Born Lillian Rutstein on December 13, 1910 in Boston, Massachusetts, Lillian was six years old when her mother took her to Educational Pictures, where she became the company'
s trademark, symbolized by a living statue holding a lamp of knowledge. The following year
she made her Broadway debut in The Inner Man. Together with her younger sister Ann, she toured as "Lillian Roth and Co." when and wherever permitted by the Gerry Society. At seventeen, Lillian made the first of three Earl Carroll Vanities. This was soon followed by Midnight Frolics, a Flo Ziegfeld production.
she made her Broadway debut in The Inner Man. Together with her younger sister Ann, she toured as "Lillian Roth and Co." when and wherever permitted by the Gerry Society. At seventeen, Lillian made the first of three Earl Carroll Vanities. This was soon followed by Midnight Frolics, a Flo Ziegfeld production.
Her Ziegfeld performance led to Ernst Lubitsch's invitation to Hollywood for his musical The Love Parade (1929) with Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald. Then Paramount cast her in Honey (1930), in which she debuted her signature standard "Sing You Sinners." Other roles included Trixie in Cecil B. DeMille's Madam Satan (1930) and as Margaret Dumont’s daughter in the Marx Brothers' Animal Crackers (1930). She occasionally made films for other studios, such as Warner’s Ladies They Talk About (1933) with Barbara Stanwyck. Unfortunately, the sudden death of her fiancé in the early 30's devastated Lillian and fairly quickly led her to a lifetime of alcohol addiction.
While tragic endings were often the case with so many young actresses of the time, Lillian was eventually able to pull herself back up from the depths of alcoholism and mental illness when, in the late 40’s, she met and married former alcoholic T. Burt McGuire, Jr., who introduced her to AA. With his support, Lillian revived her career and began singing again, receiving glowing reviews and making a number of recordings.
Her searing autobiography “I'll Cry Tomorrow” (1954) was made into a hit film the following year starring Susan Hayward, who was nominated for an Academy Award. Lillian continued to work on and off, including stints on Broadway, until her death in 1980 due to a stroke.
The inscription on her marker in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Westchester County, New York, reads: "As bad as it was it was good."
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Publicity still for Madam SatanLillian Roth - What do you think - Allure?