- Born
- Died
- Place
Betty Garrett
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.
As actor
Carol Channing: Larger Than Life
Troupers
Dark and Stormy Night
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1940s: Stars, Stripes and Singing
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1920s: The Dawn of the Hollywood Musical
Trail of the Screaming Forehead
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer
Frank Sinatra Memorial
The Long Way Home
Jack Lemmon: America's Everyman
That's Entertainment! III
That's Dancing!
All the Way Home
That's Entertainment!
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
The Shadow on the Window
My Sister Eileen
The Costume Designer
On the Town
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Neptune's Daughter
Big City
Words and Music