Betty Garrett (RIP). "Awful, Awful Nice To Be With..."
Sunday, February 13, 2011 at 2:32PM 
Betty Garrett, aka "Hildy" the female cabbie from On the Town, passed away yesterday at 91. She was a comic star of stage, tv and, however briefly, big screen musicals. The Hollywood blacklist of the 50s, which sadly destroyed so many careers at their prime, derailed hers, but at least she had charming musicals like Neptune's Daughter, My Sister Eileen and two Frank Sinatra pairings in On The Town and Take Me Out to the Ball Game under her dance belt before that sorry turn of events. Her career got a second wind of sorts on television in the 70s in sitcoms like Laverne and Shirley and All in the Family.
Is there anything more contagiously cheerful than a good musical comedy star? ♪ They're awful....awful good to look at, awful nice to be with, awful sweet to have and hold... ♫
Here's a fun video that apparently played before her 90th birthday bash.
Betty Garrett, Frank Sinatra, RIP, musicals
Reader Comments (8)
Helena Bonham Carter won best supporting actress and Geoffrey Rush picked up best supporting actor, both for The King's Speech.
The King's Speech has won the Bafta award for outstanding British film and The film also won best original score.
Best foreign film went to the original Swedish version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
Christopher Nolan's Inception has picked up three prizes so far - best sound, production design, and special effects.
Best make-up and hair and best costumes went to Alice in Wonderland.
The Social Network has won the best editing prize.
Also Four Lions won Outstand Debut.
King's Speech won Original Screenplay as well,
I will report on more BAFTA winners :)
Tom Hardy, who stars in Inception, won Bafta's Rising Star award, voted for by the public.
The Social Network won the best adapted screenplay.
Toy Story 3 unsurprisingly won best animation feature film.
True Grit won Best Cinematography.
David Fincher wins Best Director.
Colin Firth wins Best Actor.
Natalie Portman wins Best Actress.
The King's Speech wins Best Film.
Awards Breakdown
The King's Speech wins 7 Awards.
The Social Network wins 3 Awards
Inception wins 3 Awards
Alice in Wonderland wins 2 Awards
classy tribute, brett....
i didn't know that betty garrett was a victim of the hollywood blacklist; loved her in my sister eileen and on the town
par -- yeah,she's so funny in those movies. that cab scene in ON THE TOWN. such a hoot. I wanted to post it here but all the stupid vids are "embedding disabled by request" this is such a common problem with the classic hollywood obessives on YouTube. i'm not sure why they *all* seem to believe that disabling the sharing is good to spread the word about old films ;)