Actor and singer known for her role as the Sinatra-chasing taxi driver Brunhilde Esterhazy in On the Town
The most famous role played by the all-round entertainer Betty Garrett, who has died aged 91, was Brunhilde Esterhazy, the taxi driver in Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly's musical On the Town (1949). In the film, she introduces herself to a shy sailor played by Frank Sinatra and asks him: "Why don't you come up to my place?" She is soon vigorously chasing him around her cab, rejecting any of his suggestions about what to see in New York with the rapid retort: "My place!"
In Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949), Garrett had pursued Sinatra with equal zeal, assuring him by singing It's Fate, Baby, It's Fate. She also panted after Red Skelton in Neptune's Daughter (1949), begging him not to leave her apartment with the song Baby, It's Cold Outside.
The most famous role played by the all-round entertainer Betty Garrett, who has died aged 91, was Brunhilde Esterhazy, the taxi driver in Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly's musical On the Town (1949). In the film, she introduces herself to a shy sailor played by Frank Sinatra and asks him: "Why don't you come up to my place?" She is soon vigorously chasing him around her cab, rejecting any of his suggestions about what to see in New York with the rapid retort: "My place!"
In Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949), Garrett had pursued Sinatra with equal zeal, assuring him by singing It's Fate, Baby, It's Fate. She also panted after Red Skelton in Neptune's Daughter (1949), begging him not to leave her apartment with the song Baby, It's Cold Outside.
- 2/14/2011
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Stage And Screen Star Garrett Dies
Actress/singer Betty Garrett has died at the age of 91.
The star passed away on Saturday, a day after she was admitted to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles with heart problems.
Garrett began her career in the 1930s and established herself as a star with a stint in Broadway play Call Me Mister.
The stage performance led her to Hollywood, where she landed roles as Frank Sinatra's love interest in 1949's movie musicals Take Me Out to the Ballgame and On the Town.
But her screen ambitions were cut short after her husband, actor Larry Parks, was blacklisted by Hollywood's top executives for his early membership in the Communist Party.
Garrett managed to revive her career a few years later and starred in 1955 musical My Sister Eileen, and eventually moved into the TV industry, appearing in popular 1970s series All in the Family and Laverne and Shirley.
More recently, she made a cameo in Ted Danson's sitcom Becker, a performance which landed her an Emmy nomination in 2003.
She is survived by her two sons, composer Garrett Parks and actor Andrew Parks.
The star passed away on Saturday, a day after she was admitted to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles with heart problems.
Garrett began her career in the 1930s and established herself as a star with a stint in Broadway play Call Me Mister.
The stage performance led her to Hollywood, where she landed roles as Frank Sinatra's love interest in 1949's movie musicals Take Me Out to the Ballgame and On the Town.
But her screen ambitions were cut short after her husband, actor Larry Parks, was blacklisted by Hollywood's top executives for his early membership in the Communist Party.
Garrett managed to revive her career a few years later and starred in 1955 musical My Sister Eileen, and eventually moved into the TV industry, appearing in popular 1970s series All in the Family and Laverne and Shirley.
More recently, she made a cameo in Ted Danson's sitcom Becker, a performance which landed her an Emmy nomination in 2003.
She is survived by her two sons, composer Garrett Parks and actor Andrew Parks.
- 2/13/2011
- WENN
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