Betty Hutton

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Betty Hutton (1944)

Betty Hutton (born February 26, 1921 in Battle Creek , Michigan , † March 11, 2007 in Palm Springs , California ; actually Elizabeth June Thornburg ) was an American actress , singer and entertainer .

Life

Betty Hutton had to support the family as a singer after the early death of her father. At the age of 13, she toured the United States as a singer in music bands and eventually gained a certain prominence with Vincent Lopez's orchestra in the late 1930s. Her inimitable, energetic way of speaking earned her the nickname Blonde Bombshell and enabled her to enjoy success on Broadway in 1940 . Her appearance in the Panama Hattie Revue earned her a contract with Paramount the following year . Hutton quickly became popular as an interpreter of atmospheric songs. She mostly played completely over-the-top waitresses and showgirls in films specially tailored to her talent. It was only Preston Sturges who recognized her talent for comedies and used her in Sensation in Morgan's Creek in 1944 , in which Hutton plays a switchboard operator who, after a turbulent farewell party for young soldiers, discovers that she is pregnant, but with the best will in the world does not contact her father can remember.

After the war, the Studio Hutton built up in response to Judy Garland and gave her roles in lavishly produced Technicolor musicals such as Incendiary Blonde , a biography of nightclub star Texas Guinan, and especially Pauline, Stop Kissing , who showed Hutton as the silent film star Pearl White .

She had her greatest success in 1950 when she took over the lead role from the collapsed Judy Garland in the disaster-plagued production of Duell in der Manege at MGM . The film became the most successful of all musicals MGM had produced by then, and Hutton returned to Paramount as the biggest star of the year. However, Hutton and the studio were often at odds, and the actress's emotional instability increased over the time. She argued endlessly with the producers and was only able to persuade with the greatest effort to take on the female lead in The Greatest Show in the World , for which Cecil B. DeMille received the Oscar for best film of the year in 1952 . The dispute with the studio eventually escalated during the filming of Somebody Loves Me , a biography of singer Blossom Seely, and Hutton stepped out of her current contract. One of the reasons for the falling out was the studio's refusal to use Hutton's then-husband to direct their films. She had her last appearance in front of a film camera in 1957 in the film Spring Reunion .

Hutton's grave in Desert Memorial Park Cemetery in Cathedral City

Hutton, who made nearly $ 20 million during her career, was plagued by a persistent shoulder injury, depression, drug abuse and alcoholism, and a tumultuous personal life in the years that followed. Several comeback attempts both on television and in Las Vegas ended mostly in disaster. In 1967 Hutton was bankrupt and for years lived completely withdrawn from welfare as a cook in a Catholic rectory in Rhode Island .

Betty Hutton, who is almost unknown in Germany, was one of the most famous singers in the United States at the height of her career. In the years 1944 to 1947 her five top 10 hits, including Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief , which reached the top of the US charts. Her other hits in 1944 were His Rocking Horse Ran Away and It Had To Be You , 1945 Stuff Like That There . Her last record success was the Frank Loesser song I Wish I Didn't Love You So in 1947.

In the novel The Valley of the Dolls (dt. Valley of the Dolls ) processed the author Jacqueline Susann a well-known story about Hutton. While working on Panama Hattie , a great stage success for Ethel Merman , she demanded on the night before the premiere that Hutton's best number should be deleted without replacement, otherwise it would steal the show.

Betty Hutton was married three times, in the third marriage from 1960 to 1967 with the jazz trumpeter Pete Candoli , who also accompanied her on musical performances. She had three daughters, two from the first and one from the third marriage.

Filmography

Awards

  • 1944: Golden Apple Award (in the "Most Cooperative Actress" category)
  • 1950: Photoplay Award (as the most popular female star for her performance in a duel in the ring )
  • 1951: Golden Globe Award (nominated in the category "Best Actress - Comedy or Musical" for her performance in a duel in the ring )
  • Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (6259 Hollywood Boulevard) in the "Film" category

Web links

Commons : Betty Hutton  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ US catalog number: Capitol 220; Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Records 1940-1955 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, 1973, p. 27.
personal data
SURNAME Hutton, Betty
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thornburg, Betty June
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Battle Creek , Michigan
DATE OF DEATH March 11, 2007
Place of death Palm Springs , California