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Betty Brice

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Betty Brice
A young white woman with dark hair, in near profile.
Brice in a 1915 publication
Born
Rosetta Dewart Brice

(1888-08-04)August 4, 1888
Sunbury, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedFebruary 15, 1935(1935-02-15) (aged 46)
Van Nuys, California, U.S.
Other namesRosetta Brice
OccupationActress
Spouse(s)John Oliver La Gorce (divorced 1913)
Jack Pratt
Children1
RelativesWilliam Lewis Dewart (grandfather)

Rosetta Dewart Brice (August 4, 1888 – February 15, 1935), known professionally as Betty Brice, was an American actress in many silent films.

Early life

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Rosetta Dewart Brice was born in Sunbury, Pennsylvania,[1] the daughter of Edward Lincoln Brice and Bessie S. Dewart Brice. Her maternal grandfather was William Lewis Dewart, a congressman from Pennsylvania.[2] Her grandmother and great-grandmother were both also named "Rosetta".[3] She was raised in Washington, D.C.[4]

Film still, a courtroom scene, two women and one man in foreground.
Still from the American film Humility (1918) with Betty Brice, on page 32 of the September 8, 1917 Exhibitors Herald.

Career

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After some time on the stage with stock companies, Brice began acting in silent films, under contract to the Lubin studio in Philadelphia. "I daresay I never will fail to feel that little thrill that comes when I see myself on the screen," she told an interviewer in 1915.[4]

Films featuring Brice, many of them short films and serials that highlighted Brice's athleticism in stunts, riding, and swimming scenes, included Michael Strogoff (1914),[5][6] The Fortune Hunter (1914),[7] The Road o' Strife (1915),[8] The Sporting Duchess (1915),[9] The Phantom Happiness (1915),[10] The Rights of Man: A Story of War's Red Blotch (1915),[11] The Meddlesome Darling (1915), A Man's Making (1915),[12] The Gods of Fate (1916),[12] Her Bleeding Heart (1916), Love's Toll (1916),[13] Loyalty (1917),[14] Humility (1918),[15] and Beau Brummel (1924).[16]

Personal life

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Brice was engaged to Horace Carpentier Hurlbutt in 1908,[17] but when he objected to her acting career she broke the engagement. She soon married editor John Oliver La Gorce instead; they had a son, Gilbert Grosvenor La Gorce, before they divorced in 1913.[18] She married director and actor Jack Pratt as her second husband. She died in 1935 at age 46 from heart disease, in Van Nuys, California.[4][19]

Filmography

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  • The Price of Victory (1913)
  • A Servant of the Rich (1914)
  • The House of Fear (1914)
  • A Cruel Revenge (1914)
  • The Puritan (1914)
  • The Mansion of Sobs (1914)
  • Officer Jim (1914)
  • In the Northland (1914)
  • The Greater Treasure (1914)
  • The Incompetent (1914)
  • The Wolf (1914)
  • Michael Strogoff (1914)[20][6]
  • The Fortune Hunter (1914)[7]
  • The Erring (1914)
  • The Only Way Out (1915)
  • The Blessed Miracle (1915)
  • The Road o' Strife (1915)[21]
  • The College Widow (1915)
  • In the Dark (1915)
  • The Sporting Duchess (1915)[9]
  • Her Answer (1915)
  • The District Attorney (1915)
  • Whom the Gods Would Destroy (1915)
  • The Call of Motherhood (1915)
  • The Climbers (1915)
  • Polly of the Pots and Pans (1915)
  • The Phantom Happiness (1915)[10]
  • The Last Rose (1915)
  • When Youth is Ambitious (1915)
  • The Rights of Man: A Story of War's Red Blotch (1915)[11]
  • The Meddlesome Darling (1915)
  • A Man's Making (1915)[12]
  • Sweeter than Revenge (1915)
  • The Evangelist (1916)
  • The Gods of Fate (1916)[12]
  • Her Bleeding Heart (1916)
  • Love's Toll (1916)[13]
  • Who Knows? (1917)
  • Loyalty (1917)[14]
  • Humility (1918)[15]
  • The Third Generation (1920)
  • The Sagebrusher (1920)
  • The Money Changers (1920)
  • A Beggar in Purple (1920)
  • The Spenders (1921)
  • The Green Temptation (1922)
  • Heart's Haven (1922)
  • Beau Brummel (1924)[16]

References

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  1. ^ "Rosetta Brice -- Lubin Leading Lady". Motography. 13: 360. March 6, 1915.
  2. ^ "A Large and Brilliant Wedding". Public Press. February 12, 1897. p. 3. Retrieved August 4, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Estimable Lady". The Sunbury American. May 23, 1902. p. 3. Retrieved August 4, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c "Rosetta Brice". Betzwood Film Archive. 2013-03-10. Archived from the original on 2019-08-04. Retrieved 2019-08-04.
  5. ^ Mavis, Paul (2015-06-08). The Espionage Filmography: United States Releases, 1898 through 1999. McFarland. p. 204. ISBN 9781476604275.
  6. ^ a b Taves, Brian (2015-04-22). Hollywood Presents Jules Verne: The Father of Science Fiction on Screen. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813161136.
  7. ^ a b Kelly, Kitty (September 18, 1914). "Photoplay Stories and News". Chicago Tribune. p. 8. Retrieved August 4, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Rainey, Buck (2015-06-08). Serials and Series: A World Filmography, 1912-1956. McFarland. p. 204. ISBN 9781476604480.
  9. ^ a b "Lubin's 'The Sporting Duchess'". Motography. 13: 1009. June 19, 1915.
  10. ^ a b "'The Phantom Happiness' (Lubin)". The Moving Picture World. 25: 1501. August 28, 1915.
  11. ^ a b "Richard Buhler in 'A Man's Making'". The Baltimore Sun. January 2, 1916. p. 35. Retrieved August 4, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ a b c d "'The Gods of Fate' an Epic of Labor". Motography. 15: 61. January 8, 1916.
  13. ^ a b "V. L. S. E. Announces Attractive Features". Motography. 15: 1093. May 13, 1916.
  14. ^ a b Langman, Larry (1998). American Film Cycles: The Silent Era. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313306570.
  15. ^ a b Katchmer, George A. (2009-09-22). A Biographical Dictionary of Silent Film Western Actors and Actresses. McFarland. p. 269. ISBN 9780786446933.
  16. ^ a b Munden, Kenneth White; Institute, American Film (1997). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States. University of California Press. pp. 44, 316, 334, 755. ISBN 9780520209695.
  17. ^ "Untitled society item". The Washington Herald. February 29, 1908. p. 5. Retrieved August 4, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Was Ordered Out of House". Reno Gazette-Journal. January 3, 1913. p. 2. Retrieved August 4, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Wilson, Scott (2016-08-19). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. p. 87. ISBN 9781476625997.
  20. ^ Mavis, Paul (2015-06-08). The Espionage Filmography: United States Releases, 1898 through 1999. McFarland. p. 204. ISBN 9781476604275.
  21. ^ Rainey, Buck (2015-06-08). Serials and Series: A World Filmography, 1912-1956. McFarland. p. 204. ISBN 9781476604480.
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