Photo:Eyerman/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Eyerman/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Betta St. John has died at the age of 93.
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In the firstTarzanmovie in color,Tarzan and the Lost Safari,St. John played a survivor of an airline crash in the 1957 film. She returned to the franchise forTarzan the Magnificentin 1960.
St. John, who was also a singer and dancer, was married to English actor-singer Peter Grant from 1952 until his death in 1992. She lived in London for many years, making several movies in the U.K., including horror filmsCorridors of BloodandHorror Hotel.
“My last film,Horror Hotel, was sort of an embarrassment because I didn’t like horror movies,” she said in a2008 interview. “But I’m glad I did it because, apparently, it’s a cult film and very good in its way.”
Born to father George, an electrician, and mother, May, St. John said her parents put her in Saturday theater classes starting at age 7. She learned “dancing, singing and all the bits you do at an early age,” she recalled. “If the studios needed children, they contacted the theatrical schools.”
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After she appeared inDestry Rides Again, she played a dancer in the 1940Our GangshortWaldo’s Last Stand. In 1941, she had an uncredited part inMerle Oberon’sLydia. She had another uncredited role in the 1943 adaptation ofJane Eyre, starring Orson Welles andJoan Fontaine.
On her 16th birthday, she took the stage inRodgers and Hammerstein’s musicalCarousel, on Broadway, playing Louise, the daughter of the characters Billy Bigelow and Julie Jordan. St. John then continued with the show’s touring company.
In 1949, Rodgers and Hammerstein cast her as the innocent Liat alongside Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza inSouth Pacific, performing “Happy Talk” with hand gestures as Juanita Hall sang. Although St. John originated the role on stage, France Nuyen played the part in the 1958 film adaptation.
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Other notable movies she appeared in wereThe Robe, The Student Prince, The Law vs. Billy the Kid, High Tide at Noon, The Saracen Blade, The Snorkeland more.
In the early 1960s, St. John quit acting. “I thought my career was long enough, and I didn’t feel I was giving up very much at that point,” she said. “But I gave it up mainly because I wanted to stay home and raise the children, and my family was much more important to me.”
She added: “Very few actors, even if they’re extremely successful, can keep a family and marriage together, with a good career going, too. By that time, I had come to terms that I didn’t have the kind of acting ability that would keep on going forever.”
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St. John was inducted into the Hawthorne Hall of Fame in 2019. Her final years were spent living in England.
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source: people.com
