Cast
Bessie Love
Acting
Cast
Bessie Love
Known for
Acting
Born
1898-09-09
From
Midland, Texas, USA
Died
1986-04-26
Also known as Juanita Horton
Biography
Bessie Love (born Juanita Horton, September 10, 1898 - April 26, 1986) became one of the most recognizable faces of early American cinema. After her family moved to Los Angeles, she was sent to Biograph Studios, where legendary director D.W. Griffith noticed her talent and cast her in several films, including Intolerance (1916). During the silent era, she gained popularity for her lively, wholesome screen presence and worked with major stars such as Douglas Fairbanks. Her career soared in the 1920s, and she was named a WAMPAS Baby Star in 1922, marking her as one of Hollywood’s most promising young actresses. Love made a successful transition to sound films—something many silent stars struggled with. Her performance as Hank Mahoney in The Broadway Melody (1929) earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, cementing her place in film history. In the 1930s, she moved to the United Kingdom, where she continued acting in film, theatre, radio, and later television. Her career ultimately spanned from 1915 to 1983, making her one of the longest‑working performers of her generation. She died on April 26, 1986, in London at age 87.
★6.6
MOVIE1969
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
as Baccarat Player (uncredited)
★5.4
MOVIE1981
Lady Chatterley's Lover
as Flora
MOVIE1916
Stranded
as The Girl
★6.7
MOVIE1983
The Hunger
as Lillybelle
★6.7
MOVIE1954
The Barefoot Contessa
as Mrs. Eubanks
★10.0
MOVIE1925
Soul-Fire
as Teita
★5.1
MOVIE1929
The Broadway Melody
as Harriet 'Hank' Mahoney
★6.9
MOVIE1981
Reds
as Mrs. Partlow
★6.6
MOVIE1971
Sunday Bloody Sunday
as Answering Service Lady
★6.0
MOVIE1974
Vampyres
as American Lady
★7.1
MOVIE1916
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
as The Bride of Cana (Judean Story)
★6.0
MOVIE1976
The Ritz
as Maurine
★9.0
MOVIE1923
Gentle Julia
as Julia
★7.0
MOVIE1951
No Highway in the Sky
as Plane Passenger (uncredited)
★7.2
MOVIE1927
Dress Parade
as Janet Cleghorne
★6.1
MOVIE1964
Children of the Damned
as Mrs. Robbin
★6.8
MOVIE1925
The Lost World
as Paula White
★6.9
MOVIE1961
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
as Bunny
MOVIE1917
Polly Ann
as Polly Ann
★10.0
MOVIE1924
Torment
as Marie
★6.2
MOVIE1968
Isadora
as Mrs. Duncan
★7.0
MOVIE1923
St. Elmo
as Edna Earle
★9.0
MOVIE1919
Cupid Forecloses
as Geraldine Farleigh
★5.6
MOVIE1977
Gulliver's Travels
as (voice)
★6.0
MOVIE1931
Round About Hollywood
as Self
★5.4
MOVIE1967
I'll Never Forget What's'isname
as American tourist (uncredited)
★8.0
MOVIE1928
Anybody Here Seen Kelly?
as Mitzi Lavelle
★6.6
MOVIE1958
Nowhere to Go
as Harriet P. Jefferson
★7.0
MOVIE1981
Ragtime
as Old Lady - T.O.C.
★7.2
MOVIE2018
Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché
as Self (archive footage)
★6.3
MOVIE1923
Souls for Sale
as Self - Celebrity Actress (uncredited)
★4.1
MOVIE1966
Promise Her Anything
as Pet Shop Customer
MOVIE2000
Gareth Hughes
as Self (archive footage)
★5.1
MOVIE1971
Catlow
as Mrs. Frost
★5.9
MOVIE1929
The Hollywood Revue of 1929
as Self
★7.0
MOVIE1923
The Ghost Patrol
as Effie Kugler
MOVIE1918
A Little Sister of Everybody
as Celeste Janvier
★6.5
MOVIE1952
The Magic Box
as Bride's Mother in Wedding Group
★6.5
MOVIE1954
The Weak and the Wicked
as Prisoner
★10.0
MOVIE1924
Those Who Dance
as Veda Anargas
★10.0
MOVIE1978
Edward & Mrs. Simpson
as Lady Cunard
★4.8
MOVIE1967
Battle Beneath the Earth
as Matron
★9.0
MOVIE1920
Pegeen
as Pegeen O'Neill
★6.2
MOVIE1916
The Good Bad-Man
as Amy
★6.6
MOVIE1929
The Idle Rich
as Helen Thayer
MOVIE1919
Carolyn of the Corners
★6.6
MOVIE1945
Journey Together
as Mrs. Mary McWilliams
★7.3
MOVIE1925
The King On Main Street
as Mary Young
★6.8
MOVIE1964
I Think They Call Him John
as Narrator (voice)
★6.6
MOVIE1941
Atlantic Ferry
as Begonia Baggot
MOVIE1917
A Daughter of the Poor
as Rose Eastman
★6.6
MOVIE1955
Touch and Go
as Mrs Baxter
★10.0
MOVIE1923
Slave of Desire
as Pauline Gaudin
★5.2
MOVIE1974
Mousey
as Mrs. Richardson
MOVIE1997
Alice Guy-Blaché
as Self
★8.0
MOVIE1921
The Spirit of the Lake
★8.0
MOVIE1923
The Purple Dawn
as Mui Far
★7.1
MOVIE1960
Too Young to Love
as Mrs. Busch
★10.0
MOVIE1924
The Silent Watcher
as Mary, his wife
★9.0
MOVIE1922
Forget Me Not
as Ann, The Girl
★9.0
MOVIE1919
A Fighting Colleen
as Alannah Malone
★6.6
MOVIE1928
The Matinee Idol
as Ginger Bolivar
★5.9
MOVIE1916
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish
as The Little Fish Blower
★5.3
MOVIE1965
The Wild Affair
as Marjorie's Mother
★4.9
MOVIE1930
Conspiracy
as Margaret Holt
MOVIE1916
The Flying Torpedo
as Hulda
★4.8
MOVIE1930
They Learned About Women
as Mary
★7.0
MOVIE1922
Night Life in Hollywood
as Self
★7.7
MOVIE1926
Young April
as Victoria
★6.3
MOVIE1930
Good News
as Babe
★6.3
MOVIE1927
Rubber Tires
as Mary Ellen Stack
★5.5
MOVIE1916
The Aryan
as Mary Jane Garth
★6.0
MOVIE1930
Chasing Rainbows
as Carlie Seymour
★7.0
MOVIE1923
Human Wreckage
as Mary Finnegan
★5.8
MOVIE1921
The Sea Lion
as Blossom Nelson
MOVIE1917
Wee Lady Betty
as Wee Lady Betty
★9.0
MOVIE1925
A Son of His Father
as Nora Shea
★7.0
MOVIE1957
The Story of Esther Costello
as Art Gallery Customer
MOVIE1918
How Could You, Caroline?
as Caroline Rogers
★8.0
MOVIE1926
Lovey Mary
as Lovey Mary
★10.0
MOVIE1919
The Enchanted Barn
as Shirley Hollister
★7.7
MOVIE1958
Next to No Time
as Becky Wiener
★7.0
MOVIE1930
See America Thirst
as Ellen
★7.0
MOVIE1965
The Pistol
as Martha Burroughs
★10.0
MOVIE1920
The Midlanders
as Aurelie Lindstrom
★7.5
MOVIE1916
A Sister of Six
as Prudence
★9.0
MOVIE1924
The Woman on the Jury
as Grace Pierce
★6.0
MOVIE1929
The Girl in the Show
as Hattie Hartley
★5.0
MOVIE1917
The Sawdust Ring
as Janet Magie
★7.0
MOVIE1926
The Song and Dance Man
as Leola Lane
★8.0
MOVIE1924
Sundown
as Ellen Crawley
★8.0
MOVIE1922
Bulldog Courage
as Gloria Phillips
★6.5
MOVIE1942
London Scrapbook
as Herself
★5.3
MOVIE1922
The Village Blacksmith
as Rosemary Martin
★8.0
MOVIE1923
The Eternal Three
as Hilda Gray
★8.0
MOVIE1923
Mary of the Movies
as Herself (uncredited)
★4.1
MOVIE1931
Morals for Women
as Helen Hutson
MOVIE1917
Nina, the Flower Girl
as Nina
MOVIE1923
The Strange Adventures of Prince Courageous
as Bernice
★10.0
MOVIE1919
The Wishing Ring Man
as Joy Havenith
★7.0
MOVIE1922
Deserted at the Altar
as Anna Moore (The Country Girl)
MOVIE1917
Cheerful Givers
as Judy
MOVIE1922
The Wampas Baby Stars of 1922
as Self
★9.0
MOVIE1923
Three Who Paid
as John Caspar / Virginia Cartwright
★10.0
MOVIE1926
Going Crooked
as Marie
★9.0
MOVIE1919
Over the Garden Wall
as Peggy Gordon
MOVIE1918
The Great Adventure
as Rags
★9.0
MOVIE1919
A Yankee Princess
as Patsy O'Reilly
★7.0
MOVIE1925
New Brooms
★10.0
MOVIE1921
The Honor of Rameriz
as The Geologist's Wife
★10.0
MOVIE1924
Dynamite Smith
as Violet
MOVIE1916
The Heiress at Coffee Dan's
as Waffles
MOVIE1916
Acquitted
as Helen Carter
★7.0
MOVIE1927
The American
as Jane Wilton
★10.0
MOVIE1922
The Vermilion Pencil
as Hyacinth
★7.0
MOVIE1927
A Harp in Hock
as Nora Banks
MOVIE1922
Screen Snapshots, Series 3, No. 12
as Self
★7.0
MOVIE1920
Bonnie May
as Bonnie May
★5.8
MOVIE1916
Reggie Mixes In
as Agnes
MOVIE1928
The Swell Head
★8.0
MOVIE1921
The Swamp
as Mary
MOVIE1916
Hell-to-Pay Austin
as Briar Rose Dawson
MOVIE1918
The Dawn of Understanding
as Sue Prescott
★10.0
MOVIE1919
The Little Boss
as Peggy Winston (The Little Boss)
★7.0
MOVIE1924
Tongues of Flame
as Lahleet
★10.0
MOVIE1928
Sally of the Scandals
as Sally Rand
★10.0
MOVIE1921
Penny of Top Hill Trail
as Penny