Actress Betty Lou Keim dies

Posted on February 06, 2010

Betty Lou Keim, who played Frank Sinatra's out-of-control niece inthe 1958 melodrama "Some came Running," died Jan. 27 at her home in Chatsworth, Calif., after a battle with lung cancer. she was 71.

Keim also portrayed a daughter having trouble communicating withher divorced mom Ginger Rogers in "Teenage Rebel" (1956) afterperforming the role a year earlier opposite Patricia Neal in the Broadway version, "A Roomful of Roses."

In her early 20s and at the height of her young career, Keimmarried actor Warren Berlinger in 1959 and retired from showbusiness to raise a family.

In a rarity, Keim had a contract with two studios, MGM and Fox. Shemade "These Wilder Years" (1956) with Barbara Stanwyck and JamesCagney, "Wayward Bus" (1957) and "Some came Running" during thisperiod.

A native of Malden, Mass., Keim appeared on Broadway in "StrangeFruit" and then "Crime and Punishment" with John Gielgud beforelanding a key role in the Johnny Mercer 1949 musical "Texas Li'lDarlin'."

On early television, Keim appeared on such shows as "My Son Jeep"and "The Philco Television Playhouse." Her last acting job was in "The Deputy," a Henry Fonda TV series that ran 1959-61.

In addition to Berlinger — who also appeared in "Roomful of Roses"and "Teenage Rebel" — Keim is survived by children Lisa, David, Edward and Elizabeth and eight grandchildren.

Donations in her name can be made to the Red Cross or the MotionPicture & Television Fund.