Born 1921 as Elizabeth June Thornburg in Battle Creek, Michigan, American actress, comedian, dancer, and singer Betty Hutton appeared 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).
Hutton appeared in The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944), the film made Hutton a major star. She then appeared in And the Angels Sing (1944) with Fred MacMurray and Dorothy Lamour, and Here Come the Waves (1944) with Bing Crosby. Both were huge hits.
Hutton’s next screen triumph came in Annie Get Your Gun (1950) for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which hired her to replace Judy Garland in the role of Annie Oakley. The film, with the leading role retooled for Hutton, was a smash hit, with the biggest critical praise going to Hutton. She was billed above Fred Astaire in the 1950 musical Let’s Dance.
In April 1952, Hutton returned to Broadway, performing in Betty Hutton and Her All-Star International Show. She got work in radio, appeared in Las Vegas, where she had a great success. Her last known performance, in any medium, was on Jukebox Saturday Night, which aired on PBS in 1983. She stayed in New England and began teaching comedic acting at Boston’s Emerson College.
Hutton lived in Palm Springs until her death in 2007, at 86, from colon cancer complications. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6259 Hollywood Boulevard. Take a look at these gorgeous photos to see portraits of young Betty Hutton in the 1940s and 1950s.
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