Film historian and author Betty Lasky dies at 94

LOS ANGELES – Film historian and author Betty Lasky has died. She was 94.

Lasky’s longtime friend Mark Penn said Thursday that Lasky died Saturday in Los Angeles from complications from pneumonia.

The daughter of Paramount Pictures co-founder Jesse L. Lasky, Betty Lasky developed an interest in film history at a young age. She contributed articles about Hollywood to Players Showcase Magazine in the 1960s. In 1983, she published a book on the history of RKO studio called “RKO: The Biggest Little Major of Them All.”

Lasky also donated a collection of her father’s artifacts to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills, California.

Penn said memorial plans are pending.