Bessie Love was an American actress who became renowned for acting in the silent films and early talkies.
Education
She attended school in Midland until she was in the eighth grade, when her chiropractor father moved his family to Hollywood. Bessie graduated from Los Angeles High School and then received from her parents the graduation present of a trip around the United States. After six months of traveling, she finally returned home to Los Angeles.
Career
To help with the family's financial situation, 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 moniker. As her roles got larger, so did her popularity. 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.However, by 1932 her American film career was in decline. She moved to England in 1935 and did stage work and occasional films there.As war came in Europe she returned to the US for a while, worked for the Red Cross,and entertained the troops.In 1977 she published an autobiography, From Hollywood with Love.
Filmography:
The Broadway Melody (1929 MGM) (Extant)
The Idle Rich (1929 MGM) (Extant)
The Girl in the Show (1929 MGM) (Extant)
Chasing Rainbows (1930 MGM) (Extant)
They Learned About Women (1930 MGM) (Extant)
Conspiracy (1930 RKO) (Extant)
Good News (1930 MGM) (Extant ; but missing Technicolor ending)
See America First (1930 Universal) (Extant; UCLA per IMDB)
Morals for Women (1931 Tiffany) (Extant)
I Live Again (1936 National Provincial Film Distributors-UK)
Atlantic Ferry (1941)
Journey Together (1945)
No Highway in the Sky (uncredited) (1951)
The Magic Box (1951)
Young and Willing (1954)
The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
Beau Brummell (1954)
Touch and Go (1955)
The Story of Esther Costello (1957)
Next to No Time (1958)
Nowhere to Go (1958)
Too Young to Love (1960)
Loss of Innocence (1961)
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961)
The Wild Affair (1963)
Children of the Damned (1963)
Promise Her Anything (1965)
The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966)
Battle Beneath the Earth (1967)
I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967)
Isadora (1968)
Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
Catlow (1971)
Vampyres (1974)
The Ritz (1976)
Reds (1981)
Ragtime (1981)
Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981)
The Hunger (1983)