Betty Compson filmography

Betty Compson, aboard ship 1920s.

This page has most if not all of Betty Compson's known film appearances 1915–48. Films from 1915 to 1919 are shorts, mostly for Al Christie unless otherwise stated. A big breakout came in 1919 with The Miracle Man now lost. In the early-to-mid 1920s Compson was a major player at Paramount with her name above the title of her films. By the end of the decade she was free-lancing and appearing as feature and support with name below the title of the film. Her star definitely took a fall somewhere after marrying director James Cruze, and she would remain a feature support into the sound era for the rest of her film career.

Shorts

Betty with the Al Christie company center, left, circa 1916.

with William Desmond in The Prodigal Liar 1919.

The Devil's Trail lantern slide, 1919

The Terror of the Range, 1919, lobby poster

with Joseph J. Dowling in The Miracle Man, 1919

sheet music cover to The Miracle Man, 1919

on the cover of Shadowland magazine February 1920

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	Betty
1916	A Quiet Supper for Four	Mrs. Newlywed
1916	When the Losers Won	Mrs. Newlywed
1916	Her Friend, the Doctor	Mary West
1916	Cupid Trims his Lordship	Betty – the Daughter
1916	When Lizzie Disappeared
1916	The Deacon's Waterloo	Betty – 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 Hammond
1916	He Almost Eloped	Betty – Billie's Roommate
1916	A Leap Year Tangle	Betty – One of the Girls – Eddie's Sweetheart
1916	Eddie's Night Out	Betty Newlywed
1916	The Newlyweds' Mix-Up	Mrs. Newlywed
1916	Lem's College Career	Mary
1916	Potts Bungles Again	Betty
1916	He's a Devil	Betty – Eddie's Sweetheart
1916	The Wooing of Aunt Jemima	Betty
1916	Her Celluloid Hero	Betty – the Actor's Sweetheart
1916	All Over a Stocking	The Stenographer
1916	Wanted: A Husband	The Wife
1916	Almost a Widow	Mrs. Gordon
1916	The Browns See the Fair	The Train Passenger
1916	His Baby	Betty – the Peach
1916	Inoculating Hubby	Wifie
1916	Those Primitive Days	Heela Hoola
1916	The Making Over of Mother	Mrs. Newlywed
1916	He Wouldn't Tip	The Pippin
1916	That Doggone Bab	Wifie Parker
1916	He Loved the Ladies	Mrs. Gordon
1916	When Clubs Were Trumps	Wifie Parker
1916	Dad's Masterpiece	Betty Morton
1916	Nearly a Hero	Betty – the Sheriff's Daughter
1916	A Brass-Buttoned Romance
1916	Her Sun-Kissed Hero	The Peach
1916	Some Kid
1916	Sea Nymphs	Betty – the Wife
1916	Hist! At Six O'Clock	Tillie de Vamp
1916	Cupid's Uppercut	Betty
1916	Lovers and Lunatics	Betty Grey
1917	Her Crooked Career	The Girl
1917	Her Friend, the Chauffeur	The Girl
1917	Small Change	The Girl
1917	Hubby's Night Out	Wifey
1917	Out for the Coin
1917	As Luck Would Have It
1917	Sauce for the Goose
1917	Suspended Sentence
1917	Father's Bright Idea
1917	His Last Pill
1917	Those Wedding Bells
1917	Almost a Scandal
1917	A Bold, Bad Knight
1917	Five Little Widows	Betty Morgan
1917	Down by the Sea
1917	Won in a Cabaret
1917	A 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. Gordon
1917	Almost Divorced
1917	Betty Wakes Up	Sally
1917	Their Seaside Tangle
1917	Help! Help! Police!
1917	Cupid's Camouflage	Betty
1918	Many a Slip
1918	Whose Wife?
1918	Circumstantial Evidence
1918	Here Comes the Groom		(unconfirmed)
1918	Somebody's Baby
1918	Betty's Adventure	Betty
1918	Never Surprise Your Wife
1918	All 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

Betty Compson, 1921

Betty Compson, 1921

At the End of the World 1921

Photoplay magazine cover June 1922.

Movie Weekly July 29, 1922

The Rustle of Silk 1923

The Enemy Sex lobby card, 1924

The Female, lobby card, 1924

Silent Films: 1918–1929

Year	Title	Role	Studio	Notes
1918	The Border Raiders	Rose Hardy	Pathé
1919	Terror of the Range	Thelma Grant	Pathé	Film serial Lost
	The Prodigal Liar	Hope Deering		Lost
	The Light of Victory	Jane Ravenslee		Lost
	The Little Diplomat	Phyllis Dare		Lost
	The Devil's Trail	Rose	World Film	Lost
	The Miracle Man	Rose	Paramount	Majority lost; two fragments survive
1921	Prisoners of Love	Blanche Davis	Goldwyn	Lost Also produced
	For Those We Love	Bernice Arnold	Goldwyn	Lost Also produced
	At the End of the World	Cherry O'Day	Paramount
	Ladies Must Live	Christine Bleeker	Paramount	Lost film
	The Little Minister	Lady Babbie	Paramount
1922	The Law and the Woman	Margaret Rolfe	Paramount	Lost
	The Green Temptation	Genelle/Coralyn/Joan Parker	Paramount	Lost
	Over the Border	Jen Galbriath	Paramount	Lost
	Always the Woman	Celia Thaxter	Goldwyn	Incomplete
	The Bonded Woman	Angela Gaskell	Paramount
	To Have and to Hold	Lady Jocelyn Leigh	Paramount	Lost
	Kick In	Molly Brandon	Paramount
1923	The White Flower	Konia Markham	Paramount	Lost
	The Rustle of Silk	Lala De Breeze	Paramount	Lost
	The Woman With Four Faces	Elizabeth West	Paramount	Lost
	Hollywood	Herself	Paramount	Lost film
	Woman to Woman	Louise Boucher/Deloryse	Woolf & Freedman	Lost Uncredited assistant director Alfred Hitchcock
	The Royal Oak	Lady Mildred Cholmondeley	Stoll	Lost
1924	The Stranger	Peggy Bowlin	Paramount	Lost
	Miami	Joan Bruce	W. W. Hodkinson	Lost
	Dangerous Virtue			Screenplay by Alfred Hitchcock
	The White Shadow	Nancy Brent/Georgina Brent	Woolf & Freedman	Incomplete Uncredited assistant director Alfred Hitchcock
	The Enemy Sex	Dodo Baxter	Paramount	Married director James Cruze
	The Female	Dalla	Paramount	Lost
	Ramshackle House	Pen Broome	PDC	Lost
	The Fast Set	Margaret Stone	Paramount	Lost
	The Garden of Weeds	Dorothy Delbridge	Paramount	Lost
1925	Locked Doors	Mrs. Norman 'Mary Reid' Carter	Paramount	Lost
	New Lives for Old	Olympe	Paramount	Lost
	Eve's Secret	Eve	Paramount
	Beggar on Horseback	Princess in Pantomime	Paramount	Incomplete
	Paths to Paradise	Molly	Paramount
	The Pony Express	Molly Jones	Paramount
	Counsel for the Defense	Katherine West	Associated Exhibitions	Lost
1926	The Palace of Pleasure	Lola Montez	Fox	Lost
	The Wise Guy	Hula Kate	First National
	The Belle of Broadway	Marie Duval/The Young Adele	Columbia
1927	The Ladybird	Diane Wyman	Chadwick
	Say It with Diamonds	Betty Howard	Chadwick
	Temptations of a Shop Girl	Ruth Harrington	Chadwick	Lost
	Love Me and the World Is Mine	Mitzel	Universal
	Cheating Cheaters	Nan Carey	Universal	Lost
1928	The Big City	Helen	MGM	Lost; Trailer survives
	The Desert Bride	Diane Duval	Columbia	Lost
	The Masked Angel	Betty	Chadwick	Lost
	Life's Mockery	Kit Miller/Isabelle Fullerton	Chadwick
	Court Martial	Belle Starr	Columbia
	The Docks of New York	Mae	Paramount
1929	Scarlet Seas	Rose	First National

Sound Films: 1928–1931

Scarlet Seas, 1928, released with music and sound effects

Virtuous Husband, 1931

Year	Title	Role	Studio	Notes
1928	The Barker	Carrie	First National	Part-talkie; Nomination—Academy Award for Best Actress
1929	Weary River	Alice Gray	First National	Part-talkie
	On with the Show	Nita	Warner Bros.	Filmed in Technicolor;first all-talking, all-color picture; survives in black and white
	The Time, the Place and the Girl	Doris Ward	Warner Bros.	Lost
	Street Girl	Frederika Joyzelle	RKO	First film made by RKO
	Skin Deep	Sadie Rogers	Warner Bros.	Lost
	The Great Gabbo	Mary	Sono Art-World	Originally contained sequences in Multicolor
	Woman to Woman	Deloryce/Lola	Gainsborough
	The Show of Shows	Herself	Warner Bros.	Originally shot in Technicolor
	Blaze o' Glory	Helen Williams	Sono Art-World	Lost; Soundtrack survives
1930	The Case of Sergeant Grischa	Babka	RKO	Lost
	Isle of Escape	Stella	Warner Bros.	Lost; Fragment totalling 40 seconds survives
	Those Who Dance	Kitty	Warner Bros.
	The Czar of Broadway	Connie Colton	Universal
	Midnight Mystery	Sally Wayne	RKO
	Inside the Lines	Jane Gershon	RKO
	The Spoilers	Cherry Malotte	Paramount
	She Got What She Wanted	Mahyna	Tiffany	Lost
	The Boudoir Diplomat	Helene	Universal
1931	The Lady Refuses	June	RKO
	The Virtuous Husband	Inez Wakefield	Universal
	Three Who Loved	Helga Larson Hanson	RKO
	The Gay Diplomat	Baroness Alma Corri	RKO

Films 1932–1948

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1932	The Silver Lining	Kate Flynn
	Guilty or Not Guilty	Maizie	Lost
1933	West of Singapore	Lou	Lost
	Destination Unknown	Ruby Smith
	Notorious But Nice	Millie Sprague
1935	Manhattan Butterfly
	False Pretenses	Clarissa Stanhope
1936	August Weekend	Ethel Ames
	Laughing Irish Eyes	Molly
	The Millionaire Kid	Gloria Neville
	The Drag-Net	Mollie Cole
	Hollywood Boulevard	Betty
	Bulldog Edition	Billie Blake aka Aggie
	Killer at Large	Kate
	Two Minutes to Play	'Fluff' Harding
1937	Circus Girl	Carlotta
	God's Country and the Man	Roxey Moore
	Federal Bullets	Sue, Gang Moll
1938	Blondes at Work	Blanche Revelle
	The Port of Missing Girls	Chicago
	A Slight Case of Murder	Loretta
	Torchy Blane in Panama	Kitty
	Two Gun Justice	Kate
	The Beloved Brat	Eleanor Sparks	uncredited
	Religious Racketeers	Ada Bernard
	Under the Big Top	Marie
1939	Hotel Imperial	Soubrette	uncredited
	News Is Made at Night	Kitty Truman
	Cowboys from Texas	Belle Starkey
1940	Cafe Hostess	Cafe Hostess	Uncredited
	Strange Cargo	Suzanne	Uncredited
	Mad Youth	Lucy Morgan
	Laughing at Danger	Mrs. Van Horn
1941	Mr. & Mrs. Smith	Gertie
	Roar of the Press	Mrs. Thelma Tate
	Invisible Ghost	Mrs. Kessler
	Zis Boom Bah	Mame	Uncredited
	Escort Girl	Ruth Ashley
1943	Danger! Women at Work	Madame Sappho
1946	Claudia and David		Uncredited
	Her Adventurous Night	Miss Spencer
1947	Hard Boiled Mahoney	Selena Webster
	Second Chance	Mrs. Davenport
1948	Here Comes Trouble	Martha Blake

External links

• Betty Compson at IMDb.com