Betty Garrett
Acting • Born 1919-05-23 – Died 2011-02-12
Biography
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
45 credits
On the Town
Movie • 1949
Brunhilde Esterhazy
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Movie • 1949
Shirley Delwyn
My Sister Eileen
Movie • 1955
Ruth Sherwood
Neptune's Daughter
Movie • 1949
Betty Barrett
The Shadow on the Window
Movie • 1957
Linda Atlas
Trail of the Screaming Forehead
Movie • 2007
Mrs. Cuttle
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Movie • 1972
Self (archive footage)
Big City
Movie • 1948
Shoo Shoo Grady
Words and Music
Movie • 1948
Peggy Lorgan McNeil
Troupers
Movie • 2011
Carol Channing: Larger Than Life
Movie • 2012
Self
That's Entertainment!
Movie • 1974
(archive footage) (uncredited)
The Long Way Home
Movie • 1998
Veronica
All the Way Home
Movie • 1981
Catherine
Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer
Movie • 2002
Self
That's Entertainment! III
Movie • 1994
(archive footage)
Frank Sinatra Memorial
Movie • 2000
Self
The Costume Designer
Movie • 1950
Self (archive footage)
That's Dancing!
Movie • 1985
Ruth Sherwood (archive footage)
Jack Lemmon: America's Everyman
Movie • 1996
Self
Dark and Stormy Night
Movie • 2009
Mrs. Hausenstout
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
Movie • 2003
Self
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1920s: The Dawn of the Hollywood Musical
Movie • 2008
Self
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1940s: Stars, Stripes and Singing
Movie • 2009
(archive footage)
Murder, She Wrote
TV • 1984
Kit Parkins
Boston Public
TV • 2000
Miriam Guber
The Colgate Comedy Hour
TV • 1950
Self
The Love Boat
TV • 1977
Martha McCoy
The Golden Girls
TV • 1985
Sarah
All in the Family
TV • 1971
Irene Lorenzo
Laverne & Shirley
TV • 1976
Edna Babish
Becker
TV • 1998
Mrs. Firth
The Fugitive
TV • 1963
Margaret Ruskin
Mr. Merlin
TV • 1981
Townies
TV • 1996
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
TV • 1956
Self
Blacke's Magic
TV • 1986
Union Square
TV • 1997
Agnes
Grey's Anatomy
TV • 2005
Eleanor
Dinah!
TV • 1974
Self
Murder, She Wrote
TV • 1984
Martha Neilson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV • 1962
Self
The Good Life
TV • 1994
Phyllis
Great Performances
TV • 1971
Mary Hallen
All in the Family
TV • 1971
Irene