Lizabeth Scott

Lizabeth Scott
Lizabeth Scott, 1947
Born	Emma Matzo (1922-09-29) September 29, 1922 Dunmore, Pennsylvania, US
Other names	Elizabeth Scott
Education	Alvienne School of Drama
Occupation(s)	Actress, singer, model
Years active	1942-1972
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)

Lizabeth Scott (born September 29, 1922) is a American film actress, known for her deep voice and smoky sensual looks. After performing the Sabina role in the first Broadway and Boston stage productions of The Skin of Our Teeth, she emerged internationally in such films as The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck, Dead Reckoning (1947) with Humphrey Bogart, Desert Fury (1948) with John Hodiak, and No Time for Tears (1949) with Don DeFore. No other actress has appeared in more film noirs.

Early life

She was born Emma Matzo in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, oldest of six children born to John Matzo (1895-1968) and Mary Matzo (1899-1981). In the 1940 US Census, the parents listed their birthplace as Austria (then Austria-Hungary). Reference works and interviews with Scott have given conflicting accounts of the ethnic origins of her parents. For example, historian Paul R. Magocsi described her parents as Rusyns. The family moved to the Pine Brook section of Scranton, where John Matzo owned a grocery store. Scott has described her father as a "lifelong Republican," which influenced her own capitalistic views. He was also community leader in all things cultural, especially music. This love of music would influence Scott's voice.

Scott's famous accent and diction began in first grade. Her parents sent her to weekly lessons at a local elocution school, held in "the living room of a Victorian house, where a Grande Dame would preside..." The depth of her voice she attributed to heredity as a younger sister, who became a New York model, had a similarly deep voice. In addition, she was given piano and singing lessons. As a young girl she wanted to be a journalist, then opera singer and finally an actress. When asked what was the best advice she was given, Scott replied, "I don't know, but I sure didn't take it." However, Scott mentioned adolescent favorites such as Ralph Waldo Emerson's Essays as having the greatest influence on her and Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past as her favorite book of all time.

Scott attended John Adams Elementary and Central High School (now Lackawanna College). She briefly attended Marywood College (now Marywood University), but quit. Mary Matzo wanted her daughter to become a journalist. But Scott said she would either become a stage actress—or a nun. Her mother relented. With her father's help, the 18 year old Scott went to New York City in 1941 and attended the Alvienne School of Drama in the Grand Opera House on 8th Avenue and 23rd Street. During this time, Scott studied Maxwell Anderson's Mary of Scotland, a play about Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I, from which she derived the stage name "Elizabeth Scott." She would later drop the "E" from Elizabeth.

Debut

After performing on the 1942 national tour of Hellzapoppin "as a chorus girl and sketch player," the 19 year old Scott returned to New York, where she joined the 52nd Street Stock Company Theatre, a summer stock company on the then equivalent of off-Broadway. Eventually, she starred as Sadie Thompson in John Colton's play Rain. Though no drama critic reviewed the play, one Broadway producer saw it.

Michael Myerberg just moved an experimental production from New Haven, Connecticut to the Plymouth Theatre. Impressed by Scott's Sadie Thompson, he hired her as the understudy for Tallulah Bankhead, despite Bankhead's protests. Bankhead was the star of Thornton Wilder's then new play, The Skin of Our Teeth. Bankhead had previously signed a contract forbidding an understudy for the Sabina role, which Myerberg breached when hiring Scott—rumors of an affair between the married Myerberg and the new understudy were rife. Scott has said that her fondest memory is when Myerberg told her, "I love you." But the two would eventually part.

Bankhead's ill-concealed contempt for Myerberg, originating with the New Haven production, was now exacerbated. Previously, Bankhead controlled the production by not showing up for rehearsal. Now Myerberg could simply put Scott in Bankhead's place. Describing her own experience with Bankhead, Scott recalled, "She never spoke to me, except to bark out commands. Finally, one day, I'd had enough. I told her to say 'please,' and after that she did."

The rivalry between the two actresses is cited as an alternative to the Martina Lawrence origin of Mary Orr's short story, The Wisdom of Eve, the basis of the 1950 film All About Eve. Broadway legend had it that Bankhead was being victimized by Scott, who was supposedly the real-life Eve Harrington. However during the seven months she was an understudy, Scott never had an opportunity to substitute for Bankhead, as Scott's presence guaranteed Bankhead's. Scott was cast as "Girl}Drum Majorette." Scott was 20 years old when the play opened. Though the play ran November 18, 1942–September 25, 1943, Scott left the production in March 1943.

Rise to fame

Hal Wallis

The continuing feud between Myerberg and Bankhead worsened her ulcer, leading her to not renew her contract. Anticipating Bankhead's move, Myerberg suddenly signed Miriam Hopkins in March. Caught off-guard, Scott quit in disappointment. Bankhead's final zinger to Scott was "You be as good as she (Hopkins) is." Scott's replacement as Sabina understudy was future femme fatale Gloria Grahame, who, similarly to Bankhead-Scott, never substituted for Hopkins.

Scott returned to her drama studies and some fashion modeling. Later that autumn, she received a call that Gladys George, who replaced Hopkins on August 16, 1943, was ill, and Scott was needed back at the theater. She went on in the leading role of Sabina, receiving a nod of approval from critics. The following night, George was out again and Scott went on in her place.

Meanwhile, Irving Hoffman, a New York press agent and columnist for The Hollywood Reporter, had befriended Scott and tried to introduce her to helpful people. On September 22, 1943, Hoffman held a birthday party at the Stork Club—Scott had turned 21. A Warner Brothers film producer, Hal Wallis, happened to be there while on his biannual visits to Broadway. Hoffman introduced Scott to Wallis, who arranged for an interview the following day. When Scott returned home, however, she found a telegram offering her the lead for the Boston run of The Skin of Our Teeth. Miriam Hopkins was ill. Scott sent Wallis her apologies, cancelling the interview. Scott recalled "On the train up to Boston, to replace Miss Hopkins, I decided I needed to make the name more of an attention-grabber. And that's when I decided to drop the 'E' from Elizabeth."

California

Lizabeth Scott in You Came Along.

Hopkins recovered in two weeks and Scott was back in New York. She returned to modelling. Later that year, a photographic spread of Scott in Harper's Bazaar was seen by film agent Charles Feldman. He admired the fashion poses and telegraphed Scott, inviting her to Los Angeles and stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel, all expenses paid.

On March 2, 1944, when Casablanca (1942) won the Best Picture Award at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Casablanca's producer, Hal Wallis, rose to accept the Academy Award, but the Warner family prevented him leaving the aisle of seats. Instead, the studio head, Jack Warner, accepted the award, while Wallis looked on helplessly. This incident would change the focus of Scott's career from stage to screen actress. During that same month, Scott made a five-day trip to Los Angeles and stayed at the hotel, where she was forgotten by Feldman for five weeks.

After reaching Feldman on the telephone, Scott was given a test script. Being a stage actress, Scott knew nothing about screen acting. Hal Wallis' sister, Minna Wallis, arranged for film director Fritz Lang to coach Scott. Her first screen test was at Universal, then at William Goetz's International Pictures. She was rejected by both studios. Then she tested at Warner Brothers. However, when Jack Warner saw the screen test, he also rejected Scott, who recalled that years later, when she attended parties at Warner's house, he never once mentioned the screen test. Hal Wallis, still at Warner, saw the test in a separate screening and recognized her potential. In a meeting Wallis told Scott, "If I could, I would put you under contract." But she did not believe him.

Unknown to Scott, years of infighting between Jack Warner and Wallis were about to climax. Under acrimonious circumstances, Wallis left Warner Brothers for Paramount Pictures. On the day that Scott was scheduled to leave for New York, Feldman rushed to the hotel and told her that Wallis had set up shop at Paramount. Scott finally got signed to a contract.

At the age of 22, Scott's film debut was in You Came Along (1945) opposite Robert Cummings. Production ran February 6-April 6, 1945. Despite Scott's initial difficulties with the director, John Farrow, she soon gained his respect with her performance and force of personality. The film opened in Los Angeles on August 2, 1945.

Paramount years

The Threat

Lizabeth Scott in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers.

In September 1945, Paramount public relations dubbed Scott "The Threat," which derived from a critic's description of Scott: "She's the Threat, to the Body, the Voice and the Look." Actresses Marie McDonald ("The Body") and Lauren Bacall ("The Look") were supposed to be threatened by Scott's arrival on the Hollywood scene. The moniker proved prophetic with Barbara Stanwyck, who, in a letter, objected about Scott's top billing in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946): "I will not be co-starred with any other person other than a recognized male or female star." Lawyers for Wallis and Stanwyck hashed it out. Eventually, the final billing ran Stanwyck, Van Heflin and Scott at the top, with newcomer Kirk Douglas in second place. But Wallis' interest in Scott became obsessive. The AFI page on Martha Ivers notes: "Director Lewis Milestone is quoted in an article in the Los Angeles Sun Mirror on 8 Dec 1946 as having said that he would never make another picture with producer Hal Wallis because Wallis wanted to reshoot scenes in this film for more close-ups of Lizabeth Scott; Milestone reportedly told Wallis to shoot them himself—which he did."

Wallis would continue to cast Scott in film noir thrillers, as Scott's sensuality and deep voice lent itself to the genre. Film historian Eddie Muller has noted that no other actress has appeared in so many noir films, with almost three-quarters of her 22 films qualifying. Like the later Elizabeth Taylor, Scott was one of those rare actresses that needed little makeup beyond lipstick. In Scranton, classmates would make fun of her naturally dark brows and tow-colored hair. The smoky blonde actress was initially compared to Bacall because of a slight facial resemblance, pin-curl bobbed hair and contralto voice, even more so after she starred with Bacall's husband, Humphrey Bogart, in the 1947 noir Dead Reckoning, where Bogart's character, Murdock, calls Dusty (Scott) the "Cinderella with the husky voice." Despite Scott's "breathy theatricality" and Bacall's "mannered toughness," when Bacall did the voice-over for a 1990s cat food commercial, some people thought it was Scott.

At the age of 25, Scott's billing and portrait were equal to Bogart's on the film's lobby posters and in advertisements. The film was the first of many femme fatale roles for Scott. In September of 1946, a Motion Picture Herald poll of exhibitors voted her the seventh-most promising "star of tomorrow."

Notable films

1940s

Arthur Kennedy and Lizabeth Scott in Too Late for Tears.

Possibly Scott's most famous film, Desert Fury (1947) was the second noir filmed in color. It starred John Hodiak, Burt Lancaster, Wendell Corey and Mary Astor. Based on Ramona Stewart's coming-of-age novel, Desert Town (1946), Astor played Fritzi Haller, a casino and bordello owner, who runs the corrupt town of Chuckawalla. Haller controls both the local judge and sheriff. Scott played Fritzi's daughter, Paula, who, on her expulsion from still another private school, returns home. She falls for gangster Eddie Bendix (Hodiak), and faces a great deal of opposition from everyone else. Generally panned by critics when it first appeared, it has been gaining critical praise and understanding in the passing years. Even the once ridiculed outfits of Scott's—by Edith Head with the colors the Southwest in mind—play a role in the continued fascination with the film. The male lead, John Hodiak, previously starred with Tallulah Bankhead in Lifeboat (1944).

In January of 1948, Scott was again paired with Lancaster, Corey and Douglas in Wallis' I Walk Alone (1948), a noirish story of betrayal and vengeance. Scott is Kay Lawrence, a torch singer who befriends a convict (Lancaster), back in New York after 14 years in prison to collect a debt from Kay's ex-boyfriend, played by Douglas. Both the Lancaster and Douglas characters compete for Scott's affections. The Kay Lawrence role was originally intended to be Kristine Miller's breakout role. But Scott wanted the role herself and went to Wallis, who bumped Miller down to a secondary role, a career pattern that would plague Miller till her retirement from acting. Douglas, while working with Lancaster on the film, noted: "Lizabeth Scott played the girl we were involved with in the movie. In real life she was involved with Hal Wallis. This was a problem. Very often, she'd be in his office for a long time, emerge teary-eyed, and be difficult to work with for the rest of the day."

Later in August of 1948, Scott starred in Pitfall (1948) with Dick Powell, Jane Wyatt and Raymond Burr. In post-war Los Angeles, Powell is a married insurance investigator, who is seduced by the very woman (Scott) he is supposed to be investigating. He competes for her affection with a voyeuristic detective (Burr). Soon everyone is enmeshed in a murderous, five-way relationship. The Burr character blackmails Scott to model various outfits in a private "fashion show," echoing Hal Wallis' own obsession with Scott's image in film and advertisments. He would insist that publicity stills of Scott be retouched, that the price of clothes modelled by Scott not be mentioned in print. Price was no object to a true star. This idée fixe was especially echoed by the fashion parade in Desert Fury

In July of 1949, Scott returned to the stage to star in the title role of Philip Yordan's play, Anna Lucasta, at the McCarter Theatre, Princeton, New Jersey." Almost simultaneously, a film shot the previous year was released. Scott starred as the ultimate femme fatale in Too Late for Tears, with Don DeFore, Dan Duryea, Arthur Kennedy and Kristine Miller. The story again takes place in post-war Los Angeles, where the facade of a typical married couple is shattered when someone by mistake throws $60,000 into their car. In an effort to keep the money, the wife, Jane Palmer (Scott), leaves a trail of bodies to the very end. This traditional black-and-white noir is widely considered Scott's best film and performance, eliciting praise even from the traditionally hostile New York Times. Though shooting took place mid-September to mid-October 1948 at Republic Pictures, the film was released July 8, 1949.

Finally, Scott decided to legalize her stage name. Having been known professionally as "Lizabeth Scott" for almost seven years, a judge granted on Wednesday, September 14, 1949, a request to legally change Emma Matzo to Lizabeth Scott, who was eight days from her 28th birthday. In November, Scott returned to the stage: "Lizabeth Scott, out of movies for the winter, opened at the East Hartford, Conn. theater in Anna Lucasta."

1950s

Lizabeth Scott in Paid in Full.

In 1950, Scott shifted dramatic gears in Paid in Full. Mousy Jane Langley (Scott), a department store illustrator, allows younger sister Nancy (Diana Lynn), a beautiful store model, to marry Bill Prentice (Robert Cummings), despite Jane's love for him. A few years later, Jane has an argument with Nancy, who catches Jane and Bill having an affair. Distraught, Jane backs up her car and accidentally kills the Prentices' child. The Prentices then divorce. Jane eventually marries Bill herself and gets pregnant, despite warnings from all around. Before Jane dies after giving birth, she gives the baby to her sister. In a film reminiscent of Stella Dallas (1937) and Mildred Pierce (1945), both Cummings and the noirish screenwriter, Robert Rossen, were out of their element—but the film succeeded surprisingly well. The makeup department, however, was not entirely successful in toning down Scott's looks, in contrast to the supposedly more glamorous sister.

Though Scott previously visited Britain in 1946 during a promotional tour of The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, she returned in 1952 to film Stolen Face (1952), a noir that presages Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) by several years. Paul Henreid is Dr. Philip Ritter, a London plastic surgeon, who upon losing the love of an American concert pianist, Alice Brent (Scott), recreates her face on a disfigured female criminal. They marry with disastrous results when Alice returns to England.

In April of 1953, Scott appeared in Scared Stiff, with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Scott played an heiress that inherits a haunted castle on an island off the coast of Cuba. Though Scott would recall fond memories of working on the set in the years ahead, at the time of filming she found it trying. Scott found Lewis' impersonations of her offensive, while a jealous Hal Wallis instructed the director, George Marshall, not to let the romantic scenes between Scott and Martin get too steamy. As Wallis' future wife Martha Hyer would later note, "Hal Wallis was a very possessive man." Despite Scott's best efforts, including making excuses for Lewis' behavior to the press, most of her scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.

That December, Scott appeared in Bad for Each Other (1953), set in her home state of Pennsylvania. In a story reminiscent of John O'Hara's Gibbsville saga, Scott is a Main Line divorcee, Helen Curtis, who tries to dominate a poor but idealistic physician, Tom Owen (Charlton Heston). Owen is a former Army doctor, who wishes to live in his coal-mining community and help the impoverished patients, but Helen tries to lure him into her jewelled world, instead.

In Scott's most overtly politically-themed film, Silver Lode (1954), she returned to the Western noir of Desert Fury, only in a traditional 19th century setting. Scott is a would-be bride, whose groom (John Payne) is the target of a lynch mob on their wedding day. Dan Duryea was cast as a villain named McCarty, a thinly veiled stand-in for Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy. The public response was muted as the film appeared immediately after the Army–McCarthy hearings.

While Scott was signed to Paramount, she was often on loan to other studios, as was the standard practice during the Studio system era. She worked with half of the eight major studios during the Golden Age of film. As a result, almost half her output and several of her best known films were with studios other than Paramount.

Critical reception

Though the response to Scott was generally favorable during the Paramount years, the most prominent film critic of the era, Bosley Crowther of the New York Times, was uniformly negative. When Crowther gave a bad review of When You Came Along, Scott recalled, "Being very young and naiive at the time, I didn't know you weren't suppose to do such things, so I called him up and complained. I told him how hard everyone worked to make such a beautiful movie, and I couldn't understand how he could be so cruel. I must say he took it awfully well, and was very kind to me."

Radio

During the Golden Age of Radio, Scott would reprise her film roles in abridged radio versions. Typical were her appearances on Lux Radio Theatre: You Came Along with Van Johnson in the Cummings role (July 1, 1946) and I Walk Alone (May 24, 1948). One notable radio performance was the Molle Mystery Theatre episode, Female Of The Species (June 7, 1946). Scott was also a guest host on Family Theater.

Confidential

Rushmore's story

After being fired from the New York Journal-American in 1954, Howard Rushmore became the managing editor of a New York scandal magazine, Confidential. For Rushmore it was a return to his days as film critic of the communist Daily Worker, but on the opposing side. He was fired from the Worker in 1939 for giving a good review of Gone With the Wind. Then in 1945 without divorcing his first wife, he married Frances McCoy, an editor at the anti-communist Journal-American. Sometime afterward, he began investigated the very industry that produced the films he once reviewed. He became a key witness in the House Un-American Activities Committee's 1947 hearings into communist influence in Hollywood. He testified against Edward G. Robinson, Charles Chaplin, Clifford Odets and Dalton Trumbo. Eventually, he would be seen dining with William F. Buckley and Roy Cohn at the Stork Club. Till the spring of 1953, he was director of research for Senator Joseph McCarthy. Then he left McCarthy's inner circle for a brief stay at the Journal-American. After being fired from the Journal-American, his mentor, Walter Winchell got him a job with Confidential.

In early 1955, several months after the Army–McCarthy hearings and premiere of Silver Lode, he wrote an exposé on Lizabeth Scott, a Republican and Catholic host of Family Theater. To verify some aspects of the story, the publisher, Robert Harrison, hired an out-of-work actress, Veronica "Ronnie" Quillan, to have luncheon with Scott. Quillan was to be bugged with a wristwatch microphone (Minifone) by the Hollywood Detective Agency. But the agency owner, H. L. Von Wittenburg, backed out and the plan never went through. He told Harrison over the telephone, "I think it stinks." Despite the lack of evidence, Confidential then sent a copy of the story to Scott herself.

What Scott read was that a police raid occurred on a Hollywood Hills bordello the previous autumn. The bordello was run in part by John Visciglia, a film studio accountant. The police found an address book with the names and telephone numbers of various people in the film industry, including two numbers allegedly belonging to Scott. However, "HO 2-0064" had a Hollywood "HO" prefix, while "BR 2-6111" belonged to the 20th Century Fox Research Library on 10201 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles. Scott lived in West Los Angeles from the late 1940s to 2012.

The article further stated that Scott spent her off-work hours with "Hollywood's weird society of baritone babes" (an euphemism for lesbians). The article also linked Scott to a Parisian woman named "Frede" (Frederique Baule), "that city's most notorious Lesbian queen and the operator of a night club devoted exclusively to entertaining deviates like herself." Baule managed "Carroll's," an ordinary nightclub open to the general public, featuring mainstream entertainers of the day like Eartha Kitt. One of the owners was Marlene Dietrich, who happened to be the subject of "The Untold Story of Marlene Dietrich" in the then current issue of Confidential.

Confidential would send the subjects of its stories copies as "buy-back" proposals. But instead of paying the magazine not to publish the article, Scott sued. "On July 25, 1955—two months before the issue's printed publication date, while the (Dietrich issue) was still on the stands, Jerry Giesler, Lizabeth's lawyer, instituted a $2.5 million libel suit."

Aftermath

In retaliation, Confidential published the Scott story in the next issue. In November of 1955, Scott again went to Britain to film The Weapon (1957). Though the shooting took place early November-early December 1955, the film was not released until 1956 in Britain and 1957 in the US.

Despite Giesler's reassurances to the press, the legal effort against Confidential would go nowhere. Since the magazine was domiciled in New York State, and Scott was a California resident who initiated the suit in her own state, the suit was stopped. "In March of 1956, Los Angeles Supreme Court judge Leon T. David granted the Confidential lawyers' motion to quash service of summons, on grounds that the magazine was not published in California." In a later trial involving 200 Hollywood actors, Rushmore testified that the magazine knowingly published unverified allegations, despite the magazine's reputation for double-checking facts: "Some of the stories are true and some have nothing to back them up at all. Harrison many times overruled his libel attorneys and went ahead on something." Ronnie Quillan herself testified at the same trial that she never verified the Scott story, thus not making the story "suit proof," but that Rushmore agreed to publish it anyway.

After completing Loving You in 1957, Elvis Presley's second film, Scott essentially retired from the big screen. Later that year, she recorded her album, Lizabeth. In 1958, the author of the Confidential story would shoot Frances McCoy and himself in a New York taxicab incident. But the damage to Scott's career was done.

Music

After completing her final major film role, Scott signed a recording contract with Vik Records (a subsidiary of RCA Victor) and recorded an album with Henri Rene and his orchestra (in Hollywood on October 28, 29 and 30, 1957). Simply titled Lizabeth, the 12 tracks are a mixture of torch songs and playful romantic ballads. The album includes Willow Weep For Me, Can't Get Out Of This Mood and Cole Porter's I'm In Love Again.

The recordings were arranged by George Wyle and Henri Rene, while Herman Diaz, Jr. produced and directed.

Later years

Fiancé

Lizabeth Scott in Burke's Law.

The 1960s saw Scott continuing to guest-star on television, including a notable 1963 episode of Burke's Law, "Who Killed Cable Roberts?" (1963), where she camps it up as the ungrieving widow of a celebrity big game hunter in the Hemingway mode. But much of her private time was dedicated to classes at the University of Southern California. Scott began taking summer courses on philosophy and political science at USC back in 1950.

In the spring of 1969, the engagement of Scott to oil executive William Dugger of San Antonio, Texas was announced. He was formerly married to the actress Mara Lane, sister of Jocelyn Lane. During the 1960s, Dugger and Scott would appear as items in gossip columns—they were seen at the Kowloon restaurant in Los Angeles, in England attending a pheasant shoot, then dressing up for a cocktail party, or vacationing in Acapulco. In late 1969, musician Rexino Mondo was helping Scott decorate her fiance's mansion on Mulholland Drive before the wedding: "The urns were in place. Liz took my arm and guided me down a hall into a large room, then introduced me to her fiance, Texas oil baron William Lafayette Dugger, Jr. He was in his late forties, of medium build, good-looking, with dark hair, a warm personality, and a strong handshake." Dugger himself described Scott as "A misunderstood soul searching for love. Her outward appearance is just a shell." Dugger planned to make a film in Rome starring Scott, but suddenly died on August 8, 1969. A handwritten codicil to his will leaving half his estate to his fiancée was contested by Dugger's sister, Sarah Dugger Schwartz. The will was judged invalid in 1971.

Previous to Dugger, at least three books claimed she was a mistress of Hal Wallis, then married to actress Louise Fazenda. But there was a falling out between Wallis and Scott sometime before and after Loving You, with recriminations on Wallis' part. Allegedly, when asked what happened to the "E" in Scott's first name, Wallis replied, "It was lost along with her talent." After Louise's death in 1962, Wallis went into a depression and became a recluse before marrying Martha Hyer in 1966. In later life and well as in his autobiography, he was reticent on the subject of Scott.

In the period between 1945 to the 1970s, Stewart Granger, Mortimer Hall (son of newspaper publisher Dorothy Schiff), Laurence Harvey and Burt Bacharach would also date Scott. According to Bacharach: "She personified what I love about a woman, which is not too feminine but a little bit masculine. Just the strength and the coolness and the separation from the frilly woman who is always touching you and wanting something...I think Diane Keaton had that kind of quality.”

Nostalgia

Scott made her final film appearance in Pulp (1972), a nostalgic pastiche of noirs starring Michael Caine and Mickey Rooney. Scott plays a man-eating cougar, Princess Betty Cippola, who lives with the Beautiful People on Malta. One of her ex-husbands is Preston Gilbert (Rooney), an expatriate Hollywood actor. Gilbert hires a pulp writer, Mickey King (Caine), to ghost his autobiography, but murderous complications ensue. The director, Mike Hodges, spent a long time coaxing Scott out of retirement to fly to Malta for the shooting. He reported that both Mickey Rooney and Scott were tiring to work with on the sets. Rooney was overly energetic and had to be shot on rehearsal as he never repeated himself. Scott was equally as tiring as she "hadn't make a picture in 15 years and I had to really coax her into coming back." But Hodges was pleased with their performances.

Since then Scott has kept away from public view and declined most interview requests. From the 1970s on, she has reportedly been engaged in real estate development and volunteer work for various charities, such as Project HOPE.

She did, however, appear on stage at an American Film Institute tribute to Hal Wallis in 1987. In 2001, she was listed as one of the celebrity guests for the Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special, which screened in the USA on CBS. She was photographed next to an image of herself on the poster for The Strange Love of Martha Ivers at the AMPAS Centennial Celebration for Barbara Stanwyck on 16 May 2007. She attended another screening of the film on June 28, 2010 as part of AMPAS's "Oscar Noir" series at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

In 2003, film historian Bernard F. Dick interviewed Scott for his biography of Hal Wallis. The results was an entire chapter titled "Morning Star." In the chapter, the author observed that during the interview, Scott (around 80 or 81) was still able to recite her opening monologue from The Skin of Our Teeth, which she had learned many decades earlier.

Lizabeth Scott has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to motion pictures at 1624 Vine Street in Hollywood.

Filmography

Titles with an asterisk are in the public domain.

No	Title	Year	Studio	Role	Director	Other cast members
1.	You Came Along*	1945	Paramount	Ivy Hotchkiss	John Farrow	Robert Cummings, Don DeFore
2.	The Strange Love of Martha Ivers*	1946	Hal Wallis Productions/ Paramount	Toni Marachek	Lewis Milestone	Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Kirk Douglas
3.	Dead Reckoning	1947	Columbia	Coral "Dusty" Chandler	John Cromwell	Humphrey Bogart
4.	Desert Fury	1947	Paramount	Paula Haller	Lewis Allen	John Hodiak, Burt Lancaster, Mary Astor, Wendell Corey
5.	Variety Girl	1947	Paramount	Herself	George Marshall	Mary Hatcher, Olga San Juan, DeForest Kelley
6.	I Walk Alone	1948	Paramount	Kay Lawrence	Byron Haskin	Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas
7.	Pitfall*	1948	United Artists	Mona Stevens	André De Toth	Dick Powell, Jane Wyatt, Raymond Burr
8.	Too Late for Tears*	1949	United Artists	Jane Palmer	Byron Haskin	Don DeFore, Dan Duryea, Arthur Kennedy, Kristine Miller
9.	Easy Living	1949	RKO	Liza "Lize" Wilson	Jacques Tourneur	Victor Mature, Lucille Ball, Sonny Tufts
10.	Paid in Full*	1950	Paramount	Jane Langley	William Dieterle	Robert Cummings, Diana Lynn
11.	Dark City	1950	Paramount	Fran Garland	William Dieterle	Charlton Heston, Viveca Lindfors, Dean Jagger, Don DeFore
12.	The Company She Keeps	1951	RKO	Joan Wilburn	John Cromwell	Jane Greer, Dennis O'Keefe
13.	Two of a Kind	1951	Columbia	Brandy Kirby	Henry Levin	Edmund O'Brien, Terry Moore
14.	Red Mountain*	1951	Paramount	Chris	William Dieterle	Alan Ladd, Arthur Kennedy, John Ireland
15.	The Racket	1951	RKO	Irene Hayes	John Cromwell	Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, William Talman
16.	Stolen Face	1952	Hammer/ Lippert	Alice Brent and Lily Conover (after surgery)	Terence Fisher	Paul Henreid, André Morell, Mary Mackenzie
17.	Scared Stiff	1953	Paramount	Mary Carroll	George Marshall	Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Carmen Miranda
18.	Bad for Each Other	1953	Columbia	Helen Curtis	Irving Rapper	Charlton Heston, Dianne Foster
19.	Silver Lode	1954	RKO	Rose Evans	Allan Dwan	John Payne, Dan Duryea, Dolores Moran
20.	The Weapon	1957	Republic	Elsa Jenner	Val Guest	Steve Cochran, Herbert Marshall
21.	Loving You	1957	Paramount	Glenda Markle	Hal Kanter	Elvis Presley, Wendell Corey
22.	Pulp	1972	United Artists	Princess Betty Cippola	Mike Hodges	Michael Caine, Mickey Rooney

External links

• Lizabeth Scott 1996 Interview Part 1 of 8, Soapbox & Praeses Productions
• Lizabeth Scott at IMDb
• Lizabeth Scott at the Internet Broadway Database