20th-century American actresses

Betta St. John (born Betty Jean Striegler, November 26, 1929 – June 23, 2023) was an American actress, singer, and dancer who worked on Broadway, the West End, and in Hollywood films. She started her career aged 10 as a child actress in uncredited movie parts in her native USA. As an adult actress her first starring role was in the MGM film Dream Wife opposite Cary Grant in 1953. In 1954 she starred with Victor Mature in Dangerous Mission. Later residing in England she appeared in starring roles in British films including High Tide at Noon, two Tarzan films, and the horror features Corridors of Blood with Boris Karloff and Horror Hotel with Christopher Lee.
She was an inductee into the Hawthorne Hall of Fame in 2019.

Jane Bryan (born Jane O'Brien; June 11, 1918 – April 8, 2009) was an American actress groomed by Warner Bros. to become one of its leading ladies but she chose to retire from acting in 1940 at age 22, after which she became a philanthropist and arts patron.

Patricia Barry (born Patricia Allen White, November 16, 1922 – October 11, 2016) was an American stage, film, and television actress.Although Barry has numerous credits performing in stage productions and in films, the majority of her work was in television between 1950 and 2005, when she appeared in over 100 series either in supporting roles or as a guest star.

Phyllis Ann Love (December 21, 1925 – October 30, 2011) was an American theater and television actress.

Ruth Kobart (April 24, 1924 – December 14, 2002) was an American performer, whose six-decade career encompassed opera, Broadway musical theatre, regional theatre, films, and television.

Joyce Gordon (March 25, 1929 – February 28, 2020) was an American actress.

Ellen Virginia Holly (January 16, 1931 – December 6, 2023) was an American actress. Beginning her career on stage in the late 1950s, Holly was perhaps best known for her role as Carla Gray–Hall on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live (1968–1980; 1983–1985). Holly is noted as the first African American to appear on daytime television in a leading role.

Elmarie Louise Wendel (November 23, 1928 – c. July 21, 2018) was an American actress and singer best known as Mamie Dubcek on the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Alison Marion Lohman (born September 18, 1979) is a retired American actress. She began her career with small roles in short and independent films, and had a breakthrough as the star of the drama film White Oleander (2002), which earned her recognition and a Young Hollywood Award. She earned praise for her performances in the fantasy film Big Fish (2003) and the dark comedy film Matchstick Men (2003), winning a Hollywood Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the latter. She lent her voice to the 2005 redub of the 1984 animated film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and starred in the sitcom Tucker (2000–2001) before taking a role in the soap opera Pasadena (2001–2002).
Lohman sporadically worked in acting throughout the late 2000s, notably playing roles in the action film Beowulf (2007) and the drama film Things We Lost in the Fire (2007). Her highest-grossing film came with the horror film Drag Me to Hell (2009), which earned her nominations for the Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress, the Saturn Award for Best Actress, and the MTV Movie Award for Best Scared-As-Shit Performance. She then retired from acting following her marriage to filmmaker Mark Neveldine later that year, stating that she wanted to teach online acting classes while focusing on raising their three children. She has since had small roles in Neveldine's films The Vatican Tapes (2015), Urge (2016), and Officer Downe (2016).

Margaret Gwenver (also known by her married name, Margaret G. Sedwick) was an American stage and television actress.
Born as Margaret Guenveur on October 10, 1926, in Wilmington, Delaware, she was best known for her role as Dr. Sedgwick on the long-running daytime soap opera, Guiding Light. Gwenver appeared in the supporting role, as a recurring character, on the long-running show from 1979 until 2009. In between appearances, she also played the role of Yancy Ralston's widow Blanche on One Life to Live on and off from 1981 to 1983.
She began her career at the Margaret Webster Shakespeare Company in New York City in the 1940s. She and her husband, John Sedwick, founded the Tanglewood Theater.