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Betty Lynn
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Betty Lynn
Elizabeth Ann Theresa Lynn (August 29, 1926 – October 16, 2021) was an American actress. She played Thelma Lou, Deputy Barney Fife's girlfriend, on The Andy Griffith Show. During the 1940s and 1950s, she appeared in many films, including Sitting Pretty (1948), June Bride (1948), the original Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), and Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956). She also played a major role in an episode of the television series Little House on the Prairie.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1926, Betty Lynn was the only child of Elizabeth Ann (née Lynn) and George A. Dailey. Her father was a civil engineer, who worked as a municipal employee for Kansas City and later as a private contractor. Her mother, described as "an accomplished mezzo-soprano", taught Betty in her early childhood to sing and enrolled her in the Kansas City Conservatory of Music when she was only five years old. Prior to that, according to federal census records, her parents had separated and divorced before April 1930. Their marriage is reported to have been tumultuous, with allegations that her father once threatened to shoot her mother in the abdomen when she was pregnant, and that after Betty's birth, he made more threats that forced her mother on one occasion to hide in a locked closet to protect herself and her baby.
Following her mother's breakup with Dailey, young Betty had little personal contact with her father. She went with her mother to live with her mother's parents, Josie (née Hill) and George Andrew Lynn, who also resided in Kansas City. Betty's grandfather, a railroad engineer, effectively served as her father figure from then until his death in Sacramento, California in 1959.
When she was 17, Lynn auditioned to participate in United Service Organizations entertainment. At age 18 she was part of a USO tour in the China Burma India Theater during World War II. She realized the gravity of the situation when a Marine gave her a pistol saying, "You might need this."
Her activities on the tour included visiting patients in hospitals and singing requests from a repertoire of 725 songs, her primary mission to entertain and console wounded servicemen in military hospitals. She also met recently released prisoners of war from Rangoon, and she was told by a doctor, "Most of them will be out of their minds in six months."
Betty Lynn began her acting career in radio as a member of the cast on a daytime drama on a station in Kansas City.
On Broadway, she appeared in Walk with Music (1940), Oklahoma! (1943), and Park Avenue (1946). She was discovered in a Broadway production by Darryl F. Zanuck and signed to 20th Century Fox. A clause in her contract allowed the studio to drop her at six-month intervals, leading to recurring concerns for Lynn. She said, "I was a redhead with freckles and didn't have a bosom. I prayed so hard they’d keep picking me up."
Lynn made her film debut in the 1948 film Sitting Pretty, which won a Photoplay Gold Medal. That same year, she appeared in June Bride with Bette Davis followed by roles in Mother Is a Freshman (1949), Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), and Payment on Demand (1951).
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Betty Lynn
Elizabeth Ann Theresa Lynn (August 29, 1926 – October 16, 2021) was an American actress. She played Thelma Lou, Deputy Barney Fife's girlfriend, on The Andy Griffith Show. During the 1940s and 1950s, she appeared in many films, including Sitting Pretty (1948), June Bride (1948), the original Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), and Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956). She also played a major role in an episode of the television series Little House on the Prairie.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1926, Betty Lynn was the only child of Elizabeth Ann (née Lynn) and George A. Dailey. Her father was a civil engineer, who worked as a municipal employee for Kansas City and later as a private contractor. Her mother, described as "an accomplished mezzo-soprano", taught Betty in her early childhood to sing and enrolled her in the Kansas City Conservatory of Music when she was only five years old. Prior to that, according to federal census records, her parents had separated and divorced before April 1930. Their marriage is reported to have been tumultuous, with allegations that her father once threatened to shoot her mother in the abdomen when she was pregnant, and that after Betty's birth, he made more threats that forced her mother on one occasion to hide in a locked closet to protect herself and her baby.
Following her mother's breakup with Dailey, young Betty had little personal contact with her father. She went with her mother to live with her mother's parents, Josie (née Hill) and George Andrew Lynn, who also resided in Kansas City. Betty's grandfather, a railroad engineer, effectively served as her father figure from then until his death in Sacramento, California in 1959.
When she was 17, Lynn auditioned to participate in United Service Organizations entertainment. At age 18 she was part of a USO tour in the China Burma India Theater during World War II. She realized the gravity of the situation when a Marine gave her a pistol saying, "You might need this."
Her activities on the tour included visiting patients in hospitals and singing requests from a repertoire of 725 songs, her primary mission to entertain and console wounded servicemen in military hospitals. She also met recently released prisoners of war from Rangoon, and she was told by a doctor, "Most of them will be out of their minds in six months."
Betty Lynn began her acting career in radio as a member of the cast on a daytime drama on a station in Kansas City.
On Broadway, she appeared in Walk with Music (1940), Oklahoma! (1943), and Park Avenue (1946). She was discovered in a Broadway production by Darryl F. Zanuck and signed to 20th Century Fox. A clause in her contract allowed the studio to drop her at six-month intervals, leading to recurring concerns for Lynn. She said, "I was a redhead with freckles and didn't have a bosom. I prayed so hard they’d keep picking me up."
Lynn made her film debut in the 1948 film Sitting Pretty, which won a Photoplay Gold Medal. That same year, she appeared in June Bride with Bette Davis followed by roles in Mother Is a Freshman (1949), Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), and Payment on Demand (1951).
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