Ted Briskin: Everything About Betty Hutton’s Husband

By | December 15, 2023
Ted Briskin: Everything About Betty Hutton's Husband

Who was Ted Briskin?

Ted Briskin was a camera manufacturer in the United States and famous for working in that industry. He was born on October 28, 1917, in Chicago and is mainly well known for being the husband of actress and singer Betty Hutton. The couple met in a nightclub and described their first encounter as love at first sight.

Ted Briskin and Betty Hutton got married in September 1945. However, there were difficulties in their marriage from the start. A significant obstacle was the disagreement that resulted from Briskin’s desire for Hutton to go to Chicago, even though she was committed to maintaining her Hollywood career. After a short period of separation due to a difference in priorities, Briskin finally moved to Los Angeles to support Hutton’s career.

Ted Briskin and Betty Hutton had challenges in their marriage despite their best attempts, one being Hutton’s busy professional life. Their six-month marriage came to an end in 1951 when they were divorced. Briskin, who was said to be suffering from “mental cruelty,” was unable to maintain the connection because of Hutton’s professional demands as well as the demands of their personal lives. Ted Briskin married actress Joan Dixon in 1952 and Colleen Miller in 1955, respectively, after his divorce from Hutton. His 20-year marriage to Colleen Miller proved to be more resilient.

What did Ted Briskin do for a living?

Ted Briskin’s professional life revolved around the Revere Camera Company, a significant home video camera industry participant. Samuel Briskin founded the Revere Camera Company in 1920. He also founded Wollensak Recorders and Opticals. His efforts helped the firm establish itself as a significant participant in the market. He was a prominent person in the company and promoted Revere cameras. He left the company but rejoined at a difficult time for the business, where the company’s dynamics were impacted by Bell & Howell’s competitiveness in the evolving camera industry. 

The acquisition of Wollensak Optical Company, which supplied Revere with lenses, was a momentous event. Throughout the discussions, Ted Briskin was a key player, demonstrating his ongoing participation in the camera industry. Despite the difficulties the Revere Camera Company has endured, Ted Briskin’s professional and personal lives are still entwined with the larger story of Hollywood, cameras, and the intricacies of relationships in the public eye.

Ted Briskin was the father of two daughters

Ted Briskin was a devoted family man; his marriage with Betty Hutton produced two daughters, Lindsey Diane Briskin, born in 1946, and Candice Briskin, born in 1948. He also had children from previous marriages, and his family life encompassed the complexities of interpersonal connections in addition to the limelight. However, details regarding his other children are unknown.

Ted Briskin’s marriage life

As discussed earlier, Ted was married three times following his divorce from Hutton. Ted Briskin married actress Joan Dixon in 1952 and Colleen Miller in 1955. His 20-year union with Colleen Miller turned out to be more durable.

His marriage to Joan Dixon

Ted Briskin was married to Joan Dixon, an American film and television actress of the 1950s who was born in Norfolk, Virginia, on June 6, 1930, and passed away in Los Angeles on February 20, 1992. Her part in the noir movie Roadblock (1951) made her well-known. Early in the 1950s, Joan Dixon had eleven appearances in film, most westerns. He also co-starred with Tim Holt in several cowboy pictures. In the 1950 crime drama Experiment Alcatraz, she played the lead role. She had television appearances in the late 1950s, such as in a few episodes of The Ford Television Theatre (1957) and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1956).

Howard Hughes managed Dixon’s career when he was contracted at RKO Pictures. He tried but could not turn her into the celebrity he turned Jane Russell (whom Dixon looked like) into. Hughes was under personal contract with Janis Carter, Dixon, and Russell. Dixon sang at Dino’s Lodge, Dean Martin’s nightclub in Los Angeles, California, in December 1960. Dixon eloped and wed Theodore (Ted) Briskin, a camera maker from Chicago, Illinois, in October 1952.

Ted Briskin had previously married Betty Hutton, whom he had twice divorced. Dixon, who was 23, and Briskin, who was 35, were wed in an unexpected ceremony in the Flamingo Hotel’s wedding chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dixon and Briskin were married for only three weeks, since Dixon left Briskin early in November 1952. William Driscoll, a writer, and she later got married; nevertheless, they divorced in 1959. Dixon died in Los Angeles on February 20, 1992, at 61.

Ted’s marriage to Colleen Miller

Ted married Colleen Miller in 1955. She was an American actress born on November 10, 1932. She had numerous leading roles in movies, including the Westerns Four Guns to the Border (1954) and Gunfight at Comanche Creek (1963). She was reared in Portland, Oregon, after being born in Yakima, Washington, as the daughter of Elias and Lillian Miller. Miller graduated from Portland’s Lincoln High School at the age of fifteen.

She was selected as “Miss Portland” in 1949. After the actress Colleen Moore, her mother gave her name. Miller learned ballet as a youngster, but she switched to popular dance as she grew older. She began her career as a professional dancer in a San Francisco ballet company after graduation, and after three seasons, she moved to Las Vegas to work at the Flamingo.

Colleen Miller signed with Howard Hughes for RKO Pictures after being found in Las Vegas, breaking into the entertainment industry. Her roles in movies like “Four Guns to the Border” and “The Las Vegas Story” were noteworthy. After signing with Universal Pictures, Miller acted with Tony Curtis in films “The Rawhide Years” and “The Purple Mask.” In 1963, she worked in one last western, “Gunfight at Comanche Creek.” She did not receive credit for her performance in the 1972 film “Stand Up and Be Counted,” but she eventually gave up acting. She didn’t get divorced from Ted until 1975, and in 1976, she wed Walter Ralphs, the heir apparent to the Ralphs grocery empire.