Betty Hutton Dies at 86

Betty Hutton, the stage and film star best known for playing the title role in the movie version of Annie Get Your Gun, has died at the age of 86 in Palm Springs, California, according to published reports. An official statement on her death is expected tomorrow.

Hutton, who lived as a virtual recluse towards the end of her life, was born Elizabeth June Thornburg in Battle Creek, Michigan on February 26, 1921. She began singing as a child along with her sister Marion, and eventually became a band singer in the 1930s.

She made her Broadway debut in 1940 at age 18 in the revue Two for the Show; later that same year, she appeared again on Broadway in Panama Hattie, opposite Ethel Merman. Hutton replaced Carol Burnett in the 1964 musical Fade Out-Fade In, and in 1980, she took over the role of Miss Hannigan in Annie.

Her biggest success was on the big screen. In the 1940s, she appeared in such films as The Fleet’s In, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, The Perils of Pauline, and Red, Hot and Blue. In 1950, she was tapped to play Annie Oakley after Judy Garland left Annie Get Your Gun during filming. In 1952, she starred in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth, but worked rarely after that.

Hutton briefly had her own television series, The Betty Hutton Show, in which she played a manicurist who inherited the estate — and children — of a wealthy customer.

She was married and divorced four times, and had three children: Candy, Lindsay, and Caroline.