BETTY HUTTON BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
Betty Hutton was born on February 26, 1921 in Battle Creek, Michigan with the birth name Elizabeth June Thornburg. When she was only two years old her father abandoned her family and left her mother to support the family alone. She relocated to Detroit and tried to find work in a number of auto factories. However, times were tough and so she decided to open a tavern known as a speakesy. These were against the law at the time and were constantly getting shut down. Just like any other owner of this type of tavern , when they would get shut down they owners would relocate and open another one. Such was the came for Hutton, therefore never having a very stable childhood and to add to the confusion her mother was also an alcoholic.
When Betty was only nine years old she began singing in school productions. When her mother realized that her daughter had a musical talent, she would try to get a career going for her by getting her to sing for any group that would take a nine year old child. This also helped with making extra income for the family. When Betty was fifteen she decided to move to New York in pursuit of a musical career, however, without any luck she soon returned home to Detroit.
In 1940 Betty decided to try again and moved to New York. This time she was able to get small parts on various Broadway productions. Soon she was ready for the big screen and packed up and relocated to Los Angeles, California.
Upon her arrival in California she was able to get some small parts on a number of short musicals such as, "One for the Book" (1940), "Public Jitterbug No. 1" (1939), "Vincent Lopaz and His Orchestra" (1939) and "Three Kings and a Queen" (1939) with Paramount Pictures.
Working with Paramount lead her to a contract at the age of twenty one she was signed and made her first feature film debut in, "The Fleet's In" (1942) this role was followed by three more musical film appearances in 1942 and 1943.
Betty wanted to show viewers that she was not only a great singer but also a good actress and therefore tried to break out of the typecast films she had been doing. She was cast in the film, "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" (1944) which was a comedy and she proved her point. She followed this role with a number of other decent films before she was cast in the movie, "Dream Girl" (1948) which received horrible reviews. Luckily she did make a decent come back with three more film roles, "Red, Hot and Blue" (1949), "Annie Get Your Gun" (1950) and "The Greatest Show on Earth" (1952).
Her career then began to dramatically slow down as she really felt that she was not getting offered roles that truly showcased her talents. She pursued a couple television roles such as the television movie "Satins and Spurs" (1954) and did do one more film in 1957 on, "Spring Reunion" (1957), but for the most part she moved into retirement.
Betty Hutton married four times throughout her lifetime. Her first marriage was to Ted Briskin on September 3, 1945 and they had two daughter, Lindsay and Candice before the marriage ended in divorce in 1950. Her second marriage was to Charles O'Curran on March 18, 1952 and they were only together for three years and having no children before that marriage too came to an end. Then on March 8, 1955 she married for a third time to Alan Livingston and they were together until October 21, 1960. Her fourth and final time to marry was to Pete Candoli on December 24, 1960 and they had one daughter, Caroline, but this marriage too did not succeed ending on June 18, 1967.
Betty Hutton relocated to Palm Springs, California and remained in retirement until she passed away at the age of eighty six on March 11, 2007 in Palm Springs, California after battling colon cancer.
1964-1965 Burke's Law
1964 The Greatest Show on Earth
1959-1960 The Betty Hutton Show
1957 Spring Reunion
1954 Satins and Spurs
1952 Somebody Loves Me
1952 Sailor Beware
1952 The Greatest Show on Earth
1950 Let's Dance
1950 Annie Get Your Gun
1949 Red, Hot and Blue
1948 Dream Girl
1947 The Perils of Pauline
1946 Cross My Heart
1945 The Stork Club
1945 Incendiary Blonde
1944 Here Come the Waves
1944 Skirmish on the Home Front
1944 And the Angels Sing
1944 The Miracle of Morgan's Creek
1943 Let's Face It
1943 Happy Go Lucky
1942 Star Spangled Rhythm
1942 The Fleet's In
1940 One for the Book
1939 Public Jitterbug No. 1