Betty Garrett, 1919–2011
The musical-comedy star scarred by the Hollywood blacklist
Just as Betty Garrett appeared to be hitting her professional stride, her career skidded to a halt. Garrett enjoyed a triumphant 1949, with three well-reviewed roles in MGM musicals. She played a baseball fan with a crush on Frank Sinatra in Take Me Out to the Ballgame, an amorous cabdriver who again pursues Sinatra in On the Town, and a man-hungry scatterbrain who pants after Red Skelton in Neptune’s Daughter. But in 1951, her husband, actor Larry Parks, appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee, where he admitted having been a member of the Communist Party in the 1940s. Parks and Garrett landed on Hollywood’s unofficial blacklist, and parts dried up. “It was a dark period,” she said years later. “It destroyed a lot of lives.” Once blacklisted, Garrett and Parks made the best of their exile, touring for two decades in “summer stock and other theaters where they could perform together,” said The New York Times.
Born in St. Joseph, Mo., Garrett showed a talent for singing and dancing from an early age. After her father’s death, Garrett moved with her mother to New York City. She landed her first Broadway role in Orson Welles’s production of Danton’s Death.
In 1973, producer Norman Lear revived Garrett’s career by casting her as Irene Lorenzo, Archie Bunker’s liberal neighbor in All in the Family, said the Associated Press. She also played a landlady in Laverne and Shirley, and appeared on Broadway from time to time. Until her death, Garrett insisted she wasn’t bitter about the blacklist. “What I feel,” she said in 1998, “is deep sorrow.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Paloma recipe: the cocktail of the summer
The Week Recommends This refreshing drink balances the fresh and fizzy taste of grapefruit soda with a subtle flavour of smooth tequila
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published
-
Mushroom edibles are tripping up users
the explainer The psychedelics can sometimes have questionable components
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Prisons are simply not prepared for extreme heat
Under the radar Inmates are at severe risk of heat-related illness
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Michael Mosley obituary: television doctor whose work changed thousands of lives
In the Spotlight TV doctor was known for his popularisation of the 5:2 diet and his cheerful willingness to use himself as a guinea pig
By The Week UK Published
-
Morgan Spurlock: the filmmaker who shone a spotlight on McDonald's
In the Spotlight Spurlock rose to fame for his controversial documentary Super Size Me
By The Week UK Published
-
Benjamin Zephaniah: trailblazing writer who 'took poetry everywhere'
Why Everyone's Talking About Remembering the 'radical' wordsmith's 'wit and sense of mischief'
By The Week UK Published
-
Shane MacGowan: the unruly former punk with a literary soul
Why Everyone's Talking About The Pogues frontman died aged 65
By The Week UK Published
-
'Euphoria' star Angus Cloud dies at 25
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Legendary jazz and pop singer Tony Bennett dies at 96
Speed Read
By Devika Rao Published
-
Martin Amis: literary wunderkind who ‘blazed like a rocket’
feature Famed author, essayist and screenwriter died this week aged 73
By The Week Staff Published
-
Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian folk legend, is dead at 84
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published