Lillian Roth ~ The Star Who Beat Alcoholism

Lillian Roth was an actress and singer who overcame a serious addiction to alcohol

She was born Lillian Rutstein on December 13, 1910 in Boston, Massachusetts. Her ambitious mother, Katie Rutstein, was determined to make her a star. Lillian attended the Professional Children's School in New York City. Sadly at the age of six she was sexually molested by an artist she posed for. In 1917 she made her Broadway debut in The Inner Man. The following year she had a bit part in the film Pershing's Crusaders. Then she and her younger sister Anne toured the country with a popular vaudeville act. They were billed as Broadway's Youngest Stars. When she was a teenager she sang in Earl Carroll's Vanities and in Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic. She was engaged to her agent David Lyons but tragically he died from tuberculosis. Lillian was so devastated by his death that she began drinking. Paramount offered her a seven film contract in 1929. The lovely brunette appeared in numerous films including Animal Crackers, Madame Satan, and The Vagabond King with Jeanette Macdonald. She was promoted as the girl with "the best legs in Hollywood".  Her rendition of "Sing You Sinners" in the 1930 film Honey became a huge hit. On April 11, 1931 she married William C. Scott, an aviator. Soon after she found out she was pregnant and had an abortion. After divorcing William in 1932 she married Benjamin Shalleck, a municipal court justice.

When Paramount dropped her contract her film career quickly stalled. Lillian appeared in the short films Million Dollar Melody and Masks And Memories. By 1939 her marriage to Benjamin was over and she was struggling with a serious alcohol problem. She married Eugene Weiner, an importer, in 1940. Unfortunately he became abusive and she left him after just five months. In March of 1942 she married Edward Goldman, a produce grower. They divorced three years later. Lillian became very depressed and almost committed suicide by throwing herself out of a window. Then she decided to get help for her drinking by joining Alcoholics Anonymous. At a meeting she met publisher Burt McGuire, who became her fifth husband in 1947. During the 1950s she recorded several albums and wrote her best-selling autobiography "I'll Cry Tomorrow". The book was made into a movie in 1955 starring Susan Hayward. Her marriage to Burt ended in 1963. She returned to the screen in 1976 with a role in the horror film Alice Sweet Alice. Her final role was in the 1979 drama Boardwalk. On May 12, 1980 she died from a stroke at the age of sixty-nine. Lillian was buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. The epitaph on her grave says "As Bad As It Was It Was Good."

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