Betty Garrett was an American actress, comedian, singer and dancer.
24 Facts About Betty Garrett
2.
Betty Garrett appeared in several musical films, then returned to Broadway and made guest appearances on several television series.
3.
Betty Garrett was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the daughter of Elizabeth Octavia and Curtis Betty Garrett.
4.
When Betty Garrett was eight years old, her mother married the fiance she had jilted in order to marry Curtis.
5.
Betty Garrett's teachers included Graham and Anna Sokolow for dance, Sandy Meisner for drama, Lehman Engel for music, and Margaret Webster for the Shakespearean classics, and fellow students included Daniel Mann and Richard Conte.
6.
Betty Garrett felt she was destined to be a dramatic actress and shied away from playing comedic roles.
7.
Betty Garrett joined Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre as an understudy in what was to be its last stage presentation, a poorly-reviewed and short-lived production of Danton's Death that gave her the opportunity to work with Joseph Cotten, Ruth Ford, Martin Gabel, and Arlene Francis.
8.
Betty Garrett performed with Martha Graham's dance company at Carnegie Hall and the Alvin Theatre, sang at the Village Vanguard, and appeared in satirical and political revues staged by the Brooklyn-based Flatbush Arts Theatre, which eventually changed its name to the American Youth Theatre and relocated to Manhattan.
9.
Betty Garrett made her Broadway debut in 1942 in the revue Of V We Sing, which closed after 76 performances but led to her being cast in the Harold Rome revue Let Freedom Sing later that year.
10.
Betty Garrett won critical acclaim and the Donaldson Award for her performance, which prompted Al Hirschfeld to caricature her in The New York Times.
11.
Betty Garrett arrived at the studio in January 1947 and made her film debut portraying nightclub performer Shoo Shoo O'Grady in Big City, directed by Norman Taurog and co-starring George Murphy and Robert Preston.
12.
Betty Garrett then was cast opposite Janet Leigh and Jack Lemmon in My Sister Eileen, a 1955 musical remake of a 1940 theatrical adaptation of stories by Ruth McKenney.
13.
Betty Garrett got the part when Judy Holliday dropped out of the project due to a contract dispute.
14.
Betty Garrett later worked with Archie at his place of employment, driving a forklift, and was paid less than the man she replaced.
15.
Betty Garrett won the 1974 Golden Globe for her performance on the series.
16.
In 1981, when the series was extended beyond what had been intended to be its final season, Betty Garrett was forced to drop out because she had committed to performing with Sandy Dennis, Jack Gilford, Hope Lange, and Joyce Van Patten in The Supporting Cast on Broadway.
17.
Betty Garrett won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award twice, for Spoon River Anthology and Betty Garrett and Other Songs.
18.
Betty Garrett received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 2003.
19.
In 2010, Betty Garrett appeared alongside former two-time co-star Esther Williams during Turner Classic Movies' first annual Classic Film Festival.
20.
Parks returned to Los Angeles to begin filming Counter-Attack, and Betty Garrett traveled to New York to prepare for Laffing Room Only with Olsen and Johnson, but before rehearsals began, she called Parks and proposed marriage.
21.
Betty Garrett had one granddaughter, Madison Claire Parks, by her son Garrett Parks, and daughter-in-law, Broadway actress Karen Culliver.
22.
Betty Garrett willingly admitted that he had been a member of the party and initially refused to name others, but he later did so.
23.
Betty Garrett had trouble finding work but, as the mother of two young sons, she did not mind being unemployed as much as her husband did.
24.
Betty Garrett died of an aortic aneurysm in Los Angeles on February 12,2011, at the age of 91.