Film Career
Blair was featured in such films as A Double Life (1947), Another Part of the Forest (1948), and The Snake Pit (1948). She continued to hold left-wing political views and admittedly attempted to join the Communist Party. In her autobiography, she revealed her application was rejected as the Party felt she would be more valuable as the wife of the progressive Kelly. Kelly himself was not a Communist and his status as a valuable star provided the couple some protection.
In the 1950s, Blair was under investigation from HUAC and blacklisted for several years. She almost lost one of her signature roles, that of Marty's girlfriend in Marty (1955), but was restored to the role after Kelly threatened to pull out of It's Always Fair Weather. For her performance, she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and prizes from the Cannes Film Festival.
Her film career, nonetheless, was damaged during the "red scare" era and she had to seek work on stage in New York and in Europe.
Following her divorce from Kelly, Blair moved permanently to Europe where she continued to appear in films, including Juan Antonio Bardem's Calle Mayor (1956) and Michelangelo Antonioni's Il Grido (1957). She married Czech-born director/ producer Karel Reisz in 1963, and would perform sporadically in later years working with Costa-Gavras' (Betrayed, 1988) and on the mini-series Scarlett in 1994. Reisz died in 2002.
In 1980, she was a member of the jury at the 30th Berlin International Film Festival.
Blair filmed scenes for Stephen Daldry's The Hours (2002), initially playing the older version of Julianne Moore's character. She was either dropped or withdrew from the project (depending on the source) and her scenes were reshot with Moore in old-age makeup.
Read more about this topic: Betsy Blair
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