Betty Garrett was an
American actress,
comedienne, singer and
dancer who originally performed on
Broadway before being signed to a film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer died from a aortic aneurysm she was , 91.. While there, she appeared in several musical films before returning to Broadway and making guest appearances on several television series.
Later, she became known for the roles she played in two prominent 1970s
sitcoms:
Archie Bunker's liberal neighbor Irene Lorenzo in
All in the Family and landlady Edna Babish in
Laverne & Shirley.
In later years, Garrett appeared in television series such as
Grey's Anatomy,
Boston Public and
Becker as well as in several Broadway plays and revivals.
| (May 23, 1919 – February 12, 2011) | |
Early life
Garrett was born in
Saint Joseph, Missouri. Shortly after her birth, her parents relocated to
Seattle, Washington, where her mother, Octavia, managed the sheet music department in Sherman Clay, while her father, Curtis, worked as a
traveling salesman. His
alcoholism and inability to handle finances eventually led to their divorce, and Garrett and her mother lived in a series of residential hotels in order to curtail expenses.
When
Garrett was eight years old, her mother married the fiancé she had jilted in order to marry Curtis. They settled in
Regina, Saskatchewan, where stepfather Sam worked in the
meat packing industry. A year later her mother discovered her new husband was involved in a sexual relationship with his male assistant, and she and Betty returned to Seattle. After graduating from public grammar school, Garrett enrolled at the
Annie Wright School in
Tacoma, which she attended on a full scholarship. There was no drama department there, and she frequently organized musical productions and plays for special occasions. Following her senior year performance in
Twelfth Night, the bishop urged her to pursue a career on the stage. At the same time, her mother's friend arranged an interview with
Martha Graham, who was in Seattle for a concert tour, and the dancer recommended her for a scholarship at the
Neighborhood Playhouse in
New York City.
Garrett and her mother arrived in
Manhattan in the summer of 1936 and Garrett began classes in September. Her teachers included Graham and
Anna Sokolow for dance,
Sandy Meisner for drama,
Lehman Engel for music, and
Margaret Webster for the
Shakespearean classics, and fellow students included
Daniel Mann and
Richard Conte. She felt she was destined to be a dramatic actress and shied away from playing comedic roles.
Early career
During the summer months, Garrett performed in the
Borscht Belt, where she had the opportunity to work with
Danny Kaye,
Jerome Robbins,
Carol Channing,
Imogene Coca, and
Jules Munshin, and she was encouraged to hone her singing and dancing skills. She joined
Orson Welles'
Mercury Theatre as an
understudy in what was to be its last stage presentation, a poorly-reviewed and short-lived production of
Danton's Death that gave her the opportunity to work with
Joseph Cotten,
Ruth Ford,
Martin Gabel, and
Arlene Francis.
[8] She performed with Martha Graham's dance company at
Carnegie Hall and the
Alvin Theatre, sang at the
Village Vanguard, and appeared in satirical and political revues staged by the
Brooklyn-based Flatbush Arts Theatre, which eventually changed its name to the American Youth Theatre and relocated to Manhattan. It was during this period she joined the
Communist Party and began performing at fundraisers for progressive causes.
Broadway
Garrett made her
Broadway debut in 1942 in the revue
Of V We Sing, which closed after 76 performances but led to her being cast in the
Harold Rome revue
Let Freedom Sing later that year.
[10] It closed after only eight performances, but producer
Mike Todd saw it and signed her to understudy
Ethel Merman [11] and play a small role in the 1943
Cole Porter musical
Something for the Boys.
[12] Merman became ill during the run, allowing Garrett to play the lead for a week. During this time she was seen by producer Vinton Freedley, who cast her in
Jackpot, a
Vernon Duke/
Howard Dietz musical also starring
Nanette Fabray and
Allan Jones.
[13] The show closed quickly, and Garrett began touring the country with her nightclub act.
[14]
MGM
After
Laffing Room Only another production Garrett appeared in on broadway closed there she traveled with the show as it played extended runs in
Detroit and Chicago, after which she returned to New York and was cast in
Call Me Mister, which reunited her with Harold Rome, Lehman Engel, and Jules Munshin. She won critical acclaim and the
Donaldson Award for her performance, which prompted
Al Hirschfeld to caricature her in the
New York Times. It also led to her being signed to a one-year contract with
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by
Louis B. Mayer. Garrett arrived at the studio in January 1947 and made her film debut portraying nightclub performer Shoo Shoo O'Grady in
Big City, directed by
Norman Taurog and co-starring
George Murphy.
[17] Mayer renewed her contract and she appeared in the musicals
Words and Music,
On the Town,
Take Me Out To The Ball Game, and
Neptune's Daughter in quick succession.
[18]
The Jolson Story had been a huge hit in the
United Kingdom, and Garrett and husband
Larry Parks decided to capitalize on its popularity by appearing in at the
London Palladium and then touring the UK with their nightclub act. Its success prompted them to return to the country three times, but the increasing popularity of
television eventually led to the decline of
music hall entertainment. Then Garrett was cast opposite
Janet Leigh and
Jack Lemmon in
My Sister Eileen, a 1955 musical remake of a 1942 film starring
Rosalind Russell, when
Judy Holliday dropped out of the project due to a contract dispute. The following year, she and Parks replaced Holliday and
Sydney Chaplin in the Broadway production of
Bells Are Ringing during their vacation from the show. Over the next two decades, she worked sporadically, appearing on Broadway in two short-lived plays (
Beg, Borrow or Steal with Parks and
A Girl Could Get Lucky with
Pat Hingle) and a musical adaptation of
Spoon River Anthology, and making guest appearances on
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show,
The Lloyd Bridges Show, and
The Fugitive.
Later career
In the fall of 1973,
All in the Family added two new neighbors to the neighborhood, Frank Lorenzo and his feisty
Irish American wife, Irene. Lear had been the publicity man for
Call Me Mister,
All in the Family writers
Bernard West and
Mickey West knew Garrett from her days with the American Youth Theatre, and
Jean Stapleton had been in the cast of
Bells Are Ringing, so Garrett appeared to be a frontrunner for the role of Irene. It went instead to
Sada Thompson, but, unhappy after filming one episode, Thompson asked to be released from her commitment, freeing the role for Garrett. Irene was Catholic and assumed many of the household duties normally associated with husbands, and she therefore presented a kind of nemesis to Archie Bunker. She later worked with Archie at his place of employment, driving a forklift, and was paid less than the man she replaced. Garrett remained with the series from 1973 through 1975.
The following year, Garrett was performing her one-woman show
Betty Garrett and Other Songs in
Westwood when she was offered the role of landlady Edna Babish in
Laverne & Shirley. The character was a five-time divorcée who eventually married Laverne's father Frank. Although Garrett felt she never was given enough to do on the show, she appreciated the fact that her musical talents occasionally were incorporated into the plot, and she won the
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for her performance. When the series was extended beyond what had been intended to be its final season, Garrett was forced to drop out because she already had committed to performing with
Sandy Dennis,
Jack Gilford,
Hope Lange, and
Joyce Van Patten in
The Supporting Cast on Broadway. The play closed after only eight performances, but returning to
Laverne & Shirley was not an option, as the writers had explained Edna's disappearance by having her divorce Frank.
In the ensuing years, Garrett appeared on television in
Murder, She Wrote,
The Golden Girls,
Harts of the West,
Union Square,
Boston Public,
Becker (for which she was nominated for the
Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series), and
Grey's Anatomy, among others, and on stage in
Plaza Suite (with Parks),
And Miss Reardon Drinks A Little, and the 2001 Broadway revival of
Follies. At
Theatre West, which she co-founded, she directed
Arthur Miller's
The Price and appeared in the play
Waiting in the Wings. She won the
Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award twice, for
Spoon River Anthology and
Betty Garrett and Other Songs.
[citation needed]
Garrett received a star on the
Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 2003. On the occasion of her ninetieth birthday in 2009, she was honored at a celebration sponsored by Theatre West at the Music Box Theatre in Hollywood.
[23][24][25]
In 2010, Garrett appeared alongside former two-time co-star
Esther Williams during
Turner Classic Movies' first annual Classic Film Festival.
[26] Their film
Neptune's Daughter was screened at the pool of the
Roosevelt Hotel in
Hollywood,
California while a Williams-inspired
synchronized swimming troop, The Aqualilies, performed.
[27]
Personal life
While appearing in Los Angeles, Garrett was invited to perform a comedy sketch at the Actor's Lab in Hollywood. It was there she met
Larry Parks, who was producing the show. He invited her to join him for a drink, then drove her to the top of
Mulholland Drive and told her, "You're the girl I'm going to marry." During the next two weeks, the two were inseparable. Garrett departed for a nightclub engagement in
Chicago. Eventually Parks joined her and introduced her to his mother, who lived in nearby
Joliet. Parks returned to Los Angeles to begin filming
Counter-Attack and Garrett continued to New York to prepare for
Laffing Room Only with
Olsen and Johnson, but before rehearsals began she called Parks and proposed marriage. The two were wed on September 8, 1944,
[28] four months after their initial meeting. Actor
Lloyd Bridges served as best man.
[28] Garrett and Parks spent a month
honeymooning in
Malibu Beach, and then lived apart for the next two years while pursuing their respective careers.
Garrett and Parks remained married until his death in 1975. She had two sons, composer Garrett and actor
Andrew.
[30]
Blacklisting
Because of their past affiliations with the Communist Party, Garrett and Parks became embroiled with the
House Un-American Activities Committee, although only Parks was forced to testify. He willingly admitted he had been a member of the party and initially refused to name others though did later. Despite this he found himself on the
Hollywood blacklist. Garrett also had trouble finding work, although as the mother of two young sons she did not mind being unemployed as much as her husband did. Parks formed a highly successful
construction business, and eventually the couple owned many apartment buildings scattered throughout the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Rather than sell them upon completion, Parks decided to retain ownership and collect rents as a landlord, a decision that proved to be extremely profitable. During this period, the couple occasionally performed in
Las Vegas showrooms,
summer stock productions, and touring companies of Broadway shows.
Death
Betty Garrett died of an
aortic aneurysm in Los Angeles on February 12, 2011, at the age of 91.
[33]
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