Lizabeth Scott

Lizabeth Virginia Scott (born Emma Matzo; September 29, 1922 – January 31, 2015) was an American actress, singer and model for the Walter Thornton Model Agency, known for her "smoky voice" and being "the most beautiful face of film noir during the 1940s and 1950s".

In 1939, with her father's help, the 17-year-old Scott moved to New York City, where she stayed at the Ferguson Residence for Women.

In New York she was a model for the Walter Thornton agency.

Scott read 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 later dropped the "E".

In addition to stage and radio, she appeared on television from the late 1940s to early 1970s.

Emma Matzo (Ema Macová in Slovak) was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the oldest of six children born to Mary Penyak and John Matzo (Ján Maco in Slovak).

Several conflicting accounts have been given as to her parents' ethnic origins, with most mentioning English, Rusyn, Russian, and Ukrainian.

The family lived in the Pine Brook section of Scranton, where her father owned Matzo Market.

Scott characterized her father as a "lifelong Republican", which influenced her capitalistic views.

The love of music influenced Scott's voice.

Scott attended Marywood Seminary, a local Catholic girls' school.

She transferred to Scranton's Central High School, where she performed in several plays.

After graduating, she spent the summer working with the Mae Desmond Players at a stock theater in the nearby community of Newfoundland.

She then worked at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia.

That autumn, she attended Marywood College, but quit after six months.

In late 1940, an 18-year-old Scott auditioned for the national tour of Hellzapoppin.

From several hundred women, she was chosen by John "Ole" Olsen and Harold "Chic" Johnson, stars of the original Broadway production.

She was assigned to one of three road companies, Scott's being led by Billy House and Eddie Garr.

Landing her first professional job, she was billed as "Elizabeth Scott".

The tour opened November 3, 1940, at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut.

She did blackouts and other types of sketch comedy during her 18-month tour of 63 cities across the US.

Scott then returned to New York in 1942, where she starred as Sadie Thompson in John Colton's play Rain, which ran on the then equivalent of off-Broadway.

It was her first starring role, but no drama critic reviewed the play.

But the producer of a Broadway play, Michael Myerberg, did see the show.

Myerberg had just moved an experimental production of Thornton Wilder's new play The Skin of Our Teeth starring Tallulah Bankhead from New Haven to the Plymouth Theatre.

Impressed by Scott's Sadie Thompson, he hired her as the understudy for Bankhead, despite Bankhead's protests.

Bankhead had signed a contract forbidding an understudy for the Sabina role, which Myerberg breached by hiring Scott.

Previously, Bankhead had controlled the production by not showing up for rehearsal.

Now, Myerberg could simply put Scott in Bankhead's place.

Scott has acknowledged that Myerberg used her to keep Bankhead under control and that Bankhead was furious about the situation.

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."

During her eight months as the understudy, Scott never had an opportunity to substitute for Bankhead, as Scott's presence guaranteed Bankhead's. During her time with the production, Scott played the role of "Girl/Drum Majorette."

The play ran from November 18, 1942, to September 25, 1943.

After understudying the role of Sabina in the original Broadway and Boston stage productions of The Skin of Our Teeth, she emerged in such films as The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), Dead Reckoning (1947), Desert Fury (1947), and Too Late for Tears (1949).

Of her 22 films, she was the leading lady in all but three.

The rivalry between the two actresses is cited as an alternative to the Martina Lawrence-Elisabeth Bergner origin of Mary Orr's short story, The Wisdom of Eve (1946), the basis of the 1950 film All About Eve. Broadway legend had it that Bankhead was being victimized by Scott, who supposedly was the basis for the fictional Eve Harrington.

Rumors of an affair between the married Myerberg and the new understudy were rife.

Scott has said that her fondest memory was of Myerberg telling her, "I love you," but the two eventually parted.

The continuing feud between Myerberg and Bankhead worsened Bankhead's ulcer, leading her to not renew her contract.