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IMDbPro

Betty Compson(1897-1974)

  • Actress
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Betty Compson, Paramount Photo, early 1920s, **I.V.
Watch Mr. & Mrs. Smith Official Trailer
Play trailer0:45
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)
1 Video
99+ Photos
A mining engineer's daughter, blond, blue-eyed Betty Compson began in show business playing violin in a Salt Lake City vaudeville establishment for $15 a week. Following that, she went on tour, accompanied by her mother, with an act called 'the Vagabond Violinist'. Aged eighteen, she appeared on the Alexander Pantages Theatre Circuit, again doing her violin solo vaudeville routine, and was spotted there by comedy producer Al Christie. Christie quickly changed her stage name from Eleanor to Betty. For the next few years, she turned out a steady stream of one-reel and two-reel slapstick comedies, frequently paired with Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle.

In 1919, Betty was signed by writer-director George Loane Tucker to co-star opposite Lon Chaney as Rose in The Miracle Man (1919). The film was a huge critical and financial success and established Betty Compson as a major star at Paramount (under contract from 1921 to 1925). One of the more highly paid performers of the silent screen, her weekly earnings exceeded $5000 a week at the peak of her career. She came to own a fleet of luxury limousines and was able to move from a bungalow in the hills overlooking Hollywood to an expensive mansion on Hollywood Boulevard. From 1921, Betty also owned her own production company. She went on to make several films in England between 1923 and 1924 for the director Graham Cutts.

During the late 1920's, Betty appeared in a variety of dramatic and comedic roles. She received good reviews acting opposite George Bancroft as a waterfront prostitute in The Docks of New York (1928), and was even nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of a carnival girl in The Barker (1928). She gave a touching performance in The Great Gabbo (1929), directed by her then husband James Cruze, as the assistant of a demented ventriloquist (Erich von Stroheim), with whom she is unhappily in love. That same year, she appeared in RKO's first sound film, Street Girl (1929), and was briefly under contract to that studio, cast in so-called 'women's pictures' such as The Lady Refuses (1931) and Three Who Loved (1931).

The stature of her roles began to diminish from the mid 1930s, though she continued to act in character parts until 1948. Betty's personal fortunes also declined. This came about primarily as a result of her marital contract to the alcoholic Cruze, whom she had divorced in 1929. For several years, Cruze had failed to pay his income tax and Betty (linked financially to Cruze) ended up being sued by the federal government to the tune of $150,000. This forced her to sell her Hollywood villa, her cars and her antiques. In later years, Betty Compson developed her own cosmetics label and ran a business in California producing personalized ashtrays for the hospitality industry.
BornMarch 19, 1897
DiedApril 18, 1974(77)
BornMarch 19, 1897
DiedApril 18, 1974(77)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Nominated for 1 Oscar

Photos235

Betty Compson and Bob Reeves in The Docks of New York (1928)
Betty Compson in The Docks of New York (1928)
George Bancroft and Betty Compson in The Docks of New York (1928)
Betty Compson in The Docks of New York (1928)
George Bancroft and Betty Compson in The Docks of New York (1928)
George Bancroft and Betty Compson in The Docks of New York (1928)
Olga Baclanova and Betty Compson in The Docks of New York (1928)
George Bancroft and Betty Compson in The Docks of New York (1928)
Betty Compson in The Docks of New York (1928)
George Bancroft and Betty Compson in The Docks of New York (1928)
George Bancroft, Betty Compson, and Mitchell Lewis in The Docks of New York (1928)
George Bancroft and Betty Compson in The Docks of New York (1928)

Known for

Betty Compson and John Harron in Street Girl (1929)
Street Girl
6.2
  • Frederika Joyzelle
  • 1929
Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
6.3
  • Gertie
  • 1941
Betty Compson and Edmund Lowe in The Palace of Pleasure (1926)
The Palace of Pleasure
4.7
  • Lola Montez
  • 1926
Escort Girl (1941)
Escort Girl
4.1
  • Ruth Ashley
  • 1941

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actress

  • Eddie Bartell, Beverly Lloyd, Emory Parnell, Joe Sawyer, William Tracy, and Joan Woodbury in Here Comes Trouble (1948)
    Here Comes Trouble
  • Louise Currie and Kent Taylor in Second Chance (1947)
    Second Chance
  • Gabriel Dell, Teala Loring, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, and Dan Seymour in Hard Boiled Mahoney (1947)
    Hard Boiled Mahoney
  • Dennis O'Keefe and Helen Walker in Her Adventurous Night (1946)
    Her Adventurous Night
  • Robert Young and Dorothy McGuire in Claudia and David (1946)
    Claudia and David
    • (uncredited)
  • Mary Brian, Betty Compson, Isabel Jewell, Patsy Kelly, and Wanda McKay in Danger! Women at Work (1943)
    Danger! Women at Work
  • Grace Hayes, Peter Lind Hayes, and Mary Healy in Zis Boom Bah (1941)
    Zis Boom Bah
    • (uncredited)
  • Escort Girl (1941)
    Escort Girl
  • Bela Lugosi and Polly Ann Young in Invisible Ghost (1941)
    Invisible Ghost
  • Wallace Ford, Dennis Moore, and Jean Parker in Roar of the Press (1941)
    Roar of the Press
  • Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)
    Mr. & Mrs. Smith
  • Andy Clyde and Betty Compson in The Watchman Takes a Wife (1941)
    The Watchman Takes a Wife
  • Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland in Laughing at Danger (1940)
    Laughing at Danger
  • Clark Gable and Joan Crawford in Strange Cargo (1940)
    Strange Cargo
    • (uncredited)
  • Beatrice Blinn, Dorothy Comingore, Ann Dvorak, Preston Foster, Wynne Gibson, and Peggy Shannon in Cafe Hostess (1940)
    Cafe Hostess
    • (uncredited)

Soundtrack

  • Erich von Stroheim in The Great Gabbo (1929)
    The Great Gabbo
    • (uncredited)
  • Betty Compson and John Harron in Street Girl (1929)
    Street Girl
    • (uncredited)
  • On with the Show! (1929)
    On with the Show!
    • ("Let Me Have My Dreams" (1929), uncredited)

Videos1

Mr. & Mrs. Smith Official Trailer
Trailer 0:45
Mr. & Mrs. Smith Official Trailer

Personal details

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    • March 19, 1897
    • Beaver, Utah, USA
    • April 18, 1974
    • Glendale, California, USA(heart attack)
    • August 8, 1944 - April 16, 1962 (his death)
    • Thelma Worth(Cousin)
  • Publicity listings
    • 30 Articles
    • 2 Pictorials
    • 1 Magazine Cover Photo

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    A few months after she was born her father seemingly deserted the family for the Klondike gold strike. As it turned out, he made $25,000--a small fortune in today's terms--and returned to the family.
  • Quotes
    [About George Loane Tucker] I fell in love with Tucker, but it did me no good - he was married.
    • Dangerous Virtue
      (1925)
      1000 pounds per week

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