Bessie Love

Bessie Love

c. 1916
Born Juanita Horton
September 10, 1898
Midland, Texas, United States[1]
Died April 26, 1986 (aged 87)
London, England, United Kingdom[2]
Occupation Actress, Singer
Years active 1915–83
Height 5 ft 0 in (1.52 m)[1]
Weight 100 lb (45 kg)[1]
Spouse(s) William Hawks (m. 1929; div. 1936)[3]
Children Patricia (b. 1932)[3]

Bessie Love (September 10, 1898 – April 26, 1986) was an American motion picture actress who achieved prominence mainly in the silent films and early talkies.[4] With a small frame and delicate features, she played innocent young girls, flappers, and wholesome leading ladies. Her performance in The Broadway Melody (1929) earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.[5]

Early life

Love was born Juanita Horton in Midland, Texas.[1] She attended school in Midland until she was in the eighth grade, when her chiropractor father moved his family to Arizona, New Mexico, and then to Hollywood.[2]

Career

The silent era

Bessie Love and Douglas Fairbanks in The Good Bad Man (1916), here listed under the title, Coyote o' The Rio Grande.

On actor Tom Mix's recommendation that she "get into pictures",[6] Love's mother sent her to Biograph Studios, where she met pioneering film director D.W. Griffith. Griffith, who introduced Bessie Love to films, also gave the actress her screen name. He gave her a small role in his film Intolerance (1916). Love dropped out of Los Angeles High School to pursue her film career, although she completed her degree many years later.[7]

Her "first role of importance" was in The Flying Torpedo;[8] she later appeared opposite William S. Hart in The Aryan and with Douglas Fairbanks in The Good Bad Man, Reggie Mixes In, and The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (all 1916).

Advertisement, 1918
The Wishing Ring Man (1919)

Love took an active role in the management of her career, upgrading her representation to Gerald C. Duffy, the former editor of Picture-Play Magazine,[9] and publicizing herself by playing the ukulele and dancing for members of the military.[10] Even glowing reviews of her films criticized the venues in which they were shown, citing this as a reason she was not a more awarded actress.[11]

In 1922, Love was selected one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars.[12][13] In 1923, she starred in Human Wreckage with Dorothy Davenport and produced by Thomas Ince.

As her roles got larger, so did her popularity. Because of her performance in The King on Main Street (1925), Love is credited with being the first person to dance the Charleston on film,[14] popularizing it in the United States. Her technique was documented in instructional guides,[15] including a series of photographs by Edward Steichen.[16] She subsequently performed the dance the following year in The Song and Dance Man.[17]

She starred in The Lost World, a science fiction adventure based on the novel of the same name by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Three years later she starred in The Matinee Idol, a romantic comedy directed by a young Frank Capra.

The sound era and stage work

Love was able to successfully transition to talkies, and in 1929 she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Broadway Melody. She appeared in several other early musicals, including The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929), Chasing Rainbows (1930), Good News (1930), and They Learned About Women (1930).

However, by 1932, her American film career was in decline. She moved to England in 1935 and did stage work and occasional films there. Love briefly returned to the United States in 1936 to seek divorce.[3][18]

During World War II in Britain, when Love found acting work hard to come by, she was the "continuity girl" on the film drama San Demetrio London (1943), an account of a ship badly damaged in the Atlantic but whose crew managed to bring her to port. She also worked for the American Red Cross.[19]

After the war, she resumed work on the stage and played small roles in films—often as an American tourist.[20] Stage work included such productions as Love in Idleness (1944)[21] and Born Yesterday (1947).[21][22][23] She wrote and performed in The Homecoming, a semiautobiographical play, which had its opening in Perth, Scotland in 1958.[24][25] Film work included The Barefoot Contessa (1954) with Humphrey Bogart, Ealing Studios' Nowhere to Go (1958), and The Greengage Summer (1961) starring Kenneth More.[26] She also played small roles in the James Bond thriller On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971). In addition to playing the mother of Vanessa Redgrave's titular character in Isadora (1968), Love also served as dialect coach to the actress.[27]

In October 1963, Love was the subject of This Is Your Life, when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in central London.[28]

Love appeared in John Osborne's play West of Suez,[29] and as "Aunt Pittypat" in a large-scale musical version of Gone With the Wind (1972). She also played Maud Cunard in the TV miniseries Edward & Mrs. Simpson in 1978. Her film work continued in the 1980s with roles in Ragtime (1981), Reds (1981), Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981), and—her final film—The Hunger (1983).

Personal life

Love married agent William Hawks (January 29, 1901 Neenah, Wisconsin January 10, 1969 Santa Monica, California) at St. James Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California on December 27, 1929.[30] Mary Astor (William's sister-in-law), Carmel Myers, and Norma Shearer were among her bridesmaids; William's brother Howard Hawks and Irving Thalberg ushered. They then lived at the Havenhurst Apartments in Hollywood. They had a daughter, Patricia Hawks (February 19, 1932, Los Angeles, California),[3] who had some bit parts in movies in 1952. They divorced in 1936.[3]

Love was a Christian Scientist.[29] She died in London, England from natural causes on April 26, 1986.

Legacy

Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6777 Hollywood Blvd.

Love was periodically interviewed by film historians, and wrote a series of articles about her experiences for The Christian Science Monitor.[31] In 1977, Love published an autobiography based on these articles, entitled, From Hollywood with Love.[32]

She was interviewed in the television documentary series Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film (1980).[33]

Love has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6777 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California.

Filmography

Silent films: 1915–1928

Year Title Role Studio Notes
1916AcquittedHelen CarterTrianglelost
1916The Flying TorpedoHuldaTrianglelost
1916The AryanMary Jane GarthTriangleextant
1916The Good Bad ManAmyTriangleextant
1916Reggie Mixes InAgnesTriangleextant
1916The Mystery of the Leaping FishThe Little Fish BlowerTriangleextant
1916StrandedThe GirlTrianglelost
1916IntoleranceThe BrideTriangleextant
1916Hell-to-Pay AustinBriar Rose DawsonTrianglelost
1916A Sister of SixPrudenceTrianglelost
1916The Heiress at Coffee Dan'sWafflesTrianglelost
1917Nina, the Flower GirlNinaTrianglelost
1917A Daughter of the PoorRose EastmanTrianglelost
1917Cheerful GiversJudyTrianglelost
1917The Sawdust RingJanet MagieTriangleextant
1917Wee Lady BettyWee Lady BettyTrianglelost
1917Polly AnnPolly AnnTrianglelost
1918The Great AdventureRagsPathéextant[34]
1918How Could You, Caroline?Caroline RogersPathélost
1918A Little Sister of EverybodyCeleste JanvierPathélost
1918The Dawn of UnderstandingSue PrescottVitagraphlost
1919The Enchanted BarnShirley HollisterVitagraphlost
1919Carolyn of the CornersCarolyn May CameronPathélost
1919The Wishing Ring ManJoy HavenithVitagraphlost
1919A Yankee PrincessPatsy O'ReillyVitagraphlost
1919The Little BossPeggy Winston (The Little Boss)Vitagraphlost
1919Cupid ForeclosesGeraldine FarleighVitagraphlost
1919Over the Garden WallPeggy GordonVitagraphlost
1919A Fighting ColleenAlannah MaloneVitagraphlost
1920The MidlandersAurelie LindstromFederated Film Exchangesfragment found[35][36]
1920PegeenPegeen O'NeillVitagraphlost
1920Bonnie MayBonnie MayFederated Film Exchangeslost
1921Penny of Top Hill TrailPennyFederated Film Exchangeslost
1921The Honor of Ramirez (short)[37]Ramirez's BridePathé
1921The Spirit of the Lake (short)[37]Pathé
1921The SwampMaryRobertson-Coleextant[38][39][40]
1921The Sea LionBlossom NelsonAssociated Producersextant
1922The Vermilion PencilHyacinthRobertson-Colelost
1922Forget Me NotAnn, The GirlMetro Pictureslost
1922Bulldog CourageGloria PhillipsClintonextant[41]
1922The Village BlacksmithRosemary Martin, the DaughterFoxlost[42]
1922Deserted at the AltarAnna Moore (the country girl)Phil Goldstoneextant
1923The Adventures of Prince Courageous[43][44]BerniceAnchor
1923Three Who PaidJohn Caspar/Virginia CartwrightFoxlost
1923The Ghost PatrolEffie KuglerUniversallost
1923The Purple DawnMui FarAywon/State's Rightslost
1923Mary of the MoviesHerselfColumbia/Robertson-Coleincomplete[45]
1923Human WreckageMary FinneganFBOlost
1923The Eternal ThreeHilda GrayGoldwynlost
1923St. ElmoEdna EarleFoxlost[46]
1923Slave of DesirePauline GaudinGoldwynextant[40][47][48]
1923Gentle JuliaJuliaFoxlost
1924TormentMarieTourneur/Associated First Nationallost
1924The Woman on the JuryGrace PierceAssociated First Nationallost
1924Those Who DanceVeda CarneyInce/Associated First Nationallost
1924The Silent WatcherMary RobertsFirst Nationallost
1924Dynamite SmithVioletInce/Pathélost
1924SundownEllen CrawleyFirst Nationallost
1924Tongues of FlameLahleetParamountlost
1925The Lost WorldPaula WhiteFirst Nationalextant
1925Soul-FireTeitaFirst Nationalextant
1925A Son of His FatherNora SheaParamountlost
1925New BroomsGeraldine MarshParamountlost
1925The King on Main StreetMary YoungParamountextant
1926The Song and Dance ManLeola LaneParamountextant[49][50][51]
1926Lovey MaryLovey MaryMGMincomplete[52]
1926Meet the PrinceProducers Distributing Corporationlost
1926Young AprilVictoriaProducers Distributing Corporationextant
1926Going CrookedMarieFoxextant[53][54]
1927The AmericanNatural Vision Picturesnever released theatrically[40]
1927Rubber TiresMary Ellen StackProducers Distributing Corporationextant
1927A Harp in HockNora BanksPathélost[55]
1927Amateur Night (short)UncreditedWarner Brothers/Vitaphone
1927Dress ParadeJanet CleghornePathéextant
1928The Matinee IdolGinger BolivarColumbiaextant
1928Sally of the ScandalsSally RandFBOextant[56]
1928Anybody Here Seen Kelly?Mitzi LavelleUniversallost[57]

Sound films: 1929–1983

Year Title Role Studio Notes
1929The Broadway MelodyHank MahoneyMGMextant
1929The Idle RichHelen ThayerMGMextant
1929The Hollywood Revue of 1929[58]HerselfMGM
1929The Girl in the ShowHattie HartleyMGMextant
1930Chasing Rainbows[59]Carlie SeymourMGMextant
1930They Learned About WomenMary CollinsMGMextant
1930ConspiracyMargaret HoltRKOextant
1930Good NewsDixie O'DayMGMmissing Technicolor ending[60]
1930See America ThirstEllenUniversalextant[61]
1931Morals for WomenHelen HustonTiffanyextant
1936I Live AgainKathleen VernonNational Provincial Film Distributors-UK
1941Atlantic Ferry (a.k.a. Sons of the Sea)Begonia BaggotWarner Brothers
1945London Scrapbook[62]Spectator Short Films
1945Journey TogetherMrs. Mary McWilliams
1951No Highway in the SkyAircraft passenger (uncredited)
1951The Magic BoxWedding group member
1954The Weak and the Wicked[62]Prisoner
1954The Barefoot ContessaMrs. Eubanks
1954Beau BrummellMaid (uncredited)
1955Touch and GoMrs. Baxter
1957The Story of Esther CostelloMatron in Art Gallery
1958Next to No TimeBecky Wiener
1958Nowhere to GoHarriet P. Jefferson
1960Too Young to LoveMrs. Busch
1961The Greengage Summer[63]American tourist
1961The Roman Spring of Mrs. StoneBunny
1963The Wild AffairMarjorie's Mother
1963Children of the DamnedMrs. Robbins, Mark's Grandmother
1964I Think They Call Him John[63]NarratorSamaritan Films
1965Promise Her AnythingPet Shop Customer
1966The Poppy Is Also a FlowerUncredited
1967Battle Beneath the EarthMatron
1967I'll Never Forget What's'isnameAmerican tourist
1968IsadoraMrs. Duncan
1969On Her Majesty's Secret ServiceAmerican touristEon-Danilag Productions
1971Sunday Bloody Sunday[64]Answering Service Lady
1971CatlowMrs. Frost
1974VampyresAmerican Lady
1974Mousey (a.k.a. Cat and Mouse)[64]Mrs. Richardson
1976The RitzMaurine
1977Gulliver's Travels[64]
1978Edward & Mrs. SimpsonMaud Cunardtelevision
1981RedsMrs. Partlow
1981RagtimeOld T.O.C. Lady
1981Lady Chatterley's LoverFlora
1983The HungerLillybelle

References

Notes
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Stars of the Photoplay. Chicago: Photoplay magazine. 1924.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Folkart, Burt A. (29 April 1986). "Bessie Love, Silent Screen Actress Discovered in 1915, Dies at 87". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Kidd, Charles (1986). Debrett Goes to Hollywood. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 67. ISBN 0312005881.
  4. Obituary Variety, April 30, 1986.
  5. "Oscar History: 1930a". Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  6. Love 1977, p. 25
  7. "Little Whisperings from Everywhere in Playerdom". Motion Picture Magazine 18 (8): 104. September 1919.
  8. "Bessie Love's Popularity Growing". The Moving Picture World: 1233. March 1, 1919.
  9. "Cinema Truth in Flashes". Photo-Play Journal: 46. February 1919.
  10. "Hobnobbing with Bessie Love". Photo-Play Journal: 11, 56. February 1919.
  11. Essex, Bert D. (April 1919). "The Silent Trend". Photo-Play Journal: 36.
  12. "Wampas Baby Stars of 1922–1934 with Photos of Each Class". Immortal Ephemera. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  13. Anderson, Chuck. "The WAMPAS Baby Stars". The Old Corral. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  14. In The King on Main Street:
    • "Crimson Playgoer: The Metropolitan Opens its Doors to an Unlimited Public and a Very Fair Opening Attraction". The Harvard Crimson. October 21, 1925. Bessie Love too, who does a very jazzy version of the Charleston
    • "The King on Main Street". Theatre Magazine. January 1926. …it is memorable … for the fact that Bessie Love gives a perfect exhibition of the Charleston, proving that it can be danced with extreme grace and agility, and yet without a single hint of wriggling vulgarity. We hereby award Miss Love the palm as the greatest Charleston expert on the screen if not on the stage – which is by way of being a miracle, for ordinarily a film dance looks as silly as the capering of goats.
  15. "Everybody's Doing It Now; Bessie Love Shows You How". Photoplay. October 1925.
  16. Feeney, Mark (July 19, 2009). "Steichen: A man for all styles – Exhibits showcase breadth of his career". The Boston Globe.
  17. In The Song and Dance Man:
    • "Newspaper Opinions". The Film Daily 35 (30): 8. February 5, 1926. The picture is well worth viewing, however, if for no other reason than to watch Bessie Love dance the Charleston.
    • "Stage and Screen". The Cornell Daily Sun XLVI (134): 4. 25 March 1926. Bessie Love is well cast as the girl – she surely can do the Charleston.
    • "George M. Cohan's "Song and Dance Man" Comes to State". Reading Times (Reading, Pennsylvania). March 22, 1926. p. 8. Bessie Love, the diminutive film favorite and the screen's foremost exponent of the 'Charleston,' is happily cast as the small time performer who eventually wins fame and for tune in the musical comedy field.
    • "Lincoln Way Theatre". The Gettysburg Times (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania). August 31, 1926. p. 6. See Bessie Love, the screen's Charleston champ, strut her stuff!
  18. "Bessie Love Back". Titusville Herald 72 (90) (Titusville, Pennsylvania). September 28, 1936. p. 1.
  19. "Bessie Love". AllMovie Guide. Retrieved November 22, 2014.
  20. "In Short". Billboard 58 (47): 36. November 23, 1946.
  21. 21.0 21.1 Love 1977, p. 136
  22. "London Garrick Theatre – Born Yesterday – Laurence Olivier". Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  23. "'Born Yesterday' Hit In Glasgow Opening Before London Deb". Billboard 58 (48): 4. November 30, 1946.
  24. "Silent Film Star a Playwright". Tri-City Herald (Pasco, Washington). April 21, 1958. p. 2.
  25. "Little Action in New Play". The Glasgow Herald. April 22, 1958. p. 3.
  26. "Bessie Love – Silent and Sound Film Actress". Golden Silents. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  27. Love 1977, p. 140
  28. Bessie Love's appearance on This Is Your Life
  29. 29.0 29.1 Hollander, Zander (August 28, 1972). "Bessie Love—74 Years Young and Still Acting". The Dispatch 91 (99) (Lexington, NC). p. 21.
  30. Love 1977, p. 125
  31. The twenty-one articles were published over eighteen years:
  32. Love 1977
  33. Brownlow, Kevin; Gill, David (1980). "The Man With The Megaphone". Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film. Episode 10. Thames Video Production. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  34. "The Great Adventure (1918)". BFI National Film and Television.
  35. "The Midlanders / Bessie Love [motion picture]". Library of Congress – Performing Arts Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  36. "Lost 35 mm Nitrate Film FOUND!". NitrateVille. January 18, 2014. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  37. 37.0 37.1 Love 1977, p. 150
  38. "The Swamp". Silent Era. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  39. "The Swamp / Colin Campbell [motion picture]". Library of Congress – Performing Arts Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  40. 40.0 40.1 40.2 The American Film Institute (1971). The American Film Institute catalog of motion pictures produced in the United States: Feature Films: 1921–1930. R.R. Bowker Co. OCLC 504274291.
  41. "Bulldog Courage (1922)". British Film Institute.
  42. "The Village Blacksmith". Silent Era. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  43. Love 1977, pp. 82–83
  44. Love 1977, p. 151
  45. Kehr, Dave (June 7, 2010). "Trove of Long-Lost Silent Films Returns to America". The New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  46. "St. Elmo". Silent Era. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  47. "Slave of Desire / George D Baker [motion picture]". Library of Congress – Performing Arts Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  48. "Slave of Desire". Silent Era. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  49. "The Song and Dance Man". Silent Era. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  50. Andersen, Arne. "The Lost Films of Paramount Pictures". Lost Film Files. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  51. "The Song and Dance Man / Herbert Brenon [motion picture]". Library of Congress – Performing Arts Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  52. Lovey Mary / King Baggot
  53. "Going Crooked". Silent Era. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  54. "Going Crooked / George Melford [motion picture]". Library of Congress – Performing Arts Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  55. Andersen, Arne. "The Lost Films of Pathé Exchange". Lost Film Files. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  56. "Sally of the Scandals / Lynn Shores [motion picture]". Library of Congress – Performing Arts Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  57. Andersen, Arne. "The Lost Films of Universal Studios". Lost Film Files. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  58. Love 1977, p. 153
  59. Dickstein, Martin (24 February 1930). "The Cinema Circuit". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn). Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  60. "GOOD NEWS color sequence". NitrateVille. May 17, 2010. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  61. Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress by The American Film Institute (1978)
  62. 62.0 62.1 Love 1977, p. 154
  63. 63.0 63.1 Love 1977, p. 155
  64. 64.0 64.1 64.2 Love 1977, p. 156
Bibliography

External links

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