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.
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Full filmography
- Grey's Anatomy (2005) as Eleanor
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) as Self
- The Love Boat (1977) as Martha McCoy
- The Fugitive (1963) as Margaret Ruskin
- Murder, She Wrote (1984) as Kit Parkins
- Murder, She Wrote (1984) as Martha Neilson
- Boston Public (2000) as Miriam Guber
- Great Performances (1971) as Mary Hallen
- The Golden Girls (1985) as Sarah
- Laverne & Shirley (1976) as Edna Babish
- Becker (1998) as Mrs. Firth
- The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950) as Self
- All in the Family (1971) as Irene Lorenzo
- All in the Family (1971) as Irene
- Dinah! (1974) as Self
- The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1956) as Self
- Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003) as Self
- Blacke's Magic (1986)
- Townies (1996)
- Union Square (1997) as Agnes
- Mr. Merlin (1981)
- The Good Life (1994) as Phyllis
- The Long Way Home (1998) as Veronica
- On the Town (1949) as Brunhilde Esterhazy