Betty Garrett

Biography: After winning a scholarship to New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, 19-year-old Betty Garrett made her Broadway debut with Orson Welles' Mercury Theater. An accomplished singer and dancer, she worked the night club and Borscht Belt circuit before her first starring stint in the 1942 musical revue Let Freedom Ring. Attractive but not beautiful (at least by 1940's standards), she was often cast in vivacious soubrette roles in such productions as Call Me Mister. In 1948, she was signed by MGM, where she memorably co-starred with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in the breezy musicals Take Me Out to the Ballgame (1948) and On the Town (1949). Married to actor Larry Parks since 1944, she took time out of her career in 1950 and 1951 to start a family. Upon her return, she was unable to secure screen work due to Parks' blacklisting after his soul-wrenching appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Garrett and Parks organized a night club act which kept them solventAfter winning a scholarship to New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, 19-year-old Betty Garrett made her Broadway debut with Orson Welles' Mercury Theater. An accomplished singer and dancer, she worked the night club and Borscht Belt circuit before her first starring stint in the 1942 musical revue Let Freedom Ring. Attractive but not beautiful (at least by 1940's standards), she was often cast in vivacious soubrette roles in such productions as Call Me Mister. In 1948, she was signed by MGM, where she memorably co-starred with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in the breezy musicals Take Me Out to the Ballgame (1948) and On the Town (1949). Married to actor Larry Parks since 1944, she took time out of her career in 1950 and 1951 to start a family. Upon her return, she was unable to secure screen work due to Parks' blacklisting after his soul-wrenching appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Garrett and Parks organized a night club act which kept them solvent during the early '50s, and though Parks would be denied film work in Hollywood until 1962, Garrett made a screen comeback opposite Jack Lemmon and Janet Leigh in the 1955 musical remake of My Sister Eileen. Her last film appearance was as a harried kidnap victim in the 1957 melodrama Shadow on the Window. Whenever her theatrical career flagged in the 1960s, she could rely upon steady income from her successful real estate business. Widowed in 1975, she made what many regarded as a "comeback" (though she'd never really been away) as Irene Lorenzo on TV's All in the Family, then spent four seasons as landlady Edna Babish DeFazio on the phenomenally popular Laverne and Shirley. Since 1981, Betty Garrett has divided her time between New York, California, and Seattle, accepting TV guest star roles and touring in her own one-woman show.… Expand