| Birth Date: | 1922 10, mf=yes |
| Birth Place: | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Author, film historian |
| Father: | Jesse L. Lasky |
| Family: | Jesse L. Lasky Jr. (brother) |
| Genre: | Movie industry, movie editor, film history, Hollywood history |
| Notableworks: | RKO: The Biggest Little Major of Them All |
Betty Lasky (October 11, 1922 - January 7, 2017)[1] was an American film historian and author.
She was the daughter of pioneering producer Jesse L. Lasky, a key founder of Paramount Pictures and Bessie Mona Ginsberg Lasky, a painter known for her depictions of the California missions. Her late brother, Jesse L. Lasky, Jr., was the screenwriter of over 50 films, including a long partnership with the DeMilles. She grew up in and around Hollywood, piquing her interest in film history. Her writing career began as a screen story analyst for RKO Pictures, the Selznick Company and the Hamilburg Agency, as well as a position editing and writing for The Players Showcase Magazine.[2]
In the 1970s, she worked with attorney Terrys T. Olender to preserve film artifacts saved by the City of Los Angeles in the Lincoln Heights Jail. As a result, she was asked by her former employer, RKO, to compile and publish a history of the film company (producer of Citizen Kane and King Kong). RKO: The Biggest Little Major of Them All was released in 1984 by Prentice-Hall. She also contributed the "Roots of Hollywood" chapter in Hollywood Archive: The Hidden History of Hollywood in the Golden Age (New York: Angel City Press and Universal Publishing, a division of Rizzoli) in 2000.[3]
Miss Lasky died of pneumonia on the afternoon of January 7, 2017, at her home in Los Angeles, aged 94.[4]