Bessie Love
| Bessie Love | |
|---|---|
Bessie Love, one year into her acting career, signed photograph, circa 1916
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| Born |
Juanita Horton September 10, 1898 Midland, Texas, United States |
| Died | April 26, 1986 (aged 87) London, England, United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1915–83 |
| Height | 5 ft 0 in (1.52 m) |
| Weight | 100 lb (45 kg) |
| Spouse(s) | William Hawks (m. 1929; div. 1936) |
| Children | Patricia (b. 1932) |
Bessie Love born Juanita Horton (September 10, 1898 – April 26, 1986) was an American motion picture actress who achieved prominence mainly in the silent films and early talkies. With a small frame and delicate features, she played innocent young girls, flappers, and wholesome leading ladies. Her performance in The Broadway Melody (1929) earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Bessie Love was born Juanita Horton in Midland, Texas. She attended school in Midland until she was in the eighth grade, when her chiropractor father moved his family to Arizona, New Mexico, and then to Hollywood.
On actor Tom Mix's recommendation that she "get into pictures", 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 name. He gave her a small role in his film Intolerance (1916). Love dropped out of Los Angeles High School to pursue her film career, although she completed her degree many years later.
Her "first role of importance" was in The Flying Torpedo; she later appeared opposite William S. Hart in The Aryan and with Douglas Fairbanks in The Good Bad Man, Reggie Mixes In, and The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (all 1916). In her early career, she was often compared to Mary Pickford, even called "Our Mary" by D.W. Griffith.
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