Betty Ann Grove

Betty Ann Grove (September 9, 1929 – November 13, 2015) was an American actress and singer whose Broadway career spanned from 1948 to 1986. She was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where her mother, an exhibition ballroom dancer, had performed alongside Ray Bolger and Jack Haley. Grove began taking dancing lessons at age four and was performing professionally by age eleven, singing and dancing for service clubs in Cambridge. She attended Longfellow Grammar School and Cambridge High and Latin School, and during her high school years she performed in fashion shows for Boston department stores.

Grove's Broadway debut came in 1950 when she replaced Lisa Kirk in the original 1948 production of Kiss Me, Kate, taking on the lead role of Lois Lane/Bianca. The engagement proved particularly demanding: for several months in 1950 she was simultaneously appearing in Kiss Me, Kate and performing as featured singer on ABC-TV's Stop the Music. Each Thursday evening she would complete her television numbers at ABC's Ritz Theatre on West 48th Street before rushing to the Shubert Theatre on West 44th Street in time for her stage cue, all following a full day of rehearsals. Her Broadway career continued with the original 1968 production of George M!, the original 1979 production of I Remember Mama, and the 1983 revival of On Your Toes. She also appeared in the musical Pippin.

Grove's television career began with a network debut on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1949. That same year, after three auditions, she secured the featured singer position on Stop the Music on ABC-TV. A 1951 review of the program noted her showmanly flair, and in 1952 she hosted her own summer replacement program, filling in for Kate Smith's show. In 1954 she co-starred with Merv Griffin in Song Snapshots on a Summer Holiday, a twice-weekly summer replacement airing Tuesdays in place of Jo Stafford's program and Thursdays in place of Jane Froman's. She also spent four years as a regular on The Big Payoff, departing by her own choice, and made appearances on The Bert Parks Show, The Red Buttons Show, and Ozark Jubilee.

On September 17, 1955, Grove married Ed Brown, an advertising executive. She died on November 13, 2015, in Richmond, Virginia, at the age of 86.