Betty Garrett

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.

Movies & TV Shows

1. Grey's Anatomy (2005) — Eleanor
2. Murder, She Wrote (1984) — Kit Parkins
3. The Golden Girls (1985) — Sarah
4. On the Town (1949) — Brunhilde Esterhazy
5. The Love Boat (1977) — Martha McCoy
6. All in the Family (1971) — Irene Lorenzo
7. Becker (1998) — Mrs. Firth
8. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) — Self
9. Laverne & Shirley (1976) — Edna Babish
10. That's Entertainment! (1974) — (archive footage) (uncredited)
11. The Fugitive (1963) — Margaret Ruskin
12. Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) — Shirley Delwyn
13. Boston Public (2000) — Miriam Guber
14. That's Entertainment! III (1994) — (archive footage)
15. Neptune's Daughter (1949) — Betty Barrett
16. My Sister Eileen (1955) — Ruth Sherwood
17. Great Performances (1971) — Mary Hallen
18. The Shadow on the Window (1957) — Linda Atlas
19. Words and Music (1948) — Peggy Lorgan McNeil
20. That's Dancing! (1985) — Ruth Sherwood (archive footage)
21. Trail of the Screaming Forehead (2007) — Mrs. Cuttle
22. Dark and Stormy Night (2009) — Mrs. Hausenstout
23. The Long Way Home (1998) — Veronica
24. The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950) — Self
25. Big City (1948) — Shoo Shoo Grady
26. Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer (2002) — Self
27. Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003) — Self
28. Mr. Merlin (1981)
29. Carol Channing: Larger Than Life (2012) — Self
30. The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1956) — Self
31. Hollywood: The Dream Factory (1972) — Self (archive footage)
32. Townies (1996)
33. Blacke's Magic (1986)
34. Dinah! (1974) — Self
35. All the Way Home (1981) — Catherine
36. Jack Lemmon: America's Everyman (1996) — Self
37. Union Square (1997) — Agnes
38. The Costume Designer (1950) — Self (archive footage)
39. Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1940s: Stars, Stripes and Singing (2009) — (archive footage)
40. The Good Life (1994) — Phyllis