I have always been fascinated by the career of actress Bessie Love. She was born in Texas. Her name was Juanita Horton. Her family moved to Los Angeles and she went to Los Angeles High School. Looking for work, she met director DW Griffith and got a small part in
Intolerance. She appeared in movies with William S Hart and Douglas Fairbanks. She was a 1922 WAMPAS (Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers) Baby Star. She played many leading roles, most famously in
The Lost World, but never broke through until the talkies came, when she starred in
The Broadway Melody. Her career was hot for a few years, but then tailed off. She continued to appear in small parts in movies until the early 1980s.
This image is from the April, 1929
Photoplay. It illustrates her athletic tendencies and mentions that her singing and talking talents brought her back to the movies when the talkie era began.
I moved this series over from my other blog,
The Pneumatic Rolling-Sphere Carrier Delusion.
Here are the entries from this series on that blog.
Bessie Love didn't "break through" until THE BROADWAY MELODY? Hmmmm, isn't that rather a broad concept of "breaking through" when she had been starring in features since the late teens and was a leading lady at the majors all through the Silent Era? BROADWAY MELODY was like her third "break through" in her career just before that career tanked out in America and she moved to England.
ReplyDeleteRICHARD M ROBERTS
You're right, she was a leading lady, but perhaps not a big star earlier. I was trying in my own awkward way to say that her career fizzled and then came back for a much bigger surge early in the sound period.
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