Betty Garrett

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.[11] It closed after only eight performances, but producer Mike Todd saw it and signed her to understudy Ethel Merman[12] and play a small role in the 1943 Cole Porter musical Something for the Boys.[13] 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.[14] The show closed quickly, and Garrett began touring the country with her nightclub act. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer After appearing on Broadway in Laffing Room Only, which closed there, Garrett traveled with the show as it played extended runs in Detroit and Chicago. After that 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.[17] It 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 and Robert Preston.[18] 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. She won the 1974 Golden Globe for her performance on the series. Death Garrett died of an aortic aneurysm in Los Angeles on February 12, 2011, at the age of 91. Her body was cremated. Filmography Big City (1948) as Shoo Shoo Grady Words and Music (1948) as Peggy Lorgan McNeil Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) as Shirley Delwyn Neptune's Daughter (1949) as Betty Barrett On the Town (1949) as Brunhilde "Hildy" Esterhazy Some of the Best (1949, short subject) My Sister Eileen (1955) as Ruth Sherwood The Shadow on the Window (1957) as Linda Atlas Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003, Documentary) as Herself Trail of the Screaming Forehead (2007) as Mrs. Cuttle Dark and Stormy Night (2009) as Mrs. Hausenstout (final film role) Troupers (2011, Documentary) as Herself Carol Channing: Larger Than Life (2012, Documentary) as Herself Television work The Best of Anything (1960) The Fugitive (1964, Episode: "Escape Into Black") as Margaret Ruskin All in the Family (cast member from 1973-1975) as Irene Lorenzo Who's Happy Now? (1975) Laverne & Shirley (cast member from 1976-1981) as Edna Babish DeFazio All the Way Home (1981, TV Movie) as Catherine Somerset Gardens (1989, unsold pilot) The Golden Girls (1992) as Sarah The Long Way Home (1998, TV Movie) as Veronica