MGM Song and Dance Star Shines No More

MGM Song and Dance Star Shines No More

Broadway, television and film actor Betty Garrett passed away last night at the age of 91..She co-stared with Frank Sinatra and Red Skelton, including the classic song "Baby, it's cold outside." Her  career was hampered by McCarthyism and the Hollywood blacklist. Son Garrett Parks says Garrett died Saturday at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, most likely from an aortic aneurysm. Garrett played the flirtatious girl in love with the shy Sinatra in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and "On the Town," both in 1949.Her movie career was cut short after congressmen forced her husband, actor Larry Parks, to testify in 1951 about his earlier membership in the Communist Party. Her career shifted to Broadway and regional theatre. Later in life she became well-known to TV audiences with recurring roles in the 1970s sitcoms "All in the the Family" and "Laverne and Shirley." She taught weekly Musical Theatre classes up until days prior to her passing.