Biography for
Betty Comden More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

3 May 1915, Brooklyn, New York, USA

Date of Death

23 November 2006, New York City, New York, USA (heart failure)

Birth Name

Elizabeth Cohen

Mini Biography

Songwriter ("New York, New York", "Lonely Town", "The Party's Over", "Just in Time"), author and actress. educated at New York University with a Bachelor of Science degree. While a student, she acted with the Washington Square Players. She was a member of the Revuers, a night club act which also included Judy Holliday and Adolph Green. She wrote the Broadway stage scores for "Wonderful Town" (which garnered a Tony award from the NY Drama Critics in 1953), "Peter Pan", and "Do Re Mi". She was also the co-librettist for "On The Town", "Billion Dollar Baby", "Two in the Aisle", "Bells Are Ringing", "Say, Darling", "Subways Are For Sleeping", and "Fade Out - Fade In". She appeared with Adolph Green on stage in "A Party", and on television. Joining ASCAP in 1945, her chief lyrics, libretto and screenplay collaborator was Adolph Green, and her chief musical collaborators were Leonard Bernstein, Jule Styne, Morton Gould, and Andre Previn. Her other popular-song compositions include "I Get Carried Away", "I Can Cook, Too", "Some Other Time", "Lucky to Be Me", "Bad Timing", "Ohio", "A Little Bit in Love", "It's Love", "A Quiet Girl", "The French Lesson", "If You Hadn't But You Did", "Give a Little, Get a Little", "There Never Was a Baby Like My Baby", "Long Before I Knew You", "Never-Never Land", "Something's Always Happening on the River", "Dance Only With Me", "Adventure", "Make Someone Happy", "Fireworks", "Ride Through the Night", "Comes Once in a Lifetime", "I'm Just Taking My Time", "Now", "Fade Out - Fade In", and "Get Acquainted".

IMDb Mini Biography By: Hup234!

Spouse

Steven Kyle

(4 January 1942 - 1979) (his death) 2 children

Trivia

Predeceased by her husband, Steven Kyle, and son, Alan.

Daughter Suzanne attended the original Woodstock Music Festival (1969).

Has won seven Tony Awards, always with collaborator Adolph Green: in 1953, lyrics as part of Best Musical win for "Wonderful Town;" in 1968, as Best Composer and Lyricist, with Jule Styne, and lyrics as part of Best Musical win for "Hallelujah, Baby!;" in 1970, book as part of Best Musical win for "Applause;" in 1978, as Best Score, lyrics with music by Cy Coleman, and Best Book (Musical) for "On the Twentieth Century;" and in 1991, as Best Score (Musical), lyrics with music by Coleman, for "The Will Rogers Follies." In addition, the team of Comden and Green received five other nominations: in 1957, book with music by Styne for Best Musical nominee "Bells Are Ringing;" in 1961, lyrics with music by Styne for Best Musical nominee "Do Re Mi;" in 1983, for Best Score, lyrics with music by Larry Grossman, and Best Book (Musical) for "A Doll's Life;" and in 1986, Best Book (Musical) for "Singin' in the Rain," the stage version of their signature film, Singin' in the Rain (1952).

Their 60-year collaboration was such that many believed Betty Comden and Adolph Green, whose musicals won five Tony Awards, were married. Instead, the beautiful music they made together graced the stage and screen, and included the classic Broadway musical "On the Town" and the film "Singin' in the Rain." On Broadway, Comden and Green (the billing was always alphabetical) worked most successfully with composers Leonard Bernstein, Jule Styne and Cy Coleman. The duo wrote lyrics and often the books for more than a dozen shows, many of them built around such stars as Rosalind Russell, Judy Holliday, Phil Silvers, Carol Burnett and Lauren Bacall. Among their Tonys, three were for best musical for their shows "Wonderful Town," "Hallelujah, Baby!" and "Applause." The duo received the Kennedy Center honors in 1991. "It's a kind of radar," Comden once said of her partnership with Green. "We don't divide the work up, taking different scenes. We sit in the same room always. I used to write things down in shorthand. I now sit at the typewriter. Adolph paces more. A lot of people don't believe this, but at the end of the day we usually don't remember who thought up what.".

Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980.

When writing Singin' in the Rain (1952) with Adolph Green at MGM, many studio personnel had been around since the silent days, and their recollections were the source for gags about the perils of early sound filming. One came from costume designer Walter Plunkett, who contributed to the comical scene in Singin' in the Rain (1952) where the actors are shooting an early talking film. Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) taps Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) on the shoulder with her fan but causes a thunderous noise on the soundtrack by disturbing a microphone hidden in Lockwood's clothing. This was based on a similar incident during a film on which Walter Plunkett worked at RKO, Rio Rita (1929) starring Bebe Daniels and John Boles.

Browse biographies section by name

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z