Betta St. John’s Married Husband and Children: Meet Her Partner Peter Grant, Kids; Roger, Karen, and Deanna

Betta St. John, ‘Dream Wife’ and ‘Tarzan’ actress, died on June 2023 at age 93. Who was her husband and how many kids did she have?

Betta St. John was an American actress, singer, and dancer who worked on Broadway, the West End, and Hollywood films.

She started her career aged 10 as a child actress in uncredited movie parts in her native USA, as an adult actress her first starring role was in the MGM film Dream Wife opposite Cary Grant in 1953, later residing in England she appeared in starring roles in British films including High Tide at Noon, two Tarzan films, and the horror features Corridors of Blood with Boris Karloff and Horror Hotel with Christopher Lee.

The actress, whose career spanned from Broadway to the big screen, died on June 23 from natural causes in an assisted living facility in England, her son, TV producer Roger Grant, told The Hollywood Reporter.

About her love life, she was married but lost her partner 31 years ago but before his death, they had children together. So, who was Betta St. John’s husband and how many children did she have? Read on for more.

Who was Betta St. John married to?

Betta St. John (real name: Betty Jean Striegle) was born in Hawthorne, California, on November 26, 1929. 

Born to father George, an electrician, and mother, May, St. John said her parents put her in Saturday theater classes starting at age 7. She learned “dancing, singing, and all the bits you do at an early age,” she recalled. “If the studios needed children, they contacted the theatrical schools.”

St. John, alongside Shirley Temple, was part of the Meglin Kiddies troupe of actors, singers, and dancers.

St. John made her film debut at age ten in an uncredited part in Destry Rides Again (1939) starring James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich. She then played an orphan in Jane Eyre (1943), starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine, also uncredited.

She continued to act in films and appear in TV series until 1965 before leaving the entertainment industry

Who was Betta St. John’s husband? St. John was married to English actor-singer Peter Grant from 1952 until his death in 1992.

She lived in London for many years, making several movies in the U.K., including horror films Corridors of Blood and Horror Hotel.

At the moment, not much is known about her late husband other than they had kids together.

Who are Betta St. John’s children?

Before Betta St. John’s husband died 31 years before her death, they had three children; a son and two daughters. The names of their kids are Roger Grant, Karen Grant, and Deanna Grant.

Roger Grant is a television producer and teleplay writer known for films like Chicago Fire (2012), The Arrangement (2017), and Greek (2007), per his IMDb profile.

About her daughter, Karen, and Deanna, there is no information about them as they live a private life.

St. John was a grandmother before she passed on. She had grandchildren, Kristen, Matt, Drew, and Michael.

Betta St. John had an impressive career spanning over 27 years.

At a young age, she had her first movie role in Destry Rides Again, starring alongside Marlene Dietrich, in 1939. In 1953, she had what she called her “first grown-up” role in Dream Wife, where she played a Middle Eastern princess engaged to a businessman played by Cary Grant. 

In the first Tarzan movie in color, Tarzan and the Lost Safari, St. John played a survivor of an airline crash in the 1957 film. She returned to the franchise for Tarzan the Magnificent in 1960. She acted in movies in the UK including horror films Corridors of Blood and Horror Hotel.

“My last film, Horror Hotel, was sort of an embarrassment because I didn’t like horror movies,” she said in a 2008 interview. “But I’m glad I did it because, apparently, it’s a cult film and very good in its way.”

After she appeared in Destry Rides Again, she played a dancer in the 1940 Our Gang short Waldo’s Last Stand. In 1941, she had an uncredited part in Merle Oberon’s Lydia. She had another uncredited role in the 1943 adaptation of Jane Eyre, starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine.

While St. John was in her second year of high school, she was discovered by scouts for Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, so she and her mom hopped on a train and headed to New York. 

On her 16th birthday, she took the stage in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical Carousel, on Broadway, playing Louise, the daughter of the characters Billy Bigelow and Julie Jordan. St. John then continued with the show’s touring company.

In 1949, Rodgers and Hammerstein cast her as the innocent Liat alongside Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza in South Pacific, performing “Happy Talk” with hand gestures as Juanita Hall sang. Although St. John originated the role on stage, France Nuyen played the part in the 1958 film adaptation.

Other notable movies she appeared in were The Robe, The Student Prince, The Law vs. Billy the Kid, High Tide at Noon, The Saracen Blade, The Snorkel, and more.

In the early 1960s, St. John quit acting. “I thought my career was long enough, and I didn’t feel I was giving up very much at that point,” she said. “But I gave it up mainly because I wanted to stay home and raise the children, and my family was much more important to me.”

She added: “Very few actors, even if they’re extremely successful, can keep a family and marriage together, with a good career going, too. By that time, I had come to terms that I didn’t have the kind of acting ability that would keep on going forever.”

St. John was inducted into the Hawthorne Hall of Fame in 2019. Her final years were spent living in England.