Betty Garrett

Made her theatrical debut in a 1938 Mercury Theatre production of "Danton's Death". Later performed at the 1939 World's Fair. She was under contract at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1947-49).

With his admission of Communist Party membership from 1941-1945 and refusal to name names, he made it to the Hollywood Blacklist. After the incident, Garrett and Parks worked up nightclub singing/comedy acts along with appearing in legit plays.

A sunny singer, dancer and comic actress, Betty Garrett starred in several Hollywood musicals and stage roles. She was at the top of her game when the Communist scare in the 1950s brought her career to a screeching, ugly halt. She and her husband Larry Parks, an Oscar-nominated actor, were summoned by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee and questioned about their involvement. As the drama played out, a very pregnant Garrett was never called to testify, but her husband was.

Co-founder, with Carol Eve Rossen and Sandy Kenyon, of "Theatre West", an internationally acclaimed non-profit arts organization in Hollywood, in 1962.

Best known by the public for her roles as Irene Lorenzo on All in the Family (1971) and as Edna Babish on Laverne & Shirley (1976).

Suzanne Collins, Donna Fuller, Sally Klein, Laurie O'Brien, Jennifer Parsons, Teri Ralston and she were awarded the 1983 Drama Logue Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance for "Quilters" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Live Theatre at 6706 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on May 23, 2003 (her 84th birthday).