BETTY FURNESS

Original 10 inch x 8 inch MGM Portrait of BETTY FURNESS (1916 – 1994).

The daughter of radio pioneer and corporate executive George Furness, she was raised on Manhattan’s Park Avenue and began modeling at 14 and appearing in films at 16. During the 1930s she appeared in more than 30 Hollywood productions, playing leads in B pictures and second leads in some as well. In the early 1940s she appeared in several Broadway shows. In 1949 she became TV’s highest-paid saleslady and for a decade pitched the merits of Westinghouse refrigerators on the air. In 1967 she was appointed President Johnson’s Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs and later functioned as Chairman of New York State’s Consumer Protection Board and Commissioner of New York’s Department of Consumer Affairs. She was a weekly contributor to NBC’s “The Today Show” and in 1988 hosted an informational chat spot called “Betty’s Attic”.

Recent film noted on reverse All-American Chump directed by Edwin Marin in 1936.

Portrait by photographer Ted Allan. Allan gave up his own studio to become portrait photographer at MGM.

The portrait is in very good condition with minor surface marks.