Biography

Betty Utey was born on November 17, 1934 in Calumet, Michigan, USA. She was an actress, known for The Tarnished Angels (1957), Mike Hammer (1958) and Party Girl (1958). She was married to Noel Leslie Pugh, Ward William Schwab, Nicholas Ray and Sanford Aaron Meltzer. She died on January 16, 2017 in Sun Lakes, Arizona, USA.

This Finnish-born dancer and choreographer's surname was originally "Uitti", but she anglicized it to "Utey" after moving to the United States. In films, she is best known for collaborations with Nicholas Ray, to whom she was married between 1958 and 1964.

Betty Utey developed a major dependency upon prescription drugs during her marriage to Nicholas Ray, which grew worse after their divorce. However, she eventually overcame this dependency. She died of throat cancer in January of 2017.

Betty Utey was over twenty years younger than her husband Nicholas Ray. She met him in 1952 when she was engaged to play a Vestal Virgin in the film version of Bernard Shaw's play "Androcles and the Lion". Ray cast her after being hired to direct additional scenes for the film, though the dance in which she participated was entirely cut from the film on censor's orders.