Lillian Rutstein (1910-80) was a talented and charismatic performer who is probably, and unjustly, most remembered today for the alcoholism that was at the centre of the biopic I’ll Cry Tomorrow (1955), in which she was played by Susan Hayward.
Roth made her debut on Broadway at the age of seven. After working in vaudeville in an act with her sister, she was back on Broadway. Roth lied about her age and, at 13, was cast in Artists and Models, a show famous for its nudity.
Roth’s stage career went into abeyance after Ernst Lubitsch cast her in a prominent role in The Love Parade (1930), teaming her with Lupino Lane. In the same year, she played Trixie in MGM’s Madam Satan. Roth expanded her range in 1933 in Barbara Stanwyck’s prison drama Ladies They Talk About.
Roth’s career went into decline owing to her alcoholism, but was revived by the film of her 1954 autobiography and she worked steadily, playing on Broadway and in touring shows and concerts. She made her last film in 1979.
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