow’s You Came Along (1945), with Robert Cummings.
• Lewis Milestone’s The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), with Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, and Kirk Douglas.
• Desert Fury (1947), with Burt Lancaster.
• Dead Reckoning (1947), with Humphrey Bogart.
• Pitfall (1948), with Dick Powell.
• Dark City (1950), with Charlton Heston.
• The Racket (1951), with Robert Ryan and Robert Mitchum.
• The Company She Keeps (1951), with Jane Greer.
• Bad for Each Other (1954), also with Charlton Heston.

A couple of uncharacteristic Lizabeth Scott movies:

• Scared Stiff (1953), a remake of the Bob Hope-Paulette Goddard suspense-comedy The Ghost Breakers (1940), co-starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (and with Betty Hutton in a cameo).
• The Elvis Presley star vehicle Loving You (1957), also featuring Wendell Corey.

Also of note, Lizabeth Scott was involved in a scandal when Confidential magazine, the 1950s precursor of today’s tabloid rags, published a front-page story in its September 1954 issue. The magazine asserted that Scott was a lesbian whose name was found in “the little black books kept by Hollywood prostitutes.”

Scott sued Confidential, but lost due to a technicality.

Lizabeth Scott never married. Her last movie was the 1972 film noir spoof Pulp, with Michael Caine and Mickey Rooney.

Source for the Lizabeth Scott’s death notice: Los Angeles Times.