Betty Lorraine

Biography

Betty Lorraine was born Betty Cornelia Mumford on June 10, 1912 in Hartford, Connecticut. When she was a child she took dancing lessons and danced with the Arnold Lamon ballet. After her parents divorced her mother took her to California. Betty attended the Berkeley Hall School in Beverly Hills. At the age of sixteen she made her film debut as an extra in None But The Brave. The beautiful brunette was offered a contract with Sam Goldwyn and became one of the Goldwyn Girls. She sometimes used the screen name "Lorraine Marshall". In January of 1930 she married James Huston, a wealthy broker. The couple divorced two years later. Her second marriage, to Melville Peterson, also ended in divorce. Betty had small roles in A Bedtime Story, Dancing Lady, and Cain And Mabel. Unfortunately by 1936 her acting career had stalled. She started working as a big band singer and appeared on numerous radio shows. Then she appeared on Broadway in the musical The Streets Of Paris. Betty impulsively married bandleader Charlie Barnet on November 21, 1938 after a two day courtship. Their marriage was annulled just forty- three days later. In 1940 she married her fourth husband singer Larry Stewart. She landed a bit part in the 1944 film Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves. Sadly she was suffering from severe depression. On September 29, 1944 she committed suicide by taking an overdose of barbiturates. Betty was only thirty-two years old. She was cremated and buried at Hollywood Forever cemetery in Los Angeles, California. Tragically her mother Bessie would also commit suicide in 1948.