Betty Ross Clarke

Betty Ross Clarke

Born: May 1, 1892
Died: January 24, 1970
in Langdon, North Dakota, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Betty Ross Clarke (born May Clarke, May 1, 1892 – January 24, 1970) was an American stage and film actress. She appeared in more than 30 films between 1920 and 1940, including silent and sound films, in both credited and uncredited roles.

During the 1920s, Clarke appeared in 14 silent films, including 11 U.S. films, two British films and one German film. In the United States, she worked for film companies that included Famous Players-Lasky, Thomas H. Ince, and Vitagraph Studios. She played the female lead in the film If I Were King opposite William Farnum and had other starring roles in silent films.

Clarke's first screen role in a "talkie" was as the character Dot Aldrich in The Age for Love. During the 1930s, she appeared in more than 20 sound films, including both feature films and short films. She typically played character roles, both credited and uncredited. Of note, she replaced the actress Sara Haden as Aunt Millie in two feature length Andy Hardy films. Betty Ross Clarke was occasionally billed in screen credits as "Betsy Ross Clarke" or "Betty Ross Clark," and her name appears as "Betty Ross-Clarke" in some databases, such as the Internet Broadway Database.

Throughout her career, Clarke often performed on both the theater stage and in films during the same time period. A newspaper advertisement in 1922 noted that audience members could "see her on stage and screen at the same time," because she was performing in the play The Morning Him and also starring in the film At the Sign of the Jack O'Lantern. Commenting on the difference between stage and film acting, Clarke remarked that the "silent drama affords an easier life to those who choose it, for one has the nights free, to do as one likes. On the boards an actor's or actresses's time is always taken up."

Most of the silent films in which Clarke appeared have not survived. However, the films If I Were King and Mother o' Mine are preserved in the silent film archive of the Library of Congress. A print of Mother o' Mine is also housed in the UCLA Film and Television Archive. The silent film Traveling Salesman, with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in the leading role, can be found in the George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection in Rochester, New York. Many of the later sound films in which she appeared are still available, including Murders in the Rue Morgue, A Bride for Henry, Love Finds Andy Hardy, Judge Hardy's Children, and Four Wives.

Movies for Betty Ross Clarke...

The Delinquents
Title: The Delinquents
Character: Saleswoman (uncredited)
Released: December 21, 1989
Type: Movie
A small town in Australia, in the late 1950s: Brownie and Lola are deeply in love. But because they are under-age, their parents are against their relationship and try to separate them.
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Four Wives
Title: Four Wives
Character: Nurse in Dr. Forrest's Office (uncredited)
Released: December 22, 1939
Type: Movie
In this sequel to Four Daughters, Ann struggles to move on after the death of her husband as she falls in love with Felix, but on the day of her engagement discovers that she carries Mickey's child.
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Too Hot to Handle
Title: Too Hot to Handle
Character: Mrs. Harding
Released: September 16, 1938
Type: Movie
While in Shanghai reporting on the Sino-Japanese war, Chris Hunter, a shrewd news reporter, meets pilot Alma Harding. She does not trust him, but he manages to hire her as his assistant. During an adventurous expedition through the jungles of South America, her opinion of him begins to change.
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The Chaser
Title: The Chaser
Character: Secretary
Released: July 29, 1938
Type: Movie
A sleazy lawyer gains clients by showing up at terrible accidents. His boss, determined to stop him, hires a pretty girl to cozy up and coerce the truth out of the ambulance-chaser. Unfortunately, the boss doesn't count on the romance factor and sure enough, love blossoms between the girl and the shyster.
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Love Finds Andy Hardy
Title: Love Finds Andy Hardy
Character: Millie Forrest
Released: July 22, 1938
Type: Movie
Andy Hardy becomes entangled with three different girls all at the same time.
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Woman Against Woman
Title: Woman Against Woman
Character: Alice
Released: June 24, 1938
Type: Movie
A newlywed unhappily discovers that her husband's scheming ex-wife still has a controlling influence in his life and home.
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Hold That Kiss
Title: Hold That Kiss
Character: Wedding Guest at Piermont's
Released: May 13, 1938
Type: Movie
Two young people meet at a wedding and begin dating, each thinking the other is extremely wealthy. Comedy.
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Judge Hardy's Children
Title: Judge Hardy's Children
Character: Millie Forrest
Released: March 26, 1938
Type: Movie
Judge Hardy takes a business trip to Washington, DC, where Andy promptly falls for the French ambassador's daughter.
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Another Romance of Celluloid
Title: Another Romance of Celluloid
Character: Self (uncredited)
Released: February 5, 1938
Type: Movie
This second entry in MGM's "Romance of Film" series documents how celluloid movie film is processed and features behind-the-scenes glimpses of current MGM productions.
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Blossoms On Broadway
Title: Blossoms On Broadway
Character: Mrs. Peagram (uncredited)
Released: November 19, 1937
Type: Movie
A young singer hopes to become a success on Broadway.
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A Night at the Movies
Title: A Night at the Movies
Character: Wife (uncredited)
Released: November 6, 1937
Type: Movie
A Night at the Movies is a short film starring Robert Benchley. It was Benchley's greatest success since How to Sleep, and won him a contract for more short films that would be produced in New York. In this comedic short, a man and his wife suffer through a night at the movies. The film was nominated for an Academy Award at the 10th Academy Awards, held in 1937, for Best Short Subject (One-Reel).
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A Bride for Henry
Title: A Bride for Henry
Character: Mrs. Curtis
Released: September 29, 1937
Type: Movie
On the day of her wedding a young woman's fiancé doesn't show up, sleeping off the results of the previous night's wild bachelor party. Miffed, the woman decides to go ahead with the wedding anyway to teach her fiancé a lesson, so she calls her lawyer, Henry, and has him stand in for her missing groom. She intends to divorce her new "husband" at the first opportunity, but Henry--who has been in love with her for a long time--is determined to win his "wife's" hand.
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The Public Pays
Title: The Public Pays
Character: Paige's Secretary (uncredited)
Released: October 10, 1936
Type: Movie
In this MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short, a protection racket preying on milk distribution is broken through the persistence of law enforcement and the courage of a local businessman.
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Three Married Men
Title: Three Married Men
Character: Annie
Released: September 24, 1936
Type: Movie
Jennie Mullins and her fiancé Peter Cary are happily in love but their families are miserable about their relationship. The Carys and Mullinses have been feuding for years over the apparent failure of the Carys' business which was caused by the now-deceased Mr. Mullins. Despite familial pressure to the contrary, Jennie and Peter proceed with their wedding. Just before the wedding, Peter receives advice from his soon-to-be brothers-in-law, Jeff and Bill Mullins. Both men warn him about the drudgery of marriage, ply him with drink, and destroy his fantasy of an ideal, romantic marriage.
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Headline Shooter
Title: Headline Shooter
Character: Sue, Mike's Wife (uncredited)
Released: July 28, 1933
Type: Movie
A newsreel photographer neglects his love life to get the perfect shot.
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Murders in the Rue Morgue
Title: Murders in the Rue Morgue
Character: Mme. L'Espanaye
Released: January 27, 1932
Type: Movie
In 19th Century Paris, a maniac abducts young women and injects them with ape blood in an attempt to prove ape-human kinship but constantly meets failure as the abducted women die.
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The Age for Love
Title: The Age for Love
Character: Dot Aldrich
Released: October 17, 1931
Type: Movie
A comedy-drama about marriage and divorce. A wife does not want children, her husband leaves her and marries a woman who does.
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The Cost of Beauty
Title: The Cost of Beauty
Character: Diana Faire
Released: July 1, 1924
Type: Movie
A rich woman refuses to bear her husband a child, but adopts a son by his mistress after his death.
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Straws in the Wind
Title: Straws in the Wind
Character: The Wife
Released: March 1, 1924
Type: Movie
A benefactor ejects a tramp who covets his wife and later adopts the child of the girl the tramp saved from suicide.
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The Man from Downing Street
Title: The Man from Downing Street
Character: Doris Burnham
Released: April 2, 1922
Type: Movie
Someone in India is deciphering secret codes and passing information from London's Downing Street to the natives, so Captain Robert Kent comes down from London to investigate. He disguises himself as a Rajah, and Colonel Wentworth introduces him to the colony.
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The Fox
Title: The Fox
Character: Annette Fraser
Released: July 24, 1921
Type: Movie
Santa Fe, a tramp, is saved from a jeering mob in the desert town of Caliente by Annette, the sheriff's daughter; and after adopting Pard he gets a job as a porter in the bank. Santa Fe learns that the leading banker, Coulter, is in league with a band of outlaws, and when Coulter frames Dick Farwell, Annette's fiancé, Dick is suspected of robbery and is captured by the outlaws.
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Traveling Salesman
Title: Traveling Salesman
Character: Beth Elliott
Released: June 5, 1921
Type: Movie
A practical joke makes a man get off before his intended stop, leading to all sorts of trouble.
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Brewster's Millions
Title: Brewster's Millions
Character: Peggy
Released: January 28, 1921
Type: Movie
Monte Brewster learns that he has inherited $10 million from his late grandfather, but then learns that he must spend $2 million in less than a year and remain unmarried to inherit the rest of the money.
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If I Were King
Title: If I Were King
Character: Katherine de Vaucelles
Released: August 9, 1920
Type: Movie
J. Gordon Edwards silent adventure melodrama about a famous poet who is allowed to rule France for a week!
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Romance
Title: Romance
Released: May 16, 1920
Type: Movie