When you work in theatre in Los Angeles, you sometimes get to meet people you grew up watching on TV. Betty Garrett, who died yesterday at the age of 91, was someone I saw on “All in the Family” and “Laverne & Shirley” when I was a kid. Before that, she was better known as a leading lady starring alongside the likes of Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. I didn’t know Betty well, but she was such a visible part of the Los Angeles theatre community for so long that I think some of us assumed she would always be here; at least, I made that assumption. I remember once going to some bizarre theatre thing outdoors at Griffith Park and sitting on the lawn — near Betty Garrett and near Marion Ross. She was one of the presenters and an awardee for an awards show I did (and now I find I’m sadly fuzzy on the details), and I saw her many times at Theatre West, where she was a founder and a performer, and elsewhere around town. What I remember most about her is her sense of fun and optimism. Ninety-one years is a good long time to live, and it seems she lived it well, but I’m sad that we won’t get to run into her any more in our theatres.

Here’s a montage that the fine people at Theatre West put together last year, in honor of Betty Garrett’s 90th birthday.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 13th, 2011 at 11:56 am and is filed under Theatre, Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.