Betsy Drake

Betsy Drake was an American actress who also pursued writing and psychotherapy. Born in Paris, she trained at National Park Seminary before seeking acting work in New York, where she modeled for Conover and understudied in Horton Foote's play Only the Heart. An understudy job enabled her to join Actors' Equity, and in 1947 she read for Elia Kazan's London production of Deep Are the Roots and became a founding member of the Actors Studio. Under contract to RKO and David Selznick, she made her film debut in Every Girl Should Be Married (1948). She took leading roles in British and American films, appeared in Room for One More (1952) and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957), and wrote the original screenplay for Houseboat (1958) under a pseudonym. Later she earned a Master of Education from Harvard, worked as a children's therapist, directed psychodrama at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, taught at UCLA and Pepperdine, and published a novel.