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 1915-19 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	Innoculating 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 Baby	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 Enemy Sex poster, 1924

The Female, lobby card, 1924

The Belle of Broadway, lobby poster, 1926

The Docks of New York, poster, 1928

Silent films: 1918-1925

Year	Title	Role	Studio	Genre	Notes
1918	The Border Raiders	Rose Hardy	Pathé	Western
1919	Terror of the Range	Thelma Grant	Pathé	Western	Film serial; Lost
1919	The Prodigal Liar	Hope Deering		Comedy western
1919	The Light of Victory	Jane Ravenslee		War
1919	The Little Diplomat	Phyllis Dare		Comedy
1919	The Devil's Trail	Rose	World Film	Drama	Lost
1919	The Miracle Man	Rose	Paramount	Drama	Majority lost; two fragments survive
1921	Prisoners of Love	Blanche Davis	Goldwyn	Romantic drama	Lost; also produced
1921	For Those We Love	Bernice Arnold	Goldwyn	Romance	Lost; also produced
1921	At the End of the World	Cherry O'Day	Paramount	Romantic drama	Extant
1921	Ladies Must Live	Christine Bleeker	Paramount	Romantic drama	Lost
1921	The Little Minister	Lady Babbie	Paramount	Drama	Extant
1922	The Law and the Woman	Margaret Rolfe	Paramount	Drama	Lost
1922	The Green Temptation	Genelle/Coralyn/Joan Parker	Paramount	Drama	Lost
1922	Over the Border	Jen Galbriath	Paramount	Romance	Lost
1922	Always the Woman	Celia Thaxter	Goldwyn	Romantic Drama	Extant
1922	The Bonded Woman	Angela Gaskell	Paramount	Romance	Extant
1922	To Have and to Hold	Lady Jocelyn Leigh	Paramount	Romance	Lost
1922	Kick In	Molly Brandon	Paramount	Crime	Extant
1923	The White Flower	Konia Markham	Paramount	Romantic drama	Lost
1923	The Rustle of Silk	Lala De Breeze	Paramount	Romantic drama	Lost
1923	The Woman With Four Faces	Elizabeth West	Paramount	Drama	Lost
1923	Woman to Woman	Louise Boucher/Deloryse	Woolf & Freedman	Romantic Drama	Lost; Filmed in Britain; uncredited assistant director Alfred Hitchcock
1923	The Royal Oak	Lady Mildred Cholmondeley	Stoll	Historical Drama	Lost; Filmed in Britain
1924	The Stranger	Peggy Bowlin	Paramount	Drama	Lost
1924	Miami	Joan Bruce	W. W. Hodkinson	Drama	Lost
1924	Dangerous Virtue			Drama	Filmed in Britain; Screenplay by Alfred Hitchcock
1924	The White Shadow	Nancy Brent/Georgina Brent	Woolf & Freedman	Drama	incomplete; Filmed in Britain; uncredited assistant director Alfred Hitchcock
1924	The Enemy Sex	Dodo Baxter	Paramount	Drama	Extant; Married director James Cruze
1924	The Female	Dalla	Paramount	Romantic Drama	Lost
1924	Ramshackle House	Pen Broome	PDC	Romantic Drama	Lost
1924	The Fast Set	Margaret Stone	Paramount	Comedy drama	Lost
1924	The Garden of Weeds	Dorothy Delbridge	Paramount	Drama	Lost
1925	Locked Doors	Mrs. Norman 'Mary Reid' Carter	Paramount	Romantic Drama	Lost
1925	New Lives for Old	Olympe	Paramount	Drama	Lost
1925	Eve's Secret	Eve	Paramount	Comedy	Extant
1925	Beggar on Horseback	Princess in Pantomime	Paramount	Comedy	Incomplete
1925	Paths to Paradise	Molly	Paramount	Comedy
1925	The Pony Express	Molly Jones	Paramount	Western
1925	Counsel for the Defense	Katherine West	Associated Exhibitions	Drama	Lost

Films: 1926-1931

Scarlet Seas, 1928, released with music and sound effects

lobby poster, The Spoilers, 1930 with Gary Cooper.

Virtuous Husband, 1931

Year	Title	Role	Studio	Genre	Notes
1926	The Palace of Pleasure	Lola Montez	Fox	Drama	Lost
1926	Wise Guy	Hula Kate	First National	Drama	Extant
1926	The Belle of Broadway	Marie Duval/The Young Adele	Columbia	Romantic Drama	Extant
1927	The Ladybird	Diane Wyman	Chadwick	Crime	Extant
1927	Say It with Diamonds	Betty Howard	Chadwick	Drama	Extant
1927	Temptations of a Shop Girl	Ruth Harrington	Chadwick	Crime	Lost
1927	Love Me and the World Is Mine	Mitzel	Universal	Romantic Comedy	Extant
1927	Cheating Cheaters	Nan Carey	Universal	Comedy	Lost
1928	The Big City	Helen	MGM	Crime	Lost; Trailer survives
1928	The Desert Bride	Diane Duval	Columbia	Action Romance	Lost
1928	The Masked Angel	Betty	Chadwick	Romantic Drama	Lost
1928	Life's Mockery	Kit Miller/Isabelle Fullerton	Chadwick	Drama	Extant
1928	Court Martial	Belle Starr	Columbia	Action adventure	Extant
1928	The Docks of New York	Mae	Paramount	Drama
1929	Scarlet Seas	Rose	First National	Romance	Extant. Formerly thought to be lost a print surface in Italy, at Cineteca Italiana archive.
1928	The Barker	Carrie	First National	Drama	extant; part-talkie; Academy Award for Best Actress nomination
1929	Weary River	Alice Gray	First National	Romantic Drama	Part-talkie
1929	On with the Show	Nita	Warner Bros.	Musical	filmed in Technicolor;first all-talking, all-color picture; survives in black and white
1929	The Time, the Place and the Girl	Doris Ward	Warner Bros.	Comedy musical	Lost
1929	Street Girl	Frederika Joyzelle	RKO	Drama	First film made by RKO
1929	Skin Deep	Sadie Rogers	Warner Bros.	Drama	Lost
1929	The Great Gabbo	Mary	Sono Art-World	Drama	Originally contained sequences in Multicolor
1929	Woman to Woman	Deloryce/Lola	Gainsborough	Romantic Drama	Filmed in Britain
1929	The Show of Shows	Herself	Warner Bros.	Musical	Originally shot in Technicolor
1929	Blaze o'Glory	Helen Williams	Sono Art-World	War	Lost; Sountrack survives
1930	The Case of Sergeant Grischa	Babka	RKO	Drama	Lost
1930	Isle of Escape	Stella	Warner Bros.	Drama	Lost; Fragment totalling 40 seconds survives
1930	Those Who Dance	Kitty	Warner Bros.	Crime
1930	The Czar of Broadway	Connie Colton	Universal	Extant	Drama
1930	Midnight Mystery	Sally Wayne	RKO	Mystery
1930	Inside the Lines	Jane Gershon	RKO	Drama
1930	The Spoilers	Cherry Malotte	Paramount	Western
1930	She Got What She Wanted	Mahyna	Tiffany	Comedy	Lost
1930	The Boudoir Diplomat	Helene	Universal	Comedy	Extant
1931	The Lady Refuses	June	RKO	Drama
1931	The Virtuous Husband	Inez Wakefield	Universal	Comedy
1931	Three Who Loved	Helga Larson Hanson	RKO	Drama
1931	The Gay Diplomat	Baroness Alma Corri	RKO	Drama

Films 1932-1948

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

External links

• Betty Compson at IMDb.com