Bessie Love (1898-1986) was given her start in films by D W Griffith in 1915 and enjoyed a successful dramatic career in silent cinema. By the late twenties her film career was in decline and she spent time touring on the musical stage. This led to a part in Warners’ musical short The Swell Head (1928), which in turn secured her a contract with Metro.
Her role as Hank in The Broadway Melody won her a nomination for Best Actress and is the film’s standout performance. As well as appearing in The Hollywood Revue of 1929, Love went on to star in three more Metro musicals: Chasing Rainbows (which reteamed her with Broadway Melody’s Charles King); They Learned About Women; and the 1930 version of Good News.
The 1931-32 moratorium on musicals brought this stage of Love’s career to a halt and she went into semi-retirement before relocating to the UK in 1935, where she lived out a long life as a notable supporting player in television and films.
