Ann Blyth Dead: Mildred Pierce Star and Her Family

Ann Blyth, the actress who earned an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Mildred Pierce and went on to appear in more than 30 films, died on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, of natural causes, according to KABC entertainment reporter George Pennacchio, who announced the news publicly on June 25. She was reported to be 98, though longstanding records from the Hollywood Walk of Fame and major outlets including Reuters and People list a 1928 birth year, which would make her 97, the discrepancy was unresolved as of the announcement.

She is survived by five children, Timothy, Maureen, Kathleen, Terence and Eileen, along with ten grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

From Broadway to Mildred Pierce

Blyth was born in Mount Kisco, New York, and began performing on radio as a young child. Her only Broadway credit was as Babette Muller in Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine, which ran for 378 performances between April 1941 and February 1942, according to the Internet Broadway Database. The touring production brought her to Los Angeles, where she signed with Universal.

Her film debut came in 1944 with Chip Off the Old Block, followed that same year by three more Universal releases. In 1945, Universal loaned her to Warner Bros. to play Veda Pierce, the calculating, emotionally ruthless daughter, opposite Joan Crawford's title character in Michael Curtiz's Mildred Pierce.

Blyth later recalled that Crawford herself appeared opposite her during the screen test, a decision that helped Blyth secure the part, as she described in a 2013 Los Angeles Times interview. Crawford's portrayal of Mildred won her the Academy Award for best actress at the 18th Academy Awards ceremony in 1946. Blyth was nominated for best supporting actress for the same film, alongside co-star Eve Arden. Mildred Pierce collected six Oscar nominations in total, including best picture, as confirmed by the Academy Museum's production record. The Library of Congress selected it for the National Film Registry in 1996.

After the Accident: Return Across Thirteen Years

Shortly after Mildred Pierce wrapped, Blyth suffered a broken back in a sledding accident and underwent a prolonged recovery. She returned to screens in 1947 in Brute Force alongside Burt Lancaster and Killer McCoy opposite Mickey Rooney, according to the American Film Institute's filmography. The following year she played a mermaid opposite William Powell in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid and took a dramatic role in Another Part of the Forest.

Her range extended to MGM musicals in the early 1950s. She appeared opposite Mario Lanza in the 1951 production The Great Caruso, where she sang "The Loveliest Night of the Year," as confirmed by the AFI's production record. MGM followed with Rose Marie and The Student Prince in 1954 and Kismet in 1955.

Her final two feature films, both 1957 releases, were biographical dramas: The Buster Keaton Story, distributed by Paramount according to AFI's production record for that film, and The Helen Morgan Story, a Warner Bros. production directed again by Michael Curtiz, confirmed by AFI's separate Helen Morgan Story record. In the latter, her singing voice was dubbed by Gogi Grant, as noted by the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The AFI's cast-credit list documents 31 released feature-film acting credits across her 13-year screen career, running from 1944 to 1957.

Ann Blyth's Screen Career: Key Films

The films below represent the verified core of her screen work, drawn from the AFI's filmography:

Television Work and Later Years

Blyth continued working on stage and in television after leaving feature films. Among her verified television credits: Wagon Train, an episode of The Twilight Zone in 1964, and Quincy, M.E., according to TV Guide's credit record. Her final onscreen acting appearance was in a November 1985 episode of Murder, She Wrote, confirmed by Rotten Tomatoes' cast listing and corroborated by People. She also appeared in Hostess advertising campaigns during the 1970s.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame awarded her a Motion Pictures star at 6733 Hollywood Boulevard on February 8, 1960.

Dr. James McNulty and Ann Blyth's Children

In June 1953, Blyth married James Vincent McNulty, a Los Angeles physician. He was the brother of entertainer Dennis Day, through whom the couple reportedly met, as noted by People and the Hollywood Reporter. Their marriage lasted 54 years, until McNulty died in La Jolla on May 13, 2007, at age 89, according to his published obituary in the Los Angeles Times.

The same obituary names their five children: Timothy, Maureen, Kathleen, Terence and Eileen, along with ten grandchildren. Pennacchio's 2026 announcement reported five great-grandchildren.

Ann Blyth's death on June 24, 2026, leaves a family spanning three generations across five children.