Betty Garrett
Actor
Born May 23, 1919 in Saint Joseph, Missouri, USA
Betty Garrett (May 23, 1919 - February 12, 2011) was an American actress, comedian, singer and dancer, who starred in several Hollywood musicals and stage roles. She was at the top of her game when the Communist scare in the 1950s brought her career to a screeching, ugly halt. She and her husband Larry Parks, an Oscar-nominated actor, were summoned by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee and questioned about their involvement. As the drama played out, a very pregnant Garrett was never called to testify, but her husband was. With his admission of Communist Party membership from 1941-1945 and refusal to name names, he made it to the Hollywood Blacklist. After the incident, Garrett and Parks worked up nightclub singing/comedy acts along with appearing in legit plays. Although Parks never quite shook off the blacklist incident, he did win a role in John Huston's film, Freud (1962). Garrett went on to appear in roles in many television series.
Filmography
Carol Channing: Larger Than Life
Self
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1940s: Stars, Stripes and Singing
(archive footage)
Dark and Stormy Night
Mrs. Hausenstout
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1920s: The Dawn of the Hollywood Musical
Self
Trail of the Screaming Forehead
Mrs. Cuttle
Grey's Anatomy
Eleanor
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
Self
Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer
Self
Boston Public
Miriam Guber
Frank Sinatra Memorial
Self
Becker
Mrs. Firth
The Long Way Home
Veronica
Union Square
Agnes
Jack Lemmon: America's Everyman
Self
Townies
That's Entertainment! III
(archive footage)
The Good Life
Phyllis
Blacke's Magic
The Golden Girls
Sarah
That's Dancing!
Ruth Sherwood (archive footage)
Murder, She Wrote
Kit Parkins
All the Way Home
Catherine
Mr. Merlin
The Love Boat
Martha McCoy
Laverne & Shirley
Edna Babish
Dinah!
Self
That's Entertainment!
(archive footage) (uncredited)
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Self (archive footage)
Great Performances
Mary Hallen
All in the Family
Irene Lorenzo
The Fugitive
Margaret Ruskin
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
The Shadow on the Window
Linda Atlas
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Self
My Sister Eileen
Ruth Sherwood
The Colgate Comedy Hour
Self
The Costume Designer
Self (archive footage)
On the Town
Brunhilde Esterhazy
Neptune's Daughter
Betty Barrett
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Shirley Delwyn
Words and Music
Peggy Lorgan McNeil
Big City
Shoo Shoo Grady