Betsy Palmer

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 1:44am

Just curious if anyone here saw any of her performances in any of the shows she's done over the years (Cactus Flower, Same Time, Next Year, The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, etc)? Any interesting stories about her? I've heard she's a very sweet lady.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 5:21pm

I never saw her on stage, but I remember her on the TV game show "I've Got a Secret" with Garry Moore and the sardonic Henry Morgan. She seemed very sweet on that show.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 9:22pm

I saw her in CACTUS FLOWER and thought she was marvelous. I also enjoyed ECCENTRICITIES OF A NIGHTINGALE but thought that was David Selby's show.

Oh yes, there was a dinner theater production of HELLO, DOLLY! and I won't comment on that one!

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 9:23pm

...and of course, she was JASON's mother in "Friday the 13th!"

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 9:45pm

Thanks for sharing all that, Dolly.

Here's her myspace: http://www.myspace.com/betsypalmer

[kjklo]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 9:54pm

A critic once described Friday The 13th as starring "selected parts of Betsy Palmer." If any of you have seen the original TV version of Marty, she was also in that. And of course she was wonderful for many years on I've Got A Secret. I remember reading that she had a fairly torrid romance with James Dean in the fifties.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 10:12pm

She's also in Queen Bee with Joan Crawford.


Here's a nice interview with her:
http://www.iconsoffright.com/IV_Betsy.htm

[DonelBee]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 10:26pm

Back in the 60's I had the pleasure of working with Betsy when she played "Peter Pan" at Paper Mill Playhouse (Sandy Duncan played Wendy in that production). She was a delight to be associated with, and she was affectionately referred to as "The Biggest Peter Ever."

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 10/22/06 at 7:21pm

Cute, Donel.

[bschneid76]

Posted: 10/22/06 at 9:12pm

I love Betsy in Friday the 13th! She is so chilling in that movie and a major asset to the film. I thought she was marvelous in Queen Bee.

[roquat]

Posted: 10/22/06 at 11:19pm

I remember seeing an autographed picture of her on the wall of a theatre in St. Louis. Since I'd only known her as the star of "Friday the 13th" it gave me quite a shock.

Anyone ever see "Return to Crystal Lake", a short documentary which was appended to the DVD rerelease of "Friday the 13th"? There are interviews with Betsy and with Adrienne King, who played Alice in the film. Apparently Betsy only took the role because her car had broken down and she needed a new one (and she was sure the film--whose script she referred to as "a piece of sh*t"--would be quickly forgotten.)

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 10/22/06 at 11:43pm

I saw the interview segments with Betsy that were included in the boxed set of all the films. It's cool that she seems to have fun with being a horror icon now.

[ILUVTOMG]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 2:40pm

i saw her in same time, next year with charles kimbrough right before it closed on bway. i didn't know what to expect since i only knew her from game shows, etc. she was wonderful and i wish she had done more bway.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 11/1/06 at 2:21pm

Betsy turns 80 today.

Best Birthday wishes to her!

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 4:41pm

Anybody else have any memories of meeting Betsy or seeing her on stage?
Betsy almost loses her dress on I've Got A Secret

[Dollypop]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 4:48pm

Richard Skipper is writing an all-inclusive book about anyone and everyone who's done HELLO, DOLLY! He's interviewed Betsy Palmer and I'll try to post a link.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 4:51pm

Here's the link:
Call On Dolly!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 5:15pm

"Kill her, Mommy! Kill her!"

[amoni]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 5:52pm

Met her at the Broadway Care Equity Fights AIDS Flea Market years ago. She is as sweet as mentioned. She told me story about her car breaking down and how she'd worked all her life but she took the job, worked a week and is now legend in the horror movie world.

She signed my "Friday The 13th" DVD "Kill Her Mommy!" Love Betsy Palmer, and laughed as she has a sense of humor about it. A few years later she got to make some money off the low budgeter by doing the Horror Movie Convention Circuit were people would line up to meet her.

I met her again at The Chiller show in New Jersey and reminded her that I was probably the first DVD she had signed at the Flea Market all those years before and her eyes lit up as she talked how much she loved Broadway and the Community.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 8/31/12 at 1:36pm

Betsy in Friday the 13th:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk2HQ0hCGTE
Betsy on doing Friday the 13th

Updated On: 8/31/12 at 01:36 PM

[figaroindy]

Posted: 8/31/12 at 2:17pm

MrMidwest - where are you from in the Midwest? Betsy actually grew up in Hammond, IN - where her actual name was Betsy Hrunek. I know this because my grandmother was her nanny. Betsy's mother owned/ran a business college in East Chicago, IN, and my grandmother was a student, and took the job as nanny to make money while going to school. We have a photo somewhere of Betsy and her younger brother on the beach at Lake Michigan. I keep meaning to send it to her. I still laugh because, when Friday the 13th came out, my older sister went to the movies to see it, and commented that Betsy had really bad teeth in the movie...My grandmother was just appalled saying that "Betsy had lovely teeth." It didn't bother her that she was in a slasher movie...just that they made her teeth look bad! She was in "Love Letters" in Chicago once in the 90s, and I was going to take my grandmother to see her, but we didn't make the trip for some reason.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 8/31/12 at 2:26pm

I'm actually in the lower left corner of Michigan, about 50 miles from Hammond. Isn't that funny?

[figaroindy]

Posted: 8/31/12 at 2:54pm

Small world, huh?

I grew up in Merrillville, IN...now in Indianapolis.

[NoName3]

Posted: 8/31/12 at 3:43pm

A long deceased friend saw her in a regional or stock production of South Pacific. He saw SP many times over the years and said her performance was the equal of any he had ever seen, including Mary Martin. I believe she did several productions.

[nmartin]

Posted: 8/31/12 at 6:53pm

Many years ago I saw Betsy Palmer as Aunt Alicia in a touring production of Gigi with Louis Jourdan. It was an extremely mediocre outing; however, Palmer was by far the best performer in the production. A thorough professional.
Afterwards I met her and had a wonderful conversation with her. She was completely charming and witty in person.