Betty Garrett, Laverne and Shirley Actress and Broadway Star, Dies at 91

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Actress Betty Garrett poses at her home in Los Angeles on in this Dec. 16, 1997 file photo.

Mark J. Terrill / AP

The singing and dancing actress shared the screen with other film legends like Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly.

Betty Garrett passed away Saturday morning from an aortic aneurysm, though she was in good health up until her death. Even at 91, she continued to teach a weekly musical comedy class at the Theatre West arts school she founded in Hollywood.

Her teaching career caps off a storied film and television history, coming after she rose to fame as a young 23-year-old on Broadway in Of V We Sing. After gaining recognition as a singer and dancer, she headed to Hollywood where she took two roles belting out tunes opposite Frank Sinatra. She starred in the musical films On the Town and Take Me Out To The Ball Game.

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During her film career, she and her husband, actor Larry Parks, faced the heat of the Red Scare and had to answer to Communist charges. This left her on a Hollywood blacklist for years, but she later had a renaissance and came to star in two hit television sitcoms. She played chatty neighbor Irene in All in the Family and was well-known as the landlady Edna on Laverne and Shirley.

Garrett received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003.

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