Betsy Gay | |
---|---|
Born | Elizabeth Ann Gunst February 2, 1929 Waterford, Connecticut, U.S. |
Occupation(s) | Yodeler, film actress |
Years active | 1936–1970s |
Spouse | Thomas Cashen (m. 1954;died 2005) |
Betsy Gay (born February 2, 1929) is an American former yodeler and actress. [1] She was born in Waterford, Connecticut to Charles and Helen Gay, who were also entertainers. She appeared in films, television, and radio shows. Her film career mostly consisted of bit-part roles during the Golden Age of Hollywood, such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938), Our Gang Follies of 1938 and Mystery Plane (1939). [2] Her final role was in 1943. Throughout her singing career, she worked alongside the likes of Dale Evans, Stuart Hamblen, and Tex Williams. She won a yodeling competition in California two years in a row in the mid-1940s. She had several music recordings with labels such as Capitol Records and Decca Records. [3]
Gay was married to Thomas Cashen between 1954 and 2005. [4] The couple had five children in total.
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
1936 | The Pinch Singer | Broadway number performer |
Arbor Day | Dancing girl | |
1937 | When You're in Love | Performing arts student |
Nothing Sacred | Group singing role | |
It Happened in Hollywood | Sis | |
Our Gang Follies of 1938 | Blonde girl fan of Alfalfa | |
1938 | The Adventures of Tom Sawyer | Susie Harper [5] |
Came the Brawn | Effie | |
1939 | Mystery Plane | Betty Lou as a young girl |
The Zero Hour | Orphan | |
At the Circus | Circus midget | |
1941 | Bachelor Daddy | Girl at the movie |
1942 | How Spry I Am | Young girl |
1943 | What's Buzzin', Cousin? | Saree |
Eve Arden was an American film, radio, stage and television actress. She performed in leading and supporting roles for nearly six decades.
Mary Virginia Martin was an American actress and singer. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles on stage over her career, including Nellie Forbush in South Pacific (1949), the title character in Peter Pan (1954), and Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1959). She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989. She was the mother of actor Larry Hagman.
Cybill Lynne Shepherd is an American actress and former model. Her film debut and breakthrough role came as Jacy Farrow in Peter Bogdanovich's coming-of-age drama The Last Picture Show (1971) alongside Jeff Bridges. She also had roles as Kelly in Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid (1972), Betsy in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), and Nancy in Woody Allen's Alice (1990).
Joan Chandos Baez is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more than 30 albums. Fluent in Spanish and English, she has also recorded songs in at least six other languages.
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939). She attained international stardom as an actress in both musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage. Renowned for her versatility, she received an Academy Juvenile Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Special Tony Award. Garland was the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, which she won for her 1961 live recording titled Judy at Carnegie Hall.
Molly Kathleen Ringwald is an American actress, writer and translator. She began her career as a child actress on the sitcoms Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life before being nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the drama film Tempest (1982). Ringwald became a teen idol following her appearances in filmmaker John Hughes teen films—appearing in Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), and Pretty in Pink (1986). These films led to the media referring to her as a member of the "Brat Pack." Her final teen roles would be in For Keeps and Fresh Horses.
Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury was an Irish-British and American actress and singer. In a career spanning over eight decades, she played various roles across film, stage, and television. Among her numerous accolades were six Tony Awards, an Olivier Award, six Golden Globe Awards, and the Academy Honorary Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards, eighteen Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award. She also received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1996, the National Medal of the Arts in 1997, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2000. She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2014.
Roy Rogers was an American singer, actor, and television host. Following early work under his given name, first as co-founder of the Sons of the Pioneers and then as an actor, the rebranded Rogers then became one of the most popular Western stars of his era. Known as the "King of the Cowboys", he appeared in over 100 films and numerous radio and television episodes of The Roy Rogers Show. In many of his films and television episodes, he appeared with his wife, Dale Evans; his Golden Palomino, Trigger; and his German Shepherd, Bullet. His show was broadcast on radio for nine years and then on television from 1951 through 1957. His early roles were uncredited parts in films by fellow cowboy singing star Gene Autry and his productions usually featured a sidekick, often Pat Brady, Andy Devine, George "Gabby" Hayes, or Smiley Burnette. In his later years, he lent his name to the franchise chain of Roy Rogers Restaurants.
Judy Holliday was an American actress, comedian and singer.
Yodeling is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word yodel is derived from the German word jodeln, meaning "to utter the syllable jo". This vocal technique is used in many cultures worldwide. Recent scientific research concerning yodeling and non-Western cultures has shown that music and speech evolved from a common prosodic precursor.
Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer and actress known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Baby".
Marsha Hunt was an American actress, model, and activist, with a career spanning nearly 80 years. She was blacklisted by Hollywood film studio executives in the 1950s during McCarthyism.
Virginia Anna Adeleid Weidler was an American child actress, popular in Hollywood films during the 1930s and 1940s.
Joan Leslie was an American actress and vaudevillian, who during the Hollywood Golden Age, appeared in such films as High Sierra (1941), Sergeant York (1941), and Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942).
Rosalie Allen was an American country singer, songwriter, guitarist, columnist and television and radio host who was noted for her yodeling. She was known as the Queen of Yodeling, and was the first woman inducted into the Country Music DJ Hall of Fame.
Esther Ralston was an iconic American silent film star. Her most prominent sound picture was To the Last Man in 1933.
Mary Louise Comingore, known professionally as Dorothy Comingore, was an American film actress. She starred as Susan Alexander Kane in Citizen Kane (1941), the critically acclaimed debut film of Orson Welles. In earlier films she was credited as Linda Winters, and she had appeared on the stage as Kay Winters. Her career ended when she was caught up in the Hollywood blacklist. She declined to answer questions when she was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952.
Betsy Russell is an American actress who is best known for her roles in Private School (1983), Tomboy (1985), and as Jill Tuck, one of the primary characters of the Saw film series from 2006 to 2010.
Betty Farrington was an American character actress active from the 1920s through 1960.
Estelle Etterre was an American actress. She appeared in many early 1930s Hal Roach films, such as the Laurel and Hardy short films County Hospital, The Chimp and Our Relations (1936). She also had minor parts in Our Gang short films Free Eats, Choo-Choo!, The Pooch, Forgotten Babies and Free Wheeling. She later appeared in the Abbott and Costello film In The Navy and her last film was The Manchurian Candidate (1962).