Died: 11 March 2007
(complications from colon cancer)
Best Known As: The original "Blonde Bombshell"
Name at birth: Elizabeth June Thornburg
Movie star Betty Hutton was nicknamed "The Blonde Bombshell" because of her extreme energy on stage and screen. On Broadway in the early 1940s, she moved to Hollywood and played mostly comedic and musical parts; highlights included starring roles in The Perils of Pauline (1947) and Annie Get Your Gun (1950). Her career peaked when she played a trapeze artist in Cecil B. DeMille's 1952 circus spectacular The Greatest Show on Earth (with Charlton Heston. Shortly afterwards, a contract battle with Paramount Studios threw cold water on her movie career. She turned her unhappy personal life around in the 1970s, with the help of a Rhode Island priest. She went on to earn a college degree from Salve Regina, a Catholic college for women in Newport, Rhode Island. By the late 1980s she was teaching acting to students at Boston's Emerson College. Short as her film career was, Hutton is nonetheless remembered as an early prototype of the vivacious Hollywood blonde.
Representative Albums: "The Blonde Bombshell," "The Best of the RCA Years," "Spotlight on Betty Hutton"
Biography
Known as one of the most versatile and energetic entertainers of all time, Betty Hutton has been a band singer, performed on and off Broadway, in motion pictures, on-stage, and in nightclubs. Her acting range has proven her capable of both comedic and dramatic roles, in addition to the expected musical ones.
Hutton was born Betty June in Battle Creek, MI, to a railroad worker and a homemaker. Her sister, Marion Hutton, also flourished in the entertainment industry as a singer with the Modernaires and the Glenn Miller Orchestra. In 1923, Hutton's father left the family and her mother moved to Detroit, seeking a better life for her children. At the age of nine, Hutton began her singing career in a school performance. With her mother's encouragement, she sang in beer gardens and for local and resort bands. In 1936 she traveled to Broadway, but returned to Detroit after being told she would never make it.
Determined to succeed, Hutton continued to sing and dance in clubs in Detroit. At the Continental Club in Detroit, she got a break when Vincent Lopez signed her to sing with his orchestra under the name Betty Darling. In 1939, she performed in several short musical movies: One for the Book with Hal Sherman, Three Kings and a Queen, and Public Jitterbug #1 with Chaz Chase, Hal LeRoy, and Emerson's Sextette. With determination and effort, Hutton finally made it to Broadway in 1940. She made her Broadway debut in Two for the Show with then newcomers Eve Arden, Alfred Drake, Richard Haydn, Tommy Wonder, and Keenan Wynn.
She was well on her way to a successful musical career when she met producer B.G. DeSylva. He gave her a role in his Broadway musical Panama Hattie. She sang "Fresh as a Daisy," "They Ain't Doin' Right by Our Nell," and "All I Gotta Get Is My Man." The chorus included such singing greats as Lucille Bremer, Janis Carter, and Vera Ellen. When DeSylva took over Paramount in 1941, Hutton's career only flourished more. She performed in 14 films in 11 years, including Happy Go Lucky, Annie Get Your Gun with Howard Keel, Let's Dance with Fred Astaire, and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. In 1952, after a dispute with Paramount, Hutton left Hollywood and films to perform on Broadway, in concerts and nightclubs, and to record her works.
Without looking back on her film disappointment, Hutton performed in London for three weeks at the Palladium Theater. In 1953, she returned to New York to perform in the Palace Theater with the Skylarks and comedian Dick Shawn. She performed many motion picture hits and received rave reviews. The next 12 years saw Hutton making television appearances on such programs as Gunsmoke and Burke's Law. In 1967, Hutton's life turned to despair as her mother passed away and she declared bankruptcy.
Getting her life back in order, Hutton decided to pursue an education in 1974. She attended Salve Regina University and earned a bachelor's degree. Shortly after she earned her master's degree and was awarded and honorary Ph.D. With her newfound zest for life, she began teaching acting and singing classes at the university. In 1985 she received an Award of Achievement from the Musical Theater Society of Emerson College in Boston for her contributions to musical theater.
Despite many setbacks, Hutton is recognized for her versatile singing and dancing techniques. She passed away in Palm Springs, CA, on March 12, 2007, at the age of 86. ~ Kim Summers, All Music Guide
Career Highlights: The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, Annie Get Your Gun, Star Spangled Rhythm
First Major Screen Credit: The Fleet's In (1942)
Biography
As a child, American actress Betty Hutton, born Elizabeth Thornburg in 1921, sang on street corners to help support her family after her father died. She was singing with bands by the time she was 13, eventually becoming the vocalist for the Vincent Lopez orchestra. Because of her exuberance and energy, she became known as "The Blonde Bombshell." She debuted on Broadway in Two for the Show in 1940, then in 1941, signed a film contract with Paramount. Hutton debuted onscreen in The Fleet's In (1942), and for the next decade appeared in tailor-made comedic roles and occasional dramatic roles. She sabotaged her own career in 1952, however, when she demanded that her husband (choreographer Charles O'Curran) direct her films; the studio refused and she walked out on her contract, after which she appeared in only one more film. Over the next 15 years, she worked occasionally onstage and in nightclubs, and co-starred on Broadway in Fade In Fade Out in 1965. Her career going nowhere, she attempted suicide in 1972; a friendly priest helped her find work in a Catholic rectory, and eventually she enrolled in college and earned a Master's degree. She went on to teach acting at two New England colleges. Hutton died in Palm Springs, CA, in early March 2007, at age 86. Her sister is actress Marion Thornburg. ~ All Movie Guide
Ted Briskin (1945–1950) (divorced) 2 children
Charles O'Curran
(1952–1955) (divorced) Alan W. Livingston
(1955–1960) (divorced) Pete Candoli (1960–1967) (divorced) 1 child
Betty Hutton (February 26, 1921 – March 11, 2007)[1] was an American stage, film, and television actress and singer.
Hutton was born as Elizabeth June Thornburg, a daughter of railroad foreman Percy E. Thornburg (1896-1939) and his wife, the former Mabel Lum (1901-1967). Her father abandoned the family for another woman and they did not hear from or see him again until they received a telegram, in 1939, informing them of his death from suicide. Along with her older sister Marion, Betty was raised by her mother, who took the surname Hutton and was later billed as the actress Sissy Jones. The three started singing in the family's speakeasy when Betty was 3 years old. Related troubles with the police kept the family on the move, and eventually they moved to Detroit. When interviewed as an established star appearing at the premiere of Let's Dance (1950), her mother — arriving with her, and following a police escort — quipped, "At least this time the police are in front of us!" Hutton sang in several local bands as a teenager, and at one point visited New York City hoping to perform on Broadway, where she was rejected.
A few years later, she was scouted by orchestra leader Vincent Lopez, who gave Hutton her entry into entertainment. In 1939, she appeared in several musical shorts for Warner Bros., and appeared in a supporting role on Broadway in Panama Hattie[2] (starring Ethel Merman) and Two for the Show[3], both produced by Buddy DeSylva.
Career
When DeSylva became a producer at Paramount Pictures, Hutton was signed to a featured role in The Fleet's In (1942) which starred Paramount's number one female star Dorothy Lamour. Hutton made an instant impact with the moviegoing public, but Paramount did not immediately promote her to major stardom, giving her second leads in a Mary Martin film musical, Star Spangled Rhythm (1943), and another Lamour film before casting Hutton as the co-star of Bob Hope in Let's Face It (1943). Following the release of The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944), Hutton was indisputably a major star, and with the release of Incendiary Blonde (1945), she had supplanted Lamour as Paramount's number one female box office attraction.
Hutton made nineteen films in eleven years, from 1942 to 1952 including a hugely popular The Perils of Pauline in 1947. She was billed over Fred Astaire in the 1950 musical Let's Dance. Hutton's greatest screen triumph was Annie Get Your Gun (1950) for MGM, which hired Hutton to replace an exhausted Judy Garland in the role of Annie Oakley. The film and the leading role, retooled for Hutton, was a smash hit, with the biggest critical praise going to Hutton (her obituary in The New York Times described her as "a brassy, energetic performer with a voice that could sound like a fire alarm")[4] but Hutton, like Garland, was earning a reputation for being extremely difficult.
In 1944, she signed with Capitol Records, one of the earliest artists to do so, but was unhappy with their management, and later signed with RCA Victor. Among her many films was an unbilled cameo in Sailor Beware (1952) with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, in which she portrayed Dean's girlfriend, Hetty Button. Her time as a Hollywood star came to an end due to contract disagreements with Paramount following The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) and Somebody Loves Me (1952), a biopic of singer Blossom Seeley. The New York Times indicated that her film career ended because of her insistence that her husband at the time, Charles O'Curran, direct her next film; when the studio declined, Hutton broke her contract. Hutton's last completed film was a small one, 1957's Spring Reunion. She gave an understated, sensitive performance in the drama; box office receipts showed the public didn't accept a subdued Hutton.
Hutton worked in radio, appeared in Las Vegas and in nightclubs, then tried her luck on the new medium of television. An original musical TV spectacular written especially for Hutton, Satin and Spurs (1954),[5] was an enormous flop with the public and critics, despite being one of the first television programs televised nationally by NBC in compatible color. Desilu Productions took a chance on Hutton and in 1959 gave her a sitcom The Betty Hutton Show, which quickly faded. Hutton returned to Broadway briefly when she temporarily replaced a hospitalized Carol Burnett in Fade Out - Fade In[6] in 1964. In 1967, she was signed to star in two low-budget westerns for Paramount, but was fired shortly after the projects began.
Afterwards, Hutton had trouble with alcohol and substance abuse (sleeping pills), eventually attempting suicide after losing her singing voice in 1970, and having a nervous breakdown. She divorced her fourth husband, jazz trumpeter Pete Candoli, and declared herself bankrupt. Renewed interest in Hutton was generated in a well-publicized "Love-In for Betty Hutton" held at New York City's Riverboat Restaurant, emceed by comedian Joey Adams, with several old Hollywood pals on hand. The 1974 event raised $10,000 (USD) for Hutton and gave her spirits a big boost. Steady work, unfortunately, still eluded her. She appeared in an interview with Mike Douglas and a brief guest appearance in 1975 on Baretta.
However, after regaining control of her life through rehab, and the mentorship of a Roman Catholic priest, Father Peter Maguire, Hutton converted to Roman Catholicism and took a job as a cook at a rectory in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. A 9th grade drop-out, Hutton went back to school and later received her Master's Degree in psychology from Salve Regina University. She would work as a casino hostess, charity counselor and acting teacher into the late 1980s.
Hutton followed Dorothy Loudon as the evil Miss Hannigan in Annie on Broadway in 1980.[7] Her last known performance in any medium was on Jukebox Saturday Night, which aired on PBS in 1983.[8] After the death of her ally Father Maguire, Hutton returned to California, moving to Palm Springs in 1999 after decades in New England. Hutton hoped to become closer to her daughters and grandchildren, as she told Robert Osborne on TCM's Private Screenings in April 2000, though her children remained distant. She told Osborne that she understood their hesitancy to accept a now elderly mother. The TCM interview first aired on July 18, 2000. The program was rerun as a memorial on the evening of her death in 2007, and again on July 11, 2008 and April 14, 2009. [9]
Marriages
Hutton's first marriage was to camera manufacturer Ted Briskin on September 3, 1945; they divorced in 1950. Two daughters were born to the couple, Lindsay Diane Briskin (born 1946) and Candice Elizabeth Briskin (born 1948). Hutton's second marriage was in 1952 to choreographer Charles O'Curran, and they divorced in 1955; he died in 1984.
Her third marriage was in 1955 to Alan W. Livingston, an executive with Capitol Records, who had created Bozo the Clown; they divorced five years later, although some accounts refer to this as a nine-month marriage.
Her fourth and final marriage was in 1960 to jazz trumpeter Pete Candoli, a brother of Conte Candoli. Hutton and Candoli had one child, Carolyn Candoli (born 1962) and then divorced in 1967 (although some accounts place the year as 1964).
Death
Betty Hutton's headstone at Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California. Her epitaph reads "Loved by all".
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