Betty Grable filmography
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This is a complete filmography of Betty Grable, an American actress, dancer, and singer. As a major contract star for 20th Century-Fox during the 1940s and 1950s, she starred in a succession of musicals and romantic comedies.
Grable began her career in 1929 at age twelve, after which she was fired from a contract when it was learned she signed up under false identification. She made her film debut in Happy Days (1929) as an unbilled extra appearing in blackface. Grable had contracts with RKO Radio Pictures and Paramount Pictures during the 1930s, and she starred in roles as college students in a string of B-movies. In the campus musical Pigskin Parade (1936), she received positive reviews, but her performance was overshadowed by newcomer Judy Garland.
She eventually came to prominence in the Broadway musical Du Barry Was a Lady (1939) and signed an exclusive long-term contract with 20th Century-Fox. After replacing Alice Faye in Down Argentine Way (1940), she became the studio's biggest asset throughout the following decade, starring in a series of commercially successful musicals and comedies, often co-starring with renowned leading men, including Victor Mature, Don Ameche, John Payne, Tyrone Power, and Dan Dailey. Between 1941 and 1951, she was consistently listed in the "Top Ten Moneymaking Stars Poll", sometimes as the only female on the list. In 1943 and 1944, she was the number one box office draw in the United States. Her famous 1943 pin-up became one of the most-identified photographs of World War II.
The majority of Grable's films followed the traditional backstage musical genre point-by-point. Plot point one: boy meets girl; plot point two: boy teams up with girl; plot point three: girl dumps boy; and plot point four: boy and girl reunite in time for the finale. Despite the often similar storylines, her films remained immensely popularity for over a decade, some of them becoming the year's highest-grossing films, including Springtime in the Rockies (1942), Coney Island (1943), The Dolly Sisters (1945), and When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948). Two of her greatest successes were Pin Up Girl (1944) (which showcased her famous pin-up) and Mother Wore Tights (1947). The 1949 western comedy The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend was Grable's first film in nine years to lose money financially.
The changing tastes of the public and the waning popularity of the musical genre in the early 1950s contributed to Grable's career decline. Although Wabash Avenue and My Blue Avenue (both 1950) were successes, some of her films thereafter failed to live up to their hype. How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), a comedy about three models scheming to marry wealthy husbands, was one of her last big successes for Fox. She co-starred with newcomer Marilyn Monroe and Lauren Bacall, and while tabloids publicized a rivalry between the three women, they nevertheless became close friends. In 1953, she declined to renew her contract with Fox, hoping to revitalize her stage career. This move was not successful and, after falling into bankruptcy, Grable returned to the studio for what would be her final film: the satirical comedy How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955), which parodied her earlier films in some aspects.
Credits
[edit]Film appearances
[edit]Title | Year | Role | Director | Co-stars | Notes |
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Happy Days | 1929 | Chorus Girl | Benjamin Stoloff | Uncredited | |
Let's Go Places | 1930 | Chorine | Frank R. Strayer | Uncredited | |
New Movietone Follies of 1930 | 1930 | Chorine | Benjamin Stoloff | Uncredited | |
Whoopee! | 1930 | Goldwyn Girl | Thornton Freeland | Uncredited | |
Kiki | 1931 | Goldwyn Girl | Sam Taylor | Mary Pickford | Uncredited |
Palmy Days | 1931 | Goldwyn Girl | A. Edward Sutherland | Uncredited | |
The Greeks Had a Word for Them | 1932 | Hat Check Girl | Lowell Sherman | Uncredited | |
Probation | 1932 | Ruth Jarrett | Richard Thorpe | Grable's first credited role | |
The Age of Consent | 1932 | Student at Dormitory | Gregory La Cava | Uncredited | |
Hold 'Em Jail | 1932 | Barbara Jones | Norman Taurog | ||
The Kid from Spain | 1932 | Goldwyn Girl | Leo McCarey | Uncredited | |
Child of Manhattan | 1933 | Lucy McGonegle | Edward Buzzell | ||
Cavalcade | 1933 | Girl on couch | Frank Lloyd | Uncredited | |
Melody Cruise | 1933 | First Stewardess | Mark Sandrich | Uncredited | |
What Price Innocence? | 1933 | Beverly Bennett | Willard Mack | ||
The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi | 1933 | Band Singer with Ted Fio Rito | Edwin L. Marin | ||
The Gay Divorcee | 1934 | Dance Specialty | Mark Sandrich | ||
Student Tour | 1934 | Cayenne | Charles Reisner | ||
By Your Leave | 1934 | Frances Gretchell | Lloyd Corrigan | ||
The Nitwits | 1935 | Mary Roberts | George Stevens | ||
Old Man Rhythm | 1935 | Sylvia | Edward Ludwig | ||
Collegiate | 1936 | Dorothy | Ralph Murphy | ||
Follow the Fleet | 1936 | Trio Singer | Mark Sandrich | ||
Don't Turn 'Em Loose | 1936 | Mildred Webster | Benjamin Stoloff | ||
Pigskin Parade | 1936 | Laura Watson | David Butler | ||
This Way Please | 1937 | Jane Morrow | Robert Florey | Charles 'Buddy' Rogers | |
Thrill of a Lifetime | 1937 | Gwen | George Archainbaud | The Yacht Club Boys | |
College Swing | 1938 | Betty | Raoul Walsh | ||
Give Me a Sailor | 1938 | Nancy Larkin | Elliott Nugent | ||
Campus Confessions | 1938 | Joyce Gilmore | George Archainbaud | Grable received top billing for the first time | |
Man About Town | 1939 | Susan Hayes | Mark Sandrich | ||
Million Dollar Legs | 1939 | Carol Parker | Nick Grinde | ||
The Day the Bookies Wept | 1939 | Ina Firpo | Leslie Goodwins | Joe Penner | |
Down Argentine Way | 1940 |
|
Irving Cummings | ||
Tin Pan Alley | 1940 | Lily Blane | Walter Lang | ||
Moon Over Miami | 1941 | Kathryn 'Kay' Latimer | Walter Lang | ||
A Yank in the RAF | 1941 | Carol Brown | Henry King | Tyrone Power | |
I Wake Up Screaming | 1941 | Jill Lynn | H. Bruce Humberstone | ||
Song of the Islands | 1942 | Eileen O'Brien | Walter Lang | ||
Footlight Serenade | 1942 | Pat Lambert | Gregory Ratoff | ||
Springtime in the Rockies | 1942 | Vicky Lane | Irving Cummings | ||
Coney Island | 1943 | Kate Farley | Walter Lang | ||
Sweet Rosie O'Grady | 1943 |
|
Irving Cummings | ||
Four Jills in a Jeep | 1944 | Herself | William A. Seiter | ||
Pin Up Girl | 1944 |
|
H. Bruce Humberstone | ||
Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe | 1945 | Bonnie Collins | George Seaton | ||
The Dolly Sisters | 1945 | Yansci 'Jenny' Dolly | Irving Cummings | ||
Do You Love Me | 1946 | Girl in Taxi (cameo) | Gregory Ratoff | Grable had a cameo as a fan of Harry James's character | |
The Shocking Miss Pilgrim | 1947 | Cynthia Pilgrim | George Seaton | ||
Mother Wore Tights | 1947 | Myrtle McKinley Burt | Walter Lang | ||
Hollywood Bound | 1947 | Various | Various | Various | Astor Pictures compilation of three 1930s RKO short subjects, Ferry-Go-Round (1934), A Night at the Biltmore Bowl (1935), and The Spirit of 1976 (1935). |
That Lady in Ermine | 1948 |
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When My Baby Smiles at Me | 1948 | Bonny Kaye | Walter Lang | ||
The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend | 1949 | Winifred Jones | Preston Sturges | ||
Wabash Avenue | 1950 | Ruby Summers | Henry Koster | Remake of Grable's earlier hit Coney Island | |
My Blue Heaven | 1950 | Kitty Moran | Henry Koster | ||
Call Me Mister | 1951 | Kay Hudson | Lloyd Bacon | Remake of Grable's earlier hit A Yank in the RAF | |
Meet Me After the Show | 1951 | Delilah Lee | Richard Sale | ||
The Farmer Takes a Wife | 1953 | Molly Larkins | Henry Levin | ||
How to Marry a Millionaire | 1953 | Loco Dempsey | Jean Negulesco | ||
Three for the Show | 1955 | Julie Lowndes | H.C. Potter | ||
How to Be Very, Very Popular | 1955 | Stormy Tornado | Nunnally Johnson |
Box Office ranking
[edit]For a number of years exhibitors voted Grable among the most popular stars in the country in the Quigley Moving Picture Poll.
- 1941 – 16th (US)[1]
- 1942 – 8th (US)
- 1943 – 1st (US), 5th (UK international stars)
- 1944 – 4th (US), 2nd (UK international stars)
- 1945 – 4th (US), 6th (UK international stars)
- 1946 – 9th (US)
- 1947 – 2nd (US)
- 1948 – 2nd (US)
- 1949 – 7th (US), 10th (UK international stars)
- 1950 – 4th (US)
- 1951 – 3rd (US)
- 1952 – 20th (US)
Short subjects
[edit]
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Stage work
[edit]- Du Barry Was a Lady (1939)
- Guys and Dolls (1962; 1968)
- Hello, Dolly! (1965–1967)
- Born Yesterday (1968–1970; 1973)
- Belle Starr (1969)
Gallery
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Mickey Rooney Tops List Three Times in a Row: Leads Money-Making Stars Again in 1941; Hollywood Luminaries Pay Capital a Visit; Items of News and Gossip of the Theater The Washington Post (1923–1954) [Washington, D.C] January 2, 1942: 18.