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Betty Garrett
Acting
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 Pa…
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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.
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BODY OF WORK
Betty Garrett's Filmography
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Carol Channing: Larger Than Life
as Self
No Poster
Troupers
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1940s: Stars, Stripes and Singing
as (archive footage)
Dark and Stormy Night
as Mrs. Hausenstout
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1920s: The Dawn of the Hollywood Musical
as Self
Trail of the Screaming Forehead
as Mrs. Cuttle
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
as Self
Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer
as Self
Frank Sinatra Memorial
as Self
The Long Way Home
as Veronica
Jack Lemmon: America's Everyman
as Self
That's Entertainment! III
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
That's Dancing!
as Ruth Sherwood (archive footage)
All the Way Home
as Catherine
That's Entertainment!
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
as Self (archive footage)
The Shadow on the Window
as Linda Atlas
My Sister Eileen
as Ruth Sherwood
The Costume Designer
as Self (archive footage)
On the Town
as Brunhilde Esterhazy
Neptune's Daughter
as Betty Barrett
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
as Shirley Delwyn
Words and Music
as Peggy Lorgan McNeil
Big City
as Shoo Shoo Grady