Her mother, a very stubborn and materialistic woman, wanted nothing else then see one of her children in showbusiness.

With her first daughter, marjorie grable, she failed because the little girl started to rebell her mother at the age of three. Then Lillian found out she was pregnant again. This time a little boy was born but he died soon after his first birthday. The Grable family was heartbroken and they decided that they didn't want anymore children. But fate took over and in march 1916 lillian found out she was pregnant again.  But this pregnancy didn't go like the previous ones because lillian broke her hip so she was forced to lay down the whole pregnancy. And finally on december 18 1916 Betty was born.

Lillian was very happy with the birth of her second daughter and as soon as betty could walk her mother learned her all sorts of dancing routines. When betty was at the age of three her mother enrolled her daughter in the Clark dancing school.

Betty studied all sorts of dancing routines from ballet to tapdancing. And alltough betty sometimes didn´t like the lessons she never rebelled against her mother.

When she was at the age of 7 Betty did her first onstage performance. Betty won the contest and soon after that she had to do another performance. But this time little betty was so nervous that she  forgot some of her dancing routines and she didn´t win this time. Her mother was so angry afterwards that she hit her daughter right in the face. Betty later said that that was a childhood memory which she never forgot.  From then on betty tried even harder to satisfie her mother.

And when she was at the age of 13 she and the rest of the family took a vacation to Los Angeles. When betty arrived there she knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to become a moviestar.

 

In the beginning of her carreer betty was mostly to see in the chorus between hundreds of other girls. She didn't get huge roles in the beginning so she decided to go on broadway for a while.

But then in 1940 Betty got her first major part in the movie Down argentine way. She replaced Alice Faye who was sick. The movie became a huge hit and from then on Betty got the best and biggest roles. She developed her own acting style who many actresses tried to immitate. And Betty had an amazing singing voice. Betty was at the peek of her carreer in the movie Sweet rosie o'grady. From then on the studio gave Betty roles which she didn't like and which the fans also didn't like as much as her previous movies. And in 1955 betty retired from the movies and she started to play in musicals on Broadway. She also started to work on television.

 

In 1943 Betty married Harry James and together they got two daughters Victoria Elizabeth and Jessica James. They seemed a happy family but in 1965 the couple divorced because betty couldn't cope the drinking problem of her husband.

 

Life seemed to go well for betty and she was a smash hit in her broadway productions. But in 1972 fate took over and Betty was diagnosed lung cancer. Not long after the diagnosis Betty died on July 2 1973. Betty was 56 years old.

                             

                                             R.I.P

                                        1916-1973