Betty Hutton

{{Infobox person

| name = Betty Hutton

| image = Betty Hutton 1945 portrait.jpg

| caption = Hutton {{circa}} 1945

| birth_name = Elizabeth June Thornburg

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|02|26|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Battle Creek, Michigan, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|03|12|1921|02|26|mf=y}}

| death_place = Palm Springs, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Desert Memorial Park

| other_names =

| alma_mater = Salve Regina University

| awards = Hollywood Walk of Fame

| occupation = {{hlist|Actress|comedian|singer|dancer}}

| years_active = 1938–1983

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Ted Briskin|1945|1951|end=div}}
{{marriage|Charles O'Curran|1952|1955|end=div}}
{{marriage|Alan W. Livingston|1955|1960|end=div}}
{{marriage|Pete Candoli|1960|1967|end=div}}

}}

| children = 3

| relatives = Marion Hutton (sister)

}}

Betty Hutton (born Elizabeth June Thornburg; February 26, 1921 – March 12, 2007){{efn|Information about the date of Hutton's death has conflicts.

Her gravestone says March 12, which is also given in the [https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V3BQ-3YS Social Security Death Index] and in [http://www.pscemetery.com/pdfs/interments.pdf a list provided by the cemetery].
[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/movies/14hutton.html The New York Times obituary], published on March 14 (Wednesday), says she died "Sunday night", which was March 11.
The [https://web.archive.org/web/20120816022803/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/17586022/ns/today-entertainment/t/musical-star-betty-hutton-dead#.TsUuz_JLM1I AP obituary] does not have a clear death date: "The death was confirmed Monday by a friend of Hutton, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, citing her wishes that her death be announced at a specified time by the executor of her estate, Carl Bruno."
The [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/mar/14/guardianobituaries.obituaries1 Guardian obituary] was first published with March 12 as the death date, which was then changed to the 11th a week later, per the note at the bottom.}}

was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedian, dancer, and singer. She rose to fame in the 1940s as a contract player for Paramount Pictures, appearing primarily in musicals and became one of the studio's most valuable stars. She was noted for her energetic performance style.

Raised in Detroit during the Great Depression by a single mother who worked as a bootlegger, Hutton began performing as a singer from a young age, entertaining patrons of her mother's speakeasy. While performing in local nightclubs, she was discovered by orchestra leader Vincent Lopez, who hired her as a singer in his band.

In 1940, Hutton was cast in the Broadway productions Two for the Show and Panama Hattie, and attracted notice for her raucous and animated live performances. She relocated to Los Angeles in 1941 after being signed by Paramount Pictures, and concurrently recorded numerous singles for Capitol Records. Her breakthrough role came in Preston Sturges's The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944), and she went on to receive further notice for her lead role as Annie Oakley in the musical Annie Get Your Gun (1950), and for Cecil B. DeMille's epic The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). She made her final feature film appearance in Spring Reunion (1957).

After leaving Paramount, Hutton starred in her own series, The Betty Hutton Show, from 1959 until 1960. She continued to perform in stage productions, though her career faltered following a series of personal struggles, including chronic depression, alcoholism, and prescription drug addiction. Hutton largely abandoned her performing career by the 1970s, and found employment in a Rhode Island rectory after becoming nearly destitute. She returned to the stage temporarily replacing Alice Ghostley in the original Broadway production of Annie in 1980.

In her later life, Hutton attended Salve Regina University, where she earned a master's degree in psychology in 1986. After working as an acting instructor at Emerson College, Hutton returned to California in 1999 and resided in Palm Springs, where she died in 2007, aged 86.

Early life

Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg on February 26, 1921, in Battle Creek, Michigan, the youngest of two daughters of Percy Thornburg, a railroad brakeman, and Mabel Thornburg (née Lum). When she was two years old, her father abandoned the family. They did not hear of him again until they received a telegram years later, informing them of his suicide.{{cite web|work=Legacy.com|title=Betty Hutton: Incendiary Blonde|date=March 11, 2012|author=Legacy Staff|url=https://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity-deaths/betty-hutton-incendiary-blonde/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230411034444/https://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity-deaths/betty-hutton-incendiary-blonde/|archive-date=April 11, 2023}} Betty and her older sister, Marion, were raised by their single mother, who was an alcoholic.{{cite magazine|magazine=Time|title=Cinema: This Side of Happiness|date=April 24, 1950|url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,812252,00.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230411024204/https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,812252,00.html|archive-date=April 11, 2023}} {{small|(Note: Toggle through numbered subpages for full source.)}}

Hutton's formative years during the Great Depression were marked by poverty, with Hutton's mother supporting herself and her two children by working as an automobile upholsterer and running an illegal speakeasy out of her home in Lansing, Michigan. There, Hutton and her sister regularly performed songs to entertain customers of the speakeasy.

Due to her mother's bootlegging of alcohol during prohibition, the family relocated frequently to evade police, eventually settling in Detroit when she was eight years old. Recalling her childhood, Hutton said: "Mom just ran a joint on a small scale. We'd operate until the cops got wise. Then they'd move in and close us down, and we'd move somewhere else. Marion and I would entertain the customers by dancing and singing. We really lived that way until we were 12 and 14 years old... Things were really tough. At one time we were down to one can of beans."

Hutton attended Foch Intermediate School in Detroit{{cite web|url=http://www.bettyhuttonestate.com/|title=Betty Hutton Estate|website=Bettyhuttonestate.com|access-date=October 24, 2019}} before dropping out in ninth grade. She sang in several local bands as a teenager, and at 15 attempted to find stage work in New York City; her efforts proved unsuccessful, after which she returned to Detroit.

Career

=1938–1940: Music and Broadway=

In 1938, Hutton was discovered by orchestra leader Vincent Lopez while she was performing as a singer in local Detroit nightclubs. Lopez recruited her as a member of his band, and she began touring with them as a singer, billed as Betty Jane. During her tenure with the band, Hutton established a distinctive "whoop and holler" vocal style.{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/hutton-betty-1921|title=Hutton, Betty 1921–2007|url-status=live|archive-date=April 11, 2023|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230411033330/https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/hutton-betty-1921}} Lopez, an adherent of numerology, used his numerology practice to rebrand her with the stage name Betty Hutton: "I tried to get a vibration that would make her a lot of money. It was a five-eight vibration. After that she did fine." Through her work with Lopez, Hutton was hired to appear in several musical shorts for Warner Bros.: Queens of the Air (1938), Three Kings and a Queen (1939), Public Jitterbug No. 1 (1939), and One for the Book (1940).

In 1940, Hutton was cast in the Broadway production Two for the Show, which ran for 124 performances and received rave reviews.{{cite web|work=Playbill|title=Two for the Show (Broadway, Booth Theatre, 1940)|url=https://www.playbill.com/production/two-for-the-show-booth-theatre-vault-0000001795|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230411020808/https://www.playbill.com/production/two-for-the-show-booth-theatre-vault-0000001795|archive-date=April 11, 2023}} Hutton soon became known for her raucous performances onstage, summarized in a 1950 Time magazine article:

{{quote|During the show's run, hardworking, hard-cussing actress Hutton spared her fellow performers no more than she spared herself. She thrashed about so violently that once she catapulted off the stage and onto a drummer in the orchestra pit. In a number that required her to maul Keenan Wynn, she once toed him into a dead faint, forced him to take to protective padding. Among her later victims: Bob Hope, whose teeth caps she sent scattering over a soundstage floor during a bit of jujitsu; Cinemactor Frank Faylen, whom she knocked out with a right to the jaw when the director demanded realism; Eddie Bracken, who, in a saloon scene, caught a Hutton slap on the back that looped him over the bar and into a heap on the other side. "When they work with me," crows Betty, "they gotta get insurance policies."}}

Two for the Show was produced by Buddy DeSylva, who then cast Hutton in Panama Hattie (1940–1942). This was a major hit, running for 501 performances.{{cite web|work=Playbill|url=https://www.playbill.com/production/panama-hattie-46th-street-theatre-vault-0000003143|url-status=live|title=Panama Hattie (Broadway, Richard Rogers Theatre, 1940)|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230411020937/https://www.playbill.com/production/panama-hattie-46th-street-theatre-vault-0000003143|archive-date=April 11, 2023}} It starred Ethel Merman; despite rumors through the years that Merman demanded from envy that Hutton's musical numbers be reduced from the show, more careful reports demonstrate that producer DeSylva chose to cut just one song of three, "They Ain't Done Right by Our Nell", due to Hutton's "always in overdrive" performance style.{{cite book|first=Brian|last=Kellow|title=Ethel Merman: A Life|location=New York City, New York|publisher= Viking|year=2007|pages=90–91|isbn=978-0-670-01829-1}}

=1941–1949: Paramount contract and breakthrough=

File:Betty Hutton - USN.jpg, Oahu, Hawaii, 1945]]

When DeSylva became a producer at Paramount Pictures, he offered Hutton a contract with the studio, and she relocated to Los Angeles. She was first cast in a featured role in The Fleet's In (1942), starring Paramount's number-one female star Dorothy Lamour, alongside Eddie Bracken and William Holden. The film was popular and Hutton was an instant hit with the moviegoing public.{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/variety149-1943-01|title=Variety (January 1943)|date=October 24, 1943|publisher=New York, NY: Variety Publishing Company|via=Internet Archive}}

Hutton was one of the many Paramount contract artists who appeared in Star Spangled Rhythm (1942). The same year, she was signed to the newly-formed Capitol Records and recorded a number of singles over the following several years, marking one of the label's earliest recording artists.{{cite web|work=The Guardian|title=Betty Hutton|date=March 14, 2007|last=Bergan|first=Ronald|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/mar/14/guardianobituaries.obituaries1|archive-date=April 11, 2023|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230411045910/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/mar/14/guardianobituaries.obituaries1|url-status=live}} Meanwhile, Paramount did not immediately promote her to major stardom, but gave the second lead in a Mary Martin film musical, Happy Go Lucky (1943). The response was positive, and Hutton was given co-star billing with Bob Hope in Let's Face It (1943). During that year, she made $1250 per week.{{cite journal |journal=Click: The National Picture Monthly |title=Hollywood Fights Its Slowdown: Wage-ceiling starlets will solve the shortage of stars |issue=March 1943 |page= 17}}

File:Betty Hutton HD-SN-99-02415.JPEG, December 1944]]

In 1942, writer-director Preston Sturges cast Hutton in The Miracle of Morgan's Creek as a dopey but endearing small-town girl who gives local troops a happy send-off and wakes up married and pregnant, but with no memory of who her husband is. The film was delayed by Hays Office objections and Sturges' prolific output, and was finally released early in 1944. The film made Hutton a major star; Sturges was nominated for a Best Writing Oscar, the film was named to the National Film Board's Top Ten films for the year, and the National Board of Review nominated the film for Best Picture of 1944, and awarded Betty Hutton the award for Best Acting for her performance. The New York Times named it as one of the 10 Best Films of 1942–1944.

Critic James Agee noted that "the Hays office must have been raped in its sleep"{{cite web |url=https://www.tribecafilm.com/stories/512c128d1c7d76d9a900082a-the-reelist-virgins-on-fi |title=The Reelist: Virgins on Film |last=Donnelly |first=Elisabeth |date=July 21, 2009|website=Tribeca Film |url-status=dead|archive-date=November 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122132102/https://www.tribecafilm.com/stories/512c128d1c7d76d9a900082a-the-reelist-virgins-on-fi}} to allow the film to be released. And although the Hays Office received many letters of protest because of the film's subject matter, it was Paramount's highest-grossing film of 1944, playing to standing room-only audiences in some theatres.

Hutton was next cast in Paramount's And the Angels Sing (1944) with Fred MacMurray and Dorothy Lamour, and Here Come the Waves (1944) with Bing Crosby. Both were huge hits. DeSylva, one of Capitol's founders, also co-produced her next hit, the musical Incendiary Blonde (1945), where she played Texas Guinan. It was directed by veteran comedy director George Marshall and Hutton had replaced Lamour as Paramount's top female box-office attraction. Hutton was one of many Paramount stars in Duffy's Tavern (1945), and was top billed in The Stork Club (1945) with Barry Fitzgerald, produced by DeSylva. Hutton went into Cross My Heart (1946) with Sonny Tufts, which she disliked. She did however enjoy the popular The Perils of Pauline (1947), directed by Marshall, where she sang a Frank Loesser song that was nominated for an Oscar: "I Wish I Didn't Love You So".{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/variety169-1948-01|title=Variety (January 1948)|date=October 24, 1948|publisher=New York, NY: Variety Publishing Company|via=Internet Archive}} The recording sold over a million copies worldwide and reached number six in the U.S. charts.{{cite book

| first= Joseph

| last= Murrells

| year= 1978

| title= The Book of Golden Discs

| edition= 2nd

| publisher= Barrie and Jenkins Ltd

| location= London

| page= [https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/39 39]

| isbn= 0-214-20512-6

| url-access= registration

| url= https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/39

}}

Hutton's relationship with Paramount began to disintegrate when DeSylva left the studio due to illness (he died in 1950). "After he left I started doing scripts that I knew weren't good for me."

Hutton made Dream Girl (1948) with MacDonald Carey, which she later said, "almost ruined me." She did Red, Hot and Blue (1949) with Victor Mature, which she also disliked.

=1950–1958: ''Annie Get Your Gun'', film career decline=

File:Betty Hutton in Annie Get Your Gun trailer 2.jpg for Annie Get Your Gun (1950)]]

Hutton acted in Annie Get Your Gun (1950) for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Next, she was billed above Fred Astaire in the 1950 musical Let's Dance.

File:Betty Hutton - 1952.jpg

She was one of several stars in The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), an epic drama directed by Cecil B. DeMille about performers in a circus which won two Academy Awards: Best Picture and Best Story. Hutton portrayed a trapeze artist in the film, and trained extensively for the role for six months, allowing her to perform many of her own stunts.{{cite web|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/greatest-show-earth-cecil-b-demille-best-article-1.2085398|work=New York Daily News|title='The Greatest Show On Earth' is Cecil B. DeMille's best: 1952 review|archive-date=April 11, 2023|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230411022128/https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/greatest-show-earth-cecil-b-demille-best-article-1.2085398|url-status=live|date=February 17, 2015}} She made an unbilled cameo in Sailor Beware (1952) with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, a remake of The Fleet's In, in which she portrayed Dean's girlfriend, Hetty Button.

She made Somebody Loves Me (1952), a biography of singer Blossom Seeley, with Ralph Meeker.

Hutton then clashed with Paramount. The New York Times reported that the dispute resulted from her insistence that her husband at the time, choreographer Charles O'Curran, direct her in a film.{{cite news |last1=Severo |first1=Richard |title=Betty Hutton, Film Star of '40s and '50s, Dies at 86 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/movies/14hutton.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 14, 2007|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120905021405/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/movies/14hutton.html?_r=1|archive-date=September 5, 2012|url-status=live}}

In April 1952, Hutton returned to Broadway, performing in Betty Hutton and Her All-Star International Show. In July 1952, she announced that her husband and she would form a production company."Betty Hutton to Produce Films, Appear on TV". Los Angeles Times. (July 18, 1952): 20. She left Paramount in August.Thomas, Bob (August 7, 1952). "Betty Hutton, Husband Form Own Company". The Washington Post: 22.

Hutton transitioned to radio work, and appeared in Las Vegas, where she had a great success performing in live theater productions.Schallert, Edwin (October 14, 1954). "Betty Hutton Terrific in 'Final' Appearance". Los Angeles Times: A12. She had the rights to a screenplay about Sophie Tucker, but was unable to raise funds. In 1954, TV producer Max Liebman, of comedian Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, fashioned his first "Color Spectacular" as an original musical written especially for Hutton, Satins and Spurs.Television in Review: Betty Hutton: N. B. C. Stages First of Color 'Spectaculars' ' Satins and Spurs' Has Some Lusty Hoofing V. A. The New York Times. September 13, 1954: 31. Hutton's last completed film was a small one, Spring Reunion (1957). It was a financial disappointment. She also became disillusioned with Capitol's management and moved to RCA Victor. In 1957, she appeared on a Dinah Shore show on NBC that also featured Boris Karloff; the program has been preserved on a kinescope.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

=1959–1964: Television work=

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz took a chance on Hutton in 1959, with their company Desilu Productions giving her a CBS sitcom, The Betty Hutton Show. Hutton hired the still-blacklisted and future film composer Jerry Fielding to direct her series.Billboard Oct 26, 1959 p. 52 They had met over the years in Las Vegas when he was blacklisted from TV and radio and could get no other work, and her Hollywood career was also fading. It was Fielding's first network job since losing his post as musical director of Groucho Marx's You Bet Your Life in 1953 after hostile questioning by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee. The Betty Hutton Show ended after 30 episodes.Korman, Seymour (September 26, 1959). "Betty Hutton Turns to 'Goldie{{'"}}. Chicago Daily Tribune: p. A5.

Hutton continued headlining in Las Vegas and touring across the country. She returned to Broadway briefly in 1964 when she temporarily replaced a hospitalized Carol Burnett in the show Fade Out – Fade In.{{cite web|url=http://www.ibdb.com/productionreplacements.asp?ID=3203|title=Fade Out – Fade In replacement cast members at IBDB|access-date=2009-04-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020001349/http://www.ibdb.com/productionreplacements.asp?ID=3203|archive-date=2012-10-20|url-status=dead}} She guest-starred on shows such as The Greatest Show on Earth, Burke's Law, and Gunsmoke.

=1965–1979: Personal and financial struggles=

By the early 1960s, Hutton's career had declined significantly, attributed to her chronic depression and addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs.{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/91392%7C20438/Betty-Hutton/#biography|work=Turner Classic Movies|title=Betty Hutton Biography|archive-date=January 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128092354/https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/91392%20438/Betty-Hutton/|url-status=live}} Turner Classic Movies described her career downswing as "one of the grimmest declines in Hollywood history." Following the 1962 death of her mother in a house fire,{{cite web |last1=Estate |first1=Betty Hutton |title=Betty Hutton Estate |url=https://www.bettyhuttonestate.com/ |website=Betty Hutton Estate |access-date=March 20, 2022}} and the collapse of her last marriage, Hutton's depression and substance abuse escalated.{{cite web|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/iobituaryi-betty-hutton/YQVMXK6E4MKVFYDYTJSGUPPPEA/|work=New Zealand Herald|title=Obituary: Betty Hutton|date=March 16, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230410040438/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/iobituaryi-betty-hutton/YQVMXK6E4MKVFYDYTJSGUPPPEA/|archive-date=April 10, 2023}} She divorced her fourth husband, jazz trumpeter Pete Candoli, when she discovered he had fallen in love with Edie Adams (who would become Candoli's second wife), and attempted suicide, causing her to lose custody of her youngest daughter, Carolyn, then sixteen years old. She declared bankruptcy the same year."Landlords Sue Betty Hutton". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. March 10, 1967: B8.

In 1967, she was signed to make a comeback starring in two low-budget Westerns for Paramount, but was fired shortly after the projects began. After losing her singing voice in 1970, Hutton had a nervous breakdown and again attempted suicide. She regained control of her life through rehabilitation, and the mentorship of a Catholic priest, Father Peter Maguire. Hutton converted to Catholicism, and took a job as a cook and housekeeper at a rectory in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. She made national headlines when it was revealed she was practically penniless and working in a rectory. Speaking on her conversion to Catholicism, Hutton stated that she had been fascinated by the religion since childhood, though she was raised irreligious by her mother, who was an atheist.{{cite AV media|work=The Mike Douglas Show|date=1977|title=At Home with Betty Hutton: Part 1|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhiRWEEzDvs&t=441s|via=YouTube|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412035805/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhiRWEEzDvs&t=441s|archive-date=April 12, 2023|access-date=April 12, 2023}}

After an aborted comeback in 1974, she was hospitalized with emotional exhaustion."Betty Hutton Put in Mental Hospital". Los Angeles Times. December 14, 1974: 5.

Hutton appeared in an interview with Mike Douglas and made a brief guest appearance in 1975 on Baretta. In September 1978, Hutton was featured on The Phil Donahue Show, where she extensively discussed her life and career.{{cite episode|series=The Phil Donahue Show|airdate=September 20, 1978|title=Betty Hutton|network=Multimedia Entertainment}} She was then happily employed as hostess at a Newport, Rhode Island, jai alai arena.

She also appeared on Good Morning America, which led to a 1978 televised reunion with her two daughters. Hutton began living in a shared home with her divorced daughter and grandchildren in California, but returned to the East Coast for a three-week return to the stage.{{Citation needed |date=August 2024}}

=1980–1983: Return to Broadway and academic endeavors=

In 1980, she took over the role of Miss Hannigan during the original Broadway production of Annie while Alice Ghostley was on vacation. Ghostley replaced the original Miss Hannigan actress, Dorothy Loudon (who won a Tony Award for the role).{{cite web|url=http://www.ibdb.com/productionreplacements.asp?ID=3996|title=Annie replacement cast members at IBDB|access-date=2009-04-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212194009/http://ibdb.com/productionreplacements.asp?ID=3996|archive-date=2009-02-12|url-status=dead}}

Hutton's rehearsal of the song "Little Girls" was featured on Good Morning America. Her Broadway comeback was also included in a profile on CBS News Sunday Morning about her life, her struggle with pills, and her recovery.Betty Hutton: A Trouper's Torment: The Showbiz Fires Are Banked, But the Flame of Hope Burns High A Trouper's Torments

By Paul Hendrickson. The Washington Post 10 Feb 1979: C1.

A ninth-grade drop-out, Hutton went back to school and earned a master's degree in psychology from Salve Regina University in 1986.{{Cite journal|last=Salve Regina College|date=May 18, 1986|title=Salve Regina College Thirty-Sixth Annual Commencement program, 1986|url=https://digitalcommons.salve.edu/commencement-programs/39|journal=Salve Regina University Commencement Programs}} During her time at the university, Hutton became friends with fellow student and singer-songwriter Kristin Hersh, and attended several early concerts of Hersh's band, Throwing Muses.{{cite web|url=http://www.kristinhersh.com/beautiful-old-betty/|author=Hersh, Kristin|author-link=Kristin Hersh|title=Beautiful Old Betty |via=KristinHersh.com |work=Powell's Books|date=September 27, 2007 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130128154039/http://www.kristinhersh.com/beautiful-old-betty/|archive-date=January 28, 2013}} Hersh later wrote the song "Elizabeth June" as a tribute to Hutton, and wrote about their relationship in further detail in her memoir, Rat Girl (2010).{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/books/review/Sheffield-t.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110403075805/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/books/review/Sheffield-t.html|url-status=dead|title=Book Review - Rat Girl - By Kristin Hersh|first=Rob|last=Sheffield|date=October 8, 2010|archive-date=April 3, 2011|website=The New York Times}}

After completing her master's degree, Hutton worked as a drama instructor at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts.{{cite web|work=NPR|title=Betty Hutton's Life Filled with Drama|last=Schwartz|first=Lloyd|date=March 16, 2007|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8955166|archive-date=April 11, 2023|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230411023319/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8955166|url-status=live}}

Hutton's last known performance, in any medium, was on Jukebox Saturday Night, which aired on PBS in 1983.{{Citation needed |date=August 2021}} She became estranged again from her daughters.

File:Hutton, Betty (grave).jpg, Cathedral City, California]]

Personal life

=Marriages and children=

Hutton was once engaged to the head of the Warner Bros. makeup department, makeup artist Perc Westmore, in 1942,{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19421105&id=OSBPAAAAIBAJ&pg=4327,4375741&hl=en |title=Perc Westmore to Wed Again |work=St. Petersburg Times |date=November 5, 1942 |via=Google News Archive |access-date=July 24, 2016}} but broke off the engagement, saying it was because he bored her.{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6gUoAAAAIBAJ&pg=3597,3035472&dq=perc+westmore&hl=en|title=The Milwaukee Journal |via=Google News Archive |access-date=July 24, 2016}}{{Dead link|date=August 2021}}

Her first marriage was to camera manufacturer Ted Briskin in September 1945. The couple met in a nightclub and she described their meeting as "love at first sight." The couple had two daughters, Lindsay ({{abbr|b.|born}} 1946) and Candice ({{abbr|b.|born}} 1948), before their marriage ended in divorce in 1951.{{cite web |title=Betty Hutton Remembered |url=http://streamline.filmstruck.com/2007/03/19/betty-hutton-remembered/ |website=Streamline: The Filmstruck Blog |access-date=7 June 2018 |date=19 March 2007 |archive-date=12 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140639/http://streamline.filmstruck.com/2007/03/19/betty-hutton-remembered/ |url-status=dead }}

Hutton's second marriage in 1952 was to choreographer Charles O'Curran. They divorced in 1955. He died in 1984.{{Citation needed |date=August 2024}}

She married husband Alan W. Livingston in 1955, weeks after her divorce from O'Curran. They divorced in 1960.

Her fourth and final marriage in 1960 was to jazz trumpeter Pete Candoli. They divorced in 1967. Hutton and Candoli had one child, Carolyn ({{abbr|b.|born}} 1962).{{Citation needed |date=August 2024}}

=Final years and death=

After the death of her mentor, Father Maguire, Hutton returned to California, moving to Palm Springs in 1999, after decades in New England. Hutton hoped to grow 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, April 14, 2009, January 26, 2010, and as recently as March 18, 2017.{{YouTube|1-_IOIYrfL4|Robert Osborne interview on TCM}}, video, 60 minutes{{dead link|date=April 2025}} as part of TCM's memorial tribute for Robert Osborne.

Hutton lived in Palm Springs until her death on March 12, 2007 at the age of 86 from complications of colon cancer.{{cite news| url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/actress-and-singer-betty-hutton-dead/ | work=CBS News | title=Actress And Singer Betty Hutton Dead}} She is buried at Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California.{{Cite web|url=http://www.pscemetery.com/pdfs/interments.pdf|title=Palm Springs Cemetery District "Interment Information"}}

Legacy

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Betty Hutton has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6259 Hollywood Boulevard.{{cite web|url=http://www.walkoffame.com/betty-hutton|title=Betty Hutton - Hollywood Walk of Fame|website=Walkoffame.com|access-date=October 24, 2019}}

Hit songs

File:I-Wish-I-Didn't-Love-You-So-1947-Capitol.jpg (1947) and released on Capitol Records, "I Wish I Didn't Love You So" received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song]]

class="wikitable"
Year ! Title ! Chart peak ! Catalog number ! Notes
rowspan=3\|1939 \| "Old Man Mose" \| \| \| with Vincent Lopez Orchestra
"Igloo" \| 15 \| Bluebird 10300 \| with Vincent Lopez Orchestra
"The Jitterbug" \| \| Bluebird 10367 \| with Vincent Lopez Orchestra
rowspan=2\|1942 \| "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry" \| \| \|
"I'm Doin' It For Defense" \| \| \|
rowspan=2\|1943 \| "Murder, He Says" \| \| \|
"The Fuddy Duddy Watchmaker" \| \| \|
rowspan=3\|1944 \| "Bluebirds in my Belfry" \| \| \|
"It Had To Be You" \| 5 \| Capitol 155 \| with Paul Weston Orchestra
"His Rocking Horse Ran Away" \| 7 \| Capitol 155 \| with Paul Weston Orchestra
rowspan=5\|1945 \| "Stuff Like That There" \| 4 \| Capitol 188 \| with Paul Weston Orchestra
"What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?" \| 15 \| Capitol 211 \| with Paul Weston Orchestra
"(Doin' It) The Hard Way" \| \| Capitol 211 \| with Paul Weston Orchestra
"Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief" \| 1 \| Capitol 220 \| with Paul Weston Orchestra
"A Square in the Social Circle" \| \| Capitol 220 \| with Paul Weston Orchestra
1946 \| "My Fickle Eye" \| 21 \| RCA Victor 20-1915 \| with Joe Lilley Orchestra
rowspan=2\|1947 \| "Poppa, Don't Preach To Me" \| \| Capitol 380 \| with Joe Lilley Orchestra
"I Wish I Didn't Love You So" \| 5 \| Capitol 409 \| with Joe Lilley Orchestra
1949 \| "(Where Are You?) Now That I Need You" \| \| Capitol 620 \| with Joe Lilley Orchestra
rowspan=3\|1950 \| "Orange Colored Sky" \| 24 \| RCA Victor 20-3908 \| with Pete Rugolo Orchestra
"Can't Stop Talking" \| \| RCA Victor 20-3908 \| with Pete Rugolo Orchestra
"A Bushel and a Peck" (duet with Perry Como) \| 3 \| RCA Victor 20-3930 \| with Mitchell Ayres Orchestra
rowspan=2\|1951 \| "It's Oh So Quiet"{{cite journal \|title=Advance Record Releases \|journal=The Billboard \|date=July 7, 1951 \|page=30 \|issn=0006-2510 \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m0UEAAAAMBAJ&q=20+4179+%22Betty+Hutton%22&pg=PA30 \|access-date=September 6, 2011 }} \| \| RCA Victor 20-4179 \| with Pete Rugolo Orchestra
"The Musicians" (with Dinah Shore, Tony Martin and Phil Harris) \| 24 \| RCA Victor 20-4225 \| with Henri René Orchestra
1953 \| "Goin' Steady" \| 21 \| Capitol 2522 \| with Nelson Riddle Orchestra
1954 \| "The Honeymoon's Over" (duet with Tennessee Ernie Ford) \| 16 \| Capitol 2809 \| with Billy May Orchestra
1956 \| "Hit the Road to Dreamland" \| \| Capitol 3383 \| with Vic Schoen Orchestra

class="wikitable"

Year

! Title

! Chart peak

! Catalog number

! Notes

rowspan=3|1939

| "Old Man Mose"

| with Vincent Lopez Orchestra

"Igloo"

| 15

| Bluebird 10300

| with Vincent Lopez Orchestra

"The Jitterbug"

| Bluebird 10367

| with Vincent Lopez Orchestra

rowspan=2|1942

| "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry"

"I'm Doin' It For Defense"

rowspan=2|1943

| "Murder, He Says"

"The Fuddy Duddy Watchmaker"

rowspan=3|1944

| "Bluebirds in my Belfry"

"It Had To Be You"

| 5

| Capitol 155

| with Paul Weston Orchestra

"His Rocking Horse Ran Away"

| 7

| Capitol 155

| with Paul Weston Orchestra

rowspan=5|1945

| "Stuff Like That There"

| 4

| Capitol 188

| with Paul Weston Orchestra

"What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?"

| 15

| Capitol 211

| with Paul Weston Orchestra

"(Doin' It) The Hard Way"

| Capitol 211

| with Paul Weston Orchestra

"Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief"

| 1

| Capitol 220

| with Paul Weston Orchestra

"A Square in the Social Circle"

| Capitol 220

| with Paul Weston Orchestra

1946

| "My Fickle Eye"

| 21

| RCA Victor 20-1915

| with Joe Lilley Orchestra

rowspan=2|1947

| "Poppa, Don't Preach To Me"

| Capitol 380

| with Joe Lilley Orchestra

"I Wish I Didn't Love You So"

| 5

| Capitol 409

| with Joe Lilley Orchestra

1949

| "(Where Are You?) Now That I Need You"

| Capitol 620

| with Joe Lilley Orchestra

rowspan=3|1950

| "Orange Colored Sky"

| 24

| RCA Victor 20-3908

| with Pete Rugolo Orchestra

"Can't Stop Talking"

| RCA Victor 20-3908

| with Pete Rugolo Orchestra

"A Bushel and a Peck" (duet with Perry Como)

| 3

| RCA Victor 20-3930

| with Mitchell Ayres Orchestra

rowspan=2|1951

| "It's Oh So Quiet"{{cite journal |title=Advance Record Releases |journal=The Billboard |date=July 7, 1951 |page=30 |issn=0006-2510 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m0UEAAAAMBAJ&q=20+4179+%22Betty+Hutton%22&pg=PA30 |access-date=September 6, 2011 }}

| RCA Victor 20-4179

| with Pete Rugolo Orchestra

"The Musicians" (with Dinah Shore, Tony Martin and Phil Harris)

| 24

| RCA Victor 20-4225

| with Henri René Orchestra

1953

| "Goin' Steady"

| 21

| Capitol 2522

| with Nelson Riddle Orchestra

1954

| "The Honeymoon's Over" (duet with Tennessee Ernie Ford)

| 16

| Capitol 2809

| with Billy May Orchestra

1956

| "Hit the Road to Dreamland"

| Capitol 3383

| with Vic Schoen Orchestra

Filmography

class="wikitable" style="width:67%;"

|+ Motion pictures

! width=6%| Year

! style="width:20%;"| Title

! style="width:20%;"| Role

! style="width:20%;"| Notes

1938

| Queens of the Air

| Herself

| film short

rowspan=3|1939

| Vincent Lopez and His Orchestra

| Herself

| film short

Three Kings and a Queen

| Herself

| film short

Public Jitterbug No. 1

| Herself

| film short

1940

| One for the Book

| Cinderella

| film short

rowspan=2|1942

| The Fleet's In

| Bessie Day

Star Spangled Rhythm

| Polly Judson

rowspan=3|1943

| Happy Go Lucky

| Bubbles Hennessy

Let's Face It

| Winnie Porter

Strictly G.I.

| Herself

| film short

rowspan=4|1944

| The Miracle of Morgan's Creek

| Trudy Kockenlocker

And the Angels Sing

| Bobby Angel

Skirmish on the Home Front

| Emily Average

| film short

Here Come the Waves

| Susan Allison / Rosemary Allison

rowspan=4|1945

| Incendiary Blonde

| Texas Guinan

Duffy's Tavern

| Herself

| cameo

Hollywood Victory Caravan

| Herself

| film short

The Stork Club

| Judy Peabody

1946

| Cross My Heart

| Peggy Harper

1947

| The Perils of Pauline

| Pearl White

1948

| Dream Girl

| Georgina Allerton

1949

| Red, Hot and Blue

| Eleanor "Yum-Yum" Collier

rowspan=2|1950

| Annie Get Your Gun

| Annie Oakley

Let's Dance

| Kitty McNeil

rowspan=3|1952

| The Greatest Show on Earth

| Holly

Sailor Beware

| Hetty Button

| cameo, Uncredited

Somebody Loves Me

| Blossom Seeley

1957

| Spring Reunion

| Margaret "Maggie" Brewster

class="wikitable" style="width:67%;"

|+ Television

! width=7%| Year

! style="width:20%;"| Title

! style="width:20%;"| Role

! style="width:20%;"| Notes

1954

| Satins and Spurs

| Cindy Smathers

| TV musical

1958

| That's My Mom

| 1 episode (unaired pilot)

1959–1960

| The Betty Hutton Show

| Goldie Appleby

| 30 episodes

1964

| The Greatest Show on Earth

| Julia Dana

| 1 episode

1964–1965

| Burke's Law

| Carlene Glory
Rena Zito

| 2 episodes

1965

| Gunsmoke

| Molly McConnell

| 1 episode

1977

| Baretta

| Velma

| 1 episode (final appearance)

=Box-office ranking=

For several years, film exhibitors voted Hutton among the leading stars in the country:

1944 – 25th (US){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1110315 |title=Bing Crosby America's Screen Favourite |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=24 March 1945 |access-date=5 October 2014 |page=8 Supplement: The Argus Week-end Magazine |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
1950 – 15th (US)
1951 – 9th (UK)
1952 – 14th (US),{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61229397 |title=Box Office Draw |newspaper=The Barrier Miner |location=Broken Hill, NSW |date=29 December 1952 |access-date=4 October 2014 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} 3rd (UK)

Stage work

Two for the Show (1940)
Panama Hattie (1940)
Betty Hutton and Her All-Star International Show (1952)
Gypsy (1962)
South Pacific (1962)
Annie Get Your Gun (1963)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1964)
Fade Out – Fade In (1964) (replacement for Carol Burnett)
Mary, Mary (1965)
Here Today (1966)
Here Today (1972)
Anything Goes (1973)
Annie (1980) (replacement for Alice Ghostley)

Radio appearances

Year	Program	Episode/source
class="wikitable"
April 12, 1942	Command Performance	with Gene Tierney - first show from Hollywood
June 2, 1942	Command Performance	with Mickey Rooney
February 6, 1943	Command Performance	with Rita Hayworth
October 2, 1943	Command Performance	with Don Ameche
November 13, 1943	Command Performance	with Bob Hope
May 29, 1948	Command Performance	with Bob Hope - sixth-anniversary special
February 6, 1950	Lux Radio Theatre	"Red, Hot And Blue"
1952	Stars in the Air	"Suddenly, It's Spring"{{cite news\|last1=Kirby\|first1=Walter\|title=Better Radio Programs for the Week\|newspaper=The Decatur Daily Review \|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2533510/the_decatur_daily_review/\|agency=The Decatur Daily Review\|date=February 17, 1952\|page=40\|via = Newspapers.com\|access-date = June 1, 2015}} {{Open access}}
April 27, 1953	Lux Radio Theatre	"Somebody Loves Me"

Awards and nominations

class="wikitable"

style="background:#b0c4de; text-align:center;"

! style="background:#bcbcbc;"|Year

! style="background:#bcbcbc;"|Award

! style="background:#bcbcbc;"|Category

! style="background:#bcbcbc;"|Film

! style="background:#bcbcbc;"|Result

rowspan="2"| 1944

| Golden Apple Awards

| Most Cooperative Actress

| {{n/a}}

| {{won}}

National Board of Review Awards

| Best Acting

| The Miracle of Morgan's Creek

| {{won}}

rowspan="2"| 1950

| Golden Globe Awards

| Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

| rowspan="2"| Annie Get Your Gun

| {{nom}}

Photoplay Awards

| Most Popular Female Star

| {{won}}

Notes

References

External links

{{IBDB name}}
{{IMDb name|0002149}}
{{Tcmdb name}}
[http://bettyhuttonestate.com BettyHuttonEstate.com]
[http://www.who2.com/bettyhutton.html Betty Hutton] at Who2 Biographies
[http://broadwayworld.com/people/Betty_Hutton/ Betty Hutton] at BroadwayWorld
[http://www.virtual-history.com/movie/person/5458/betty-hutton Betty Hutton] at Virtual History

Category:1921 births

Category:2007 deaths

Category:Actresses from Michigan

Category:American film actresses

Category:American musical theatre actresses

Category:American stage actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:American women academics

Category:Burials at Desert Memorial Park

Category:Capitol Records artists

Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism

Category:Deaths from colorectal cancer in California