Had she lived the lovely Betty Hutton would have been
88 years old today.
Betty was never a conventional singer/actress, having been born into a bit of a wild family, always on the run from police. Eventually her powerful singing voice and comedic acting talents, which had been honed since early childhood from performing in a number of speakeasies and other low dives, were "discovered" in the 1930s by bandleader Vincent Lopez, with whom she sang briefly.
With the support of the eventual co-founder of Capitol Records Buddy DeSylva, she hit the heights of Broadway in Cole Porter's
Panama Hattie, and from there was soon propelled to stardom in a number of Hollywood films alongside the likes of Dorothy Lamour, Bob Hope and Mary Martin (usually playing "kooky" off-beat characters). By 1945 she was a top-billing star, outshining Miss Lamour, and her triumphal role as the ballsy Annie Oakley in
Annie Get Your Gun made her an international hit.
However, Miss Hutton's star was not destined to shine for long. Known for being "difficult", she crossed swords with the infamous Hollywood "studio system" once too often, and by the early 1950s her film career was effectively over. Ventures into television, even with the backing of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez, failed spectacularly, and despite myriad concert appearances including Las Vegas her health began to suffer. Dependent on alcohol and prescribed drugs, she had a nervous breakdown and attempted suicide after losing her voice in 1970.
Eventually, with the support of former Hollywood colleagues she made a recovery but did not return to the stage until 1980, and then only briefly. She died in 2007, but her eternal legacy lives on in our memories for her superb brassy numbers like these...
Betty Hutton on IMDB
