This page includes Betty Compson's (March 19, 1897 – April 18, 1974) known film appearances from 1915 to 1948.

Films from 1915 to 1919 are shorts, mostly for Al Christie, unless otherwise stated. A big breakout came in 1919, with The Miracle Man, which is now lost. In the early-to-mid 1920s, Compson was a major player at Paramount. By the end of the decade, her work became free-lance. Her fame began to decline after marrying director James Cruze, and she would remain a feature support for the rest of her film career.

Shorts

Year Title Role Notes 1915 Wanted: A Leading Lady The Leading Lady 1915 Their Quiet Honeymoon Betty – 1st Newlywed 1915 Where the Heather Blooms Lady Mary 1915 Love and a Savage Betty 1915 Some Chaperone Betty – the 1st Daughter 1916 Jed's Trip to the Fair Lizzie 1916 Mingling Spirits Mrs. Newlywed 1916 Her Steady Carfare Betty1916 A Quiet Supper for FourMrs. Newlywed 1916 When the Losers WonMrs. Newlywed 1916 Her Friend, the Doctor Mary West 1916 Cupid Trims his Lordship Betty – the Daughter1916 When Lizzie Disappeared 1916 The Deacon's WaterlooBetty – the Girl 1916 Love and Vaccination The Doctor's Sister 1916 A Friend, But a Star Boarder (unconfirmed) 1916 The Janitor's Busy Day Betty Hammond1916 He Almost ElopedBetty – Billie's Roommate1916 A Leap Year TangleBetty – One of the Girls – Eddie's Sweetheart 1916 Eddie's Night Out Betty Newlywed 1916 The Newlyweds' Mix-Up Mrs. Newlywed1916 Lem's College CareerMary 1916 Potts Bungles Again Betty 1916 He's a Devil Betty – Eddie's Sweetheart 1916 The Wooing of Aunt JemimaBetty1916 Her Celluloid Hero Betty – the Actor's Sweetheart 1916All Over a StockingThe Stenographer 1916Wanted: A Husband The Wife 1916 Almost a Widow Mrs. Gordon1916 The Browns See the Fair The Train Passenger 1916 His Baby Betty – the Peach 1916Inoculating HubbyWifie 1916Those Primitive DaysHeela Hoola 1916 The Making Over of Mother Mrs. Newlywed 1916 He Wouldn't TipThe Pippin 1916 That Doggone Bab Wifie Parker 1916 He Loved the Ladies Mrs. Gordon1916 When Clubs Were Trumps Wifie Parker1916 Dad's MasterpieceBetty Morton 1916 Nearly a Hero Betty – the Sheriff's Daughter 1916A Brass-Buttoned Romance 1916 Her Sun-Kissed Hero The Peach1916Some Kid 1916 Sea NymphsBetty – the Wife 1916 Hist! At Six O'Clock Tillie de Vamp 1916 Cupid's Uppercut Betty 1916 Lovers and Lunatics Betty Grey1917 Her Crooked Career The Girl1917Her Friend, the Chauffeur The Girl1917 Small Change The Girl 1917 Hubby's Night Out Wifey 1917 Out for the Coin 1917 As Luck Would Have It1917 Sauce for the Goose 1917Suspended Sentence 1917 Father's Bright Idea 1917 His Last Pill 1917 Those Wedding Bells1917 Almost a Scandal1917 A Bold, Bad Knight 1917 Five Little Widows Betty Morgan1917 Down by the Sea 1917 Won in a Cabaret 1917A Smoky Love Affair 1917 Crazy by Proxy 1917 Betty's Big Idea 1917 Almost a Bigamist 1917 Love and Locksmiths 1917 Nearly a Papa Mrs. Gordon1917Almost Divorced 1917 Betty Wakes UpSally 1917 Their Seaside Tangle 1917 Help! Help! Police! 1917 Cupid's CamouflageBetty1918 Many a Slip 1918 Whose Wife? 1918Circumstantial Evidence 1918 Here Comes the Groom (unconfirmed) 1918 Somebody's Baby 1918Betty's Adventure Betty 1918 Never Surprise Your Wife 1918All Dressed Up 1918 The Sheriff School teacher 1922 A Trip to Paramountown Herself 1931 Hollywood Halfbacks Herself 1934 No Sleep on the Deep Mrs. Eldridge 1934 The Watchman Takes a Wife Molly Clyde

Features

Silent Films: 1918–1929 Year Title Role Studio(s) / Distributor(s) Notes1918 The Border Raiders Rose Hardy Pathé Exchange Copy held at the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée1919 Terror of the Range Thelma Grant Pathé Exchange Film serialLost film The Prodigal Liar Hope Deering Lost film The Light of Victory Jane Ravenslee Bluebird Photoplays Universal Film Manufacturing Company Lost film The Little Diplomat Phyllis Dare Pathé Exchange Lost film The Devil's Trail Rose World Film Company Lost film The Miracle Man Rose Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Lost filmTwo fragments survive1921 Prisoners of Love Blanche Davis Goldwyn Pictures Lost filmAlso produced For Those We Love Bernice Arnold Goldwyn Pictures Lost film Also produced At the End of the World Cherry O'Day Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Copy held at the Gosfilmofond Russian Archive Ladies Must Live Christine Bleeker Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Lost film The Little Minister Lady Babbie Paramount Famous Players-Lasky1922 The Law and the Woman Margaret Rolfe Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Lost film The Green Temptation Genelle/Coralyn/Joan Parker Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Lost film Over the Border Jen Galbriath Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Lost film Always the Woman Celia Thaxter Goldwyn Pictures An incomplete copy is held at the UCLA Film & Television Archive The Bonded Woman Angela Gaskell Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Copy held at the Gosfilmofond Russian Archive To Have and to Hold Lady Jocelyn Leigh Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Lost film Kick In Molly Brandon Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Copy held at the Library of Congress. (*This is debatable as some historians say this is an error and the film is still lost.)1923 The White Flower Konia Markham Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Lost film The Rustle of Silk Lala De Breeze Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Lost film The Woman with Four Faces Elizabeth West Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Lost film Hollywood Herself Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Lost film Woman to Woman Louise Boucher/Deloryse Woolf & Freedman Film Service Lost film The Royal Oak Lady Mildred Cholmondeley Stoll Pictures Lost film1924 The Stranger Peggy Bowlin Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Lost film Miami Joan Bruce W. W. Hodkinson Lost film Dangerous Virtue Balcon, Freedman & Saville The White Shadow Nancy Brent/Georgina Brent Woolf & Freedman Incomplete film The Enemy Sex Dodo Baxter Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Copy held at the Library of Congress The Female Dalla Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Lost film Ramshackle House Pen Broome Producers Distributing Corporation Lost film The Fast Set Margaret Stone Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Lost film The Garden of Weeds Dorothy Delbridge Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Lost film1925 Locked Doors Mrs. Norman 'Mary Reid' Carter Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Lost film New Lives for Old Olympe Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Lost film Eve's Secret Eve Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Copy held at the Library of Congress Beggar on Horseback Princess in Pantomime Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Incomplete copy held at the Library of Congress Paths to Paradise Molly Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Incomplete copy held at George Eastman Museum The Pony Express Molly Jones Paramount Famous Players-Lasky Counsel for the Defense Katherine West Associated Exhibitions Lost film1926 The Palace of Pleasure Lola Montez Fox Film Corporation Lost film The Wise Guy Hula Kate First National Pictures Copy held at the National Archives of Canada The Belle of Broadway Marie Duval/The Young Adele Columbia Pictures Copy held at the Library of Congress1927 The Ladybird Diane Wyman Chadwick Pictures Copy held at the Library of Congress Say It with Diamonds Betty Howard Chadwick Pictures Copies held at the Library of Congress and George Eastman House Ruth Harrington Chadwick Pictures Lost film Love Me and the World Is Mine Mitzel Universal Pictures Copies held at the Cinematheque Royale de Belgique and Danish Film Institute Cheating Cheaters Nan Carey Universal Pictures Lost film1928 The Big City Helen Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Lost film; Trailer survives The Desert Bride Diane Duval Columbia Pictures The Masked Angel Betty Chadwick Pictures Lost film Life's Mockery Kit Miller/Isabelle Fullerton Chadwick Pictures Copy held at the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée Court Martial Belle Starr Columbia Pictures Preserved at the Museum of Modern Art Segments filmed in Technicolor but no longer survive The Docks of New York Mae Paramount Famous Players-Lasky 1929 Scarlet Seas Rose First National Pictures Copy held at the Cineteca Italiana

Sound Films: 1928–1948

Year Title Role Studio(s) / Distributor(s) Notes 1928 The Barker Carrie First National Pictures Part-talkie Copy held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive Nomination—Academy Award for Best Actress1929 Weary River Alice Gray First National Pictures Part-talkie On with the Show! Nita Warner Bros. Filmed in Technicolor;first all-talking, all-color picture; survives in black and white, color fragments exist The Time, the Place and the Girl Doris Ward Warner Bros. Lost film Soundtrack exists Street Girl Frederika Joyzelle RKO Radio Pictures First film made by RKO Skin Deep Sadie Rogers Warner Bros. Lost film Soundtrack survivesThe Great Gabbo Mary Sono Art-World Wide Pictures Originally contained sequences in Multicolor Woman to Woman Deloryce/Lola Woolf & Freedman Film Service The Show of Shows Herself Warner Bros. Originally shot in Technicolor Blaze o' Glory Helen Williams Sono Art-World Wide Pictures Lost film; Soundtrack survives1930 Babka RKO Radio Pictures Lost film Isle of Escape Stella Warner Bros. Lost filmFragment totaling 40 seconds survives Those Who Dance Kitty Warner Bros. The Czar of Broadway Connie Colton Universal Pictures Copy held at the Library of Congress Midnight Mystery Sally Wayne RKO Radio Pictures Inside the Lines Jane Gershon RKO Radio Pictures The Spoilers Cherry Malotte Paramount Pictures She Got What She Wanted Mahyna Tiffany Pictures Lost film The Boudoir Diplomat Helene Universal Pictures 1931 The Lady Refuses June RKO Radio Pictures The Virtuous Husband Inez Wakefield Universal Pictures Three Who Loved Helga Larson Hanson RKO Radio Pictures The Gay Diplomat Baroness Alma Corri RKO Radio Pictures 1932 The Silver Lining Kate Flynn United Artists Guilty or Not Guilty Maizie Monogram Pictures Lost film1933 West of Singapore Lou Monogram Pictures Lost film Fragment totaling 2 minutes surviveDestination Unknown Ruby Smith Universal Pictures Notorious But Nice Millie Sprague Chesterfield Pictures 1935 Manhattan Butterfly Cameo Pictures False Pretenses Clarissa Stanhope Chesterfield Pictures 1936 August Weekend Ethel Ames Chesterfield Pictures Laughing Irish Eyes Molly Republic Pictures The Millionaire Kid Gloria Neville Reliable Pictures The Drag-Net Mollie Cole Burroughs-Tarzan Pictures Hollywood Boulevard Betty Paramount Pictures Bulldog Edition Billie Blake aka Aggie Republic Pictures Killer at Large Kate Columbia Pictures Two Minutes to Play 'Fluff' Harding Victory Pictures 1937 Circus Girl Carlotta Reliable Pictures God's Country and the Man Roxey Moore Monogram Pictures Federal Bullets Sue, Gang Moll Monogram Pictures 1938 Blondes at Work Blanche Revelle Warner Bros. The Port of Missing Girls Chicago Monogram Pictures A Slight Case of Murder Loretta Warner Bros. Torchy Blane in Panama Kitty Warner Bros. Two Gun Justice Kate Monogram Pictures The Beloved Brat Eleanor Sparks Warner Bros. uncreditedReligious Racketeers Ada Bernard Under the Big Top Marie Monogram Pictures 1939Hotel Imperial Soubrette Paramount Pictures uncreditedNews Is Made at Night Kitty Truman 20th Century Fox Cowboys from Texas Belle Starkey Republic Pictures 1940 Cafe Hostess Cafe Hostess Columbia Pictures Uncredited Strange Cargo Suzanne Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer UncreditedMad Youth Lucy Morgan Willis Kent Production Laughing at Danger Mrs. Van Horn Monogram Pictures 1941 Mr. & Mrs. Smith Gertie RKO Radio PicturesRoar of the Press Mrs. Thelma Tate Monogram Pictures Invisible Ghost Mrs. Kessler Monogram Pictures Zis Boom Bah Mame Monogram Pictures UncreditedEscort Girl Ruth Ashley 1943 Danger! Women at Work Madame Sappho Producers Releasing Corporation 1946 Claudia and David 20th Century Fox Uncredited Her Adventurous Night Miss Spencer Universal Pictures 1947 Hard Boiled Mahoney Selena Webster Monogram Pictures Second Chance Mrs. Davenport 20th Century Fox 1948 Here Comes Trouble Martha Blake United Artists

References

External links