BETTY COMPSON BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Betty Compson was born on March 19th, 1897 in Beaver, Utah with the birth name Eleanor Luicime Compson.  Her father worked as a mining engineer.  As a young girl she began playing the violin and worked in vaudeville in Salt Lake City, Utah.  She then received the opportunity to tour with a group called, "The Vagabond Violinist"  accompanied by her mother since she was still underage.
 
When Betty turned eighteen she did her violin act again appearing on stage at Alexander Pantages Theatre Circuit where a comedy producer, Al Christie took notice of her.  Christie took Compson under her wing, changing her stage name from Eleanor to Betty and getting her a number of roles in short slapstick comedy reels.
 
In 1919 she was offered a role in the film, "The Miracle Man" which turned out to be a huge success and was the film that helped get her attention from critics and a contract with Paramount from 1921 to 1925.  Betty was becoming one of the highest paid performers of the silent era.   
 
Along with being a very popular actress she also started her own production company.  Betty was working on films not only in the United States but also in England under the director Graham Cutts.   Some of her more well known films were a role in, "Docks of New York" (1928) and "The Barker" (1928) for which she earned an Academy Award.  
 
As her career progressed there was not shortage of film roles being offered to her.  She worked with RKO on their first sound film, "Street Girl" (1929) followed by roles in, "The Lady Refuses"  and "Three Who Loved" (both 1931).  She worked up until 1948 taking on a number of character roles, but due to her first marriage to director, James Cruze she suffered a huge financial loss when she was sued for him not paying income taxes.
 
When she finally returned from the entertainment industry, Compson started her own cosmetics label and also ran a business in California where she produced personalized ashtrays for the hospital industry.     

When her marriage to Cruze ended in 1930.  She married for a second time to Irving Weinberg from 1933 through 1937.  Her third and final marriage was to Silvius John Gall whom she married in 1944 and remained together with him having no children until he passed away on April 15th, 1962.  She did not remarry again and on April 18th, 1974, Betty Compson passed away in Glendale, California after suffering from a heart attack.  She is interred at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, California. 
 

Filmography

1948 Here Comes Trouble 
1947 Second Chance 
1947 Hard Boiled Mahoney
1946 Her Adventurous Night 
1946 Claudia and David 
1943 Danger! Women at Work 
1941 Zis Boom Bah 
1941 Invisible Ghost 
1941 Roar of the Press 
1941 Mr. & Mrs. Smith 
1941 The Watchman Takes a Wife 
1941 Escort Girl
1940 Laughing at Danger 
1940 Mad Youth
1940 Strange Cargo 
1940 Cafe Hostess 
1939 Cowboys from Texas 
1939 News Is Made at Night 
1939 Hotel Imperial 
1938 Under the Big Top 
1938 Religious Racketeers 
1938 The Beloved Brat 
1938 Two Gun Justice 
1938 Torchy Blane in Panama 
1938 A Slight Case of Murder 
1938 Port of Missing Girls 
1938 Blondes at Work 
1937 Federal Bullets 
1937 God's Country and the Man 
1937 Circus Girl 
1936 Two Minutes to Play 
1936 Killer at Large 
1936 Bulldog Edition 
1936 Hollywood Boulevard 
1936 The Drag-Net 
1936 The Millionaire Kid 
1936 Laughing Irish Eyes 
1936 August Weekend 
1935 False Pretenses 
1935 Manhattan Butterfly 
1934 No Sleep on the Deep 
1933 Notorious But Nice 
1933 Destination Unknown 
1933 West of Singapore 
1932 Guilty or Not Guilty 
1932 The Silver Lining 
1931 Hollywood Halfbacks 
1931 The Gay Diplomat 
1931 Three Who Loved 
1931 The Virtuous Husband 
1931 The Lady Refuses 
1930 The Boudoir Diplomat 
1930 She Got What She Wanted
1930 The Spoilers 
1930 Inside the Lines 
1930 Midnight Mystery
1930 Czar of Broadway 
1930 Those Who Dance 
1930 Isle of Escape 
1930 The Case of Sergeant Grischa
1929 Blaze o' Glory 
1929 The Show of Shows 
1929 Woman to Woman 
1929 The Great Gabbo 
1929 Skin Deep 
1929 Street Girl 
1929 The Time, the Place and the Girl 
1929 On with the Show! 
1929 Weary River
1928 Scarlet Seas 
1928 The Barker 
1928 The Docks of New York 
1928 Court-Martial
1928 Life's Mockery 
1928 The Masked Angel 
1928 The Desert Bride 
1928 The Big City 
1927 Cheating Cheaters 
1927 Love Me and the World Is Mine 
1927 Temptations of a Shop Girl 
1927 Say It with Diamonds 
1927 The Ladybird 
1926 The Belle of Broadway 
1926 The Wise Guy 
1926 The Palace of Pleasure 
1925 Counsel for the Defense 
1925 The Pony Express 
1925 Paths to Paradise 
1925 Beggar on Horseback 
1925 Eve's Secret 
1925 New Lives for Old 
1925 Locked Doors 
1924 The Garden of Weeds
1924 The Fast Set 
1924 Ramshackle House 
1924 The Female
1924 The Enemy Sex 
1924 Dangerous Virtue 
1924 Miami 
1924 The Stranger
1923 The Woman with Four Faces 
1923 The Rustle of Silk 
1923 The White Flower
1923 The Royal Oak 
1923 White Shadows
1923 Woman to Woman 
1922 Kick In 
1922 To Have and to Hold 
1922 The Bonded Woman
1922 Always the Woman 
1922 Over the Border 
1922 The Green Temptation 
1922 The Law and the Woman 
1921 The Little Minister 
1921 Ladies Must Live
1921 At the End of the World 
1921 For Those We Love 
1921 Prisoners of Love 
1919 The Miracle Man 
1919 The Devil's Trail 
1919 The Little Diplomat 
1919 The Light of Victory 
1919 The Prodigal Liar 
1919 Terror of the Range 
1918 The Sheriff 
1918 Border Raiders 
1918 All Dressed Up
1918 Never Surprise Your Wife 
1918 Betty's Adventure 
1918 Somebody's Baby 
1918 Here Comes the Groom
1918 Circumstantial Evidence
1918 Whose Wife?
1918 Many a Slip
1917 Cupid's Camouflage
1917 Help! Help! Police!
1917 Their Seaside Tangle
1917 Betty Wakes Up
1917 Almost Divorced
1917 Nearly a Papa
1917 Love and Locksmiths
1917 Almost a Bigamist
1917 Betty's Big Idea
1917 Crazy by Proxy
1917 A Smoky Love Affair
1917 Won in a Cabaret
1917 Down by the Sea
1917 Five Little Widows
1917 A Bold, Bad Knight
1917 Almost a Scandal
1917 Those Wedding Bells
1917 His Last Pill
1917 Father's Bright Idea
1917 Suspended Sentence
1917 Sauce for the Goose
1917 As Luck Would Have It
1917 Out for the Coin
1917 Hubby's Night Out
1917 Small Change
1917 Her Friend, the Chauffeur
1917 Her Crooked Career
1916 Cupid's Uppercut
1916 Hist! At Six O'Clock
1916 Sea Nymphs
1916 Some Kid
1916 Her Sun-Kissed Hero
1916 A Brass-Buttoned Romance
1916 Nearly a Hero
1916 Dad's Masterpiece
1916 When Clubs Were Trumps 
1916 He Loved the Ladies
1916 That Doggone Baby
1916 He Wouldn't Tip
1916 The Making Over of Mother 
1916 Those Primitive Days 
1916 Inoculating Hubby
1916 His Baby
1916 The Browns See the Fair
1916 Almost a Widow 
1916 Wanted: A Husband
1916 All Over a Stocking 
1916 Her Celluloid Hero
1916 The Wooing of Aunt Jemima
1916 He's a Devil
1916 Potts Bungles Again
1916 Lem's College Career
1916 The Newlyweds' Mix-Up
1916 Eddie's Night Out
1916 A Leap Year Tangle
1916 He Almost Eloped
1916 The Janitor's Busy Day
1916 A Friend, But a Star Boarder
1916 Love and Vaccination
1916 The Deacon's Waterloo
1916 When Lizzie Disappeared
1916 Cupid Trims His Lordship
1916 Her Friend, the Doctor 
1916 When the Losers Won 
1916 A Quiet Supper for Four 
1916 Her Steady Carfare 
1916 Mingling Spirits 
1916 Jed's Trip to the Fair 
1916 Lovers and Lunatics 
1915 Some Chaperone 
1915 Love and a Savage 
1915 Where the Heather Blooms 
1915 Their Quiet Honeymoon 
1915 Wanted: A Leading Lady