This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(January 2017) |
Elizabeth Ada Bronson(November 17, 1906 – October 19, 1971) was an American film and television actress who began her career during thesilent filmera.
Betty Bronson | |
|---|---|
 Bronson in the1920s | |
| Born | Elizabeth Ada Bronson November 17, 1906 Trenton, New Jersey,U.S. |
| Died | October 19, 1971(aged 64) Pasadena, California,U.S. |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park,Glendale, California |
| Education | East Orange High School |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1922–1971 |
| Spouse | Ludwig Lauerhass |
| Children | 1 |
Early years
editBronson was born inTrenton, New Jersey,[1]to Frank and Nellie Smith Bronson. She moved toEast Orange, New Jerseyand attendedEast Orange High Schooluntil she "convinced her parents to let her move to California to aid her career in films."[2]Subsequently, the entire family moved to California.[2]
Film career
editBronson began her film career at the age of 16 with a bit part inAnna Ascends.[3]At 17, she was interviewed byJ. M. Barrie,author ofPeter Pan.Although the role had been sought by such established actresses asGloria SwansonandMary Pickford,Barrie personally chose Bronson to play the lead in the film adaptation of his work, which was released in 1924. She appeared alongside actressesMary Brian(Wendy Darling) andEsther Ralston(Mrs. Darling), both of whom remained lifelong friends.
Bronson had a major role, that of Mary, mother of Jesus, in the 1925 silent film adaptation ofBen-Hur.In 1925, she starred in another Barrie story,A Kiss for Cinderella,an artfully made film that failed at the box office. She made a successful transition into sound films withThe Singing Fool(1928), co-starringAl Jolson.She appeared in the sequel,Sonny Boy,withDavey Leein 1929. She was the leading lady oppositeJack Bennyin the romantic dramaThe Medicine Man(1930).
Bronson continued acting until 1933 when she married Ludwig Lauerhass, "a well-to-do North Carolinian",[4]with whom she had one child, Ludwig Lauerhass, Jr. She did not appear in films again untilYodelin' Kid from Pine Ridge(1937) starringGene Autry.In the 1960s, she appeared in episodic television and feature films. Her last role was an uncredited part in the televisionbiopicEvel Knievel(1971).
Bronson, the media, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr
editBronson was reclusive with the press, but received attention after being seen withDouglas Fairbanks, Jr.He had his first boyhood crush on her, as he remembered in his autobiographyThe Salad Days:
Another important picture had just started. It wasPeter Pan,directed by a clever caricature of a wildly temperamental movie director,Herbert Brenon.After exhaustive tests, Betty Bronson, a pretty and gifted girl in her middle teens, was given this famous role... I fell for Betty! It was my first intensely juvenile, deep-sighs-and-bad-sonnets love. It was not fully requited. She only flirted with me. My rival was a fellow in his twenties, a newspaperman who was to become one of New York's most respected theater critics, Richard Watts, Jr....In any event, I was so smitten with Betty, I could think of little else, except when I could call on her, even though her overprotective mother was always just in the next room.
It is known that Bronson kept all Fairbanks' letters and spoke of him fondly until her death.[citation needed]
Death
editOn October 19, 1971, Bronson died after a protracted illness inPasadena, California,and was interred atForest Lawn Memorial ParkinGlendale, California.[5][6]
Papers
editThe UCLA Library Special Collections department houses the "Betty Bronson papers, 1920-1970", containing "materials related to Bronson's career and includes clippings, photographs, correspondence, scrapbooks, and personal and professional ephemera."[7]
Filmography
edit| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1922 | Anna Ascends | Bit part | Uncredited Lostfilm |
| 1923 | Java Head | Janet Ammidon | Lostfilm |
| The Go-Getter | Bit part | Uncredited Lostfilm | |
| His Children's Children | Minor Role | Uncredited Lostfilm | |
| The Eternal City | Page | Uncredited Incompletefilm | |
| Twenty-One | Uncredited Lostfilm | ||
| 1924 | Peter Pan | Peter Pan | |
| 1925 | Are Parents People? | Lita Hazlitt | |
| Not So Long Ago | Betty Dover | Lostfilm | |
| The Golden Princess | Betty Kent | Lostfilm | |
| A Kiss for Cinderella | Cinderella (Jane) | ||
| Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ | Mary | Alternative title:Ben-Hur | |
| 1926 | The Cat's Pajamas | Sally Winton | Lostfilm |
| Paradise | Chrissie | Lostfilm | |
| Everybody's Acting | Doris Poole | Lostfilm | |
| 1927 | Paradise for Two | Sally Lane | Lostfilm |
| Ritzy | Ritzy Brown | Lostfilm | |
| Open Range | Lucy Blake | Lostfilm | |
| Brass Knuckles | June Curry | ||
| 1928 | The Singing Fool | Grace | |
| Companionate Marriage | Sally Williams | Alternative title:The Jazz Bride Lostfilm | |
| 1929 | The Bellamy Trial | Reporter | Incompletefilm |
| Sonny Boy | Aunt Winigred Canfield | ||
| One Stolen Night | Jeanne | ||
| A Modern Sappho | |||
| The Locked Door | Helen Reagan | ||
| 1930 | The Medicine Man | Mamie Goltz | |
| 1931 | Lover Come Back | Vivian March | |
| 1932 | Midnight Patrol | Ellen Gray | |
| 1937 | Yodelin' Kid from Pine Ridge | Milly Baynum | Alternative title:The Hero from Pine Ridge |
| 1961 | Pocketful of Miracles | Mayor's wife | Uncredited |
| 1962 | Who's Got the Action? | Mrs. Boatwright | Uncredited |
| 1964 | The Naked Kiss | Miss Josephine | Alternative title:The Iron Kiss |
| 1968 | Blackbeard's Ghost | Old Lady #1 | |
| 1971 | Evel Knievel | Sorority House Mother | Uncredited |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1960 | My Three Sons | Mrs. Butler | 1 episode |
| 1964 | Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | 1 episode | |
| Grindl | Mrs. Cooper | 1 episode | |
| 1965 | Run for Your Life | Alma Sloan | 1 episode |
References
edit- ^McCaffrey, Donald W.; Jacobs, Christopher P. (1999).Guide to the Silent Years of American Cinema.Greenwood Publishing Group. pp.53–54.ISBN9780313303456.RetrievedOctober 9,2017.
Elizabeth Ada Bronson.
- ^abHanson, Bruce K. (2011).Peter Pan on Stage and Screen, 1904–2010, 2d ed.McFarland. pp. 127–128.ISBN9780786486199.RetrievedOctober 9,2017.
- ^Williams, Mildred (November 30, 1924)."Betty Bronson Studied Hard to Become the Movie Peter Pan".The Brooklyn Daily Eagle.New York, Brooklyn. p. 81.RetrievedOctober 8,2017– viaNewspapers.
- ^"Betty Bronson, '24 Peter Pan In Silent Film, Is Dead at 64".The New York Times.United Press International. October 22, 1971. Archived fromthe originalon October 9, 2017.RetrievedOctober 9,2017.
- ^Resting Places
- ^Ellenberger, Allan R. (2001).Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory.McFarland. p. 38.ISBN9780786409839.RetrievedOctober 9,2017.
- ^"Betty Bronson papers, 1920-1970".Online Archive of California.Archived fromthe originalon October 9, 2017.RetrievedOctober 9,2017.
External links
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