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IMDbPro

Betty Comden(1917-2006)

  • Writer
  • Music Department
  • Actress
IMDbProStarmeter
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Betty Comden
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 Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing 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".
BornMay 3, 1917
DiedNovember 23, 2006(89)
BornMay 3, 1917
DiedNovember 23, 2006(89)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Nominated for 2 Oscars

Photos6

Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Betty Comden, Catherine Hicks, and Ron Silver in Garbo Talks (1984)
Betty Comden and Elvis Mitchell
Betty Comden and Elvis Mitchell
Ken Burns, Betty Comden, and Leonard Maltin

Known for

Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, Jules Munshin, and Vera-Ellen in On the Town (1949)
On the Town
7.3
  • Writer
  • 1949
Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O'Connor in Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Singin' in the Rain
8.3
  • Writer
  • 1952
Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse, Dan Dailey, Dolores Gray, and Michael Kidd in It's Always Fair Weather (1955)
It's Always Fair Weather
7.0
  • Writer
  • 1955
Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse in The Band Wagon (1953)
The Band Wagon
7.4
  • Writer
  • 1953

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Writer

  • Great Performances (1971)
    Great Performances
  • Applause (1973)
    Applause
  • ABC Stage 67 (1966)
    ABC Stage 67
  • Loistokaupunki
  • Hallo - Mr. Moss
  • Gene Kelly, Robert Mitchum, Paul Newman, Shirley MacLaine, Dean Martin, Dick Van Dyke, and Robert Cummings in What a Way to Go! (1964)
    What a Way to Go!
  • Dean Martin, Judy Holliday, and Jean Stapleton in Bells Are Ringing (1960)
    Bells Are Ringing
  • Coral Browne, Peggy Cass, Fred Clark, Patric Knowles, Rosalind Russell, Roger Smith, and Forrest Tucker in Auntie Mame (1958)
    Auntie Mame
  • Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse, Dan Dailey, Dolores Gray, and Michael Kidd in It's Always Fair Weather (1955)
    It's Always Fair Weather
  • Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse in The Band Wagon (1953)
    The Band Wagon
  • Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O'Connor in Singin' in the Rain (1952)
    Singin' in the Rain
  • Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, Jules Munshin, and Vera-Ellen in On the Town (1949)
    On the Town
  • Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
    The Barkleys of Broadway
  • June Allyson and Peter Lawford in Good News (1947)
    Good News

Music Department

  • Christopher Walken and Allison Williams in Peter Pan Live! (2014)
    Peter Pan Live!
  • Peter Pan (2000)
    Peter Pan
  • Keith Carradine in The Will Rogers Follies (1991)
    The Will Rogers Follies
    • (uncredited)
  • ABC Stage 67 (1966)
    ABC Stage 67
  • Dean Martin, Judy Holliday, and Jean Stapleton in Bells Are Ringing (1960)
    Bells Are Ringing
  • Wonderful Town
  • Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse, Dan Dailey, Dolores Gray, and Michael Kidd in It's Always Fair Weather (1955)
    It's Always Fair Weather
  • Producers' Showcase (1954)
    Producers' Showcase
  • Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, Jules Munshin, and Vera-Ellen in On the Town (1949)
    On the Town

Actress

  • Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, John Mahoney, Peri Gilpin, and Jane Leeves in Frasier (1993)
    Frasier
    • (voice)
  • Great Performances (1971)
    Great Performances
  • Bernadette Peters in Slaves of New York (1989)
    Slaves of New York
  • Garbo Talks (1984)
    Garbo Talks
    • (uncredited)
  • Summershow (1980)
    Summershow
  • Ed Sullivan in The Ed Sullivan Show (1948)
    The Ed Sullivan Show
  • Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse, Dan Dailey, Dolores Gray, and Michael Kidd in It's Always Fair Weather (1955)
    It's Always Fair Weather
    • (voice, uncredited)
  • Carmen Miranda, Don Ameche, William Bendix, and Vivian Blaine in Greenwich Village (1944)
    Greenwich Village
    • (uncredited)

Personal details

Edit
    • May 3, 1917
    • Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
    • November 23, 2006
    • New York City, New York, USA(heart failure)
    • January 4, 1942 - October 17, 1979 (his death, 2 children)
  • Other works
    Wrote musical (w/Adolph Green, Cy Coleman: "On the Twentieth Century".
  • Publicity listings
    • 2 Print Biographies
    • 8 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    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.
  • Quotes
    I remember the first time we were referred to as Comden and Green. I hated it, and not because I hated the team. Far from it. It was Frank Loesser who introduced us that way, and it felt so personal, as if we were objects and always went together with an 'and.'
    • The Barkleys of Broadway
      (1949)
      $24 .000

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