Bess Flowers

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Bess Flowers (born November 23, 1898 in Sherman , Texas , † July 28, 1984 in Woodland Hills , Los Angeles , California ) was an American film actress who played minor supporting roles and extras in around 850 film and television productions. She is considered one of the most famous small actresses in Hollywood history.

life and career

Bess Flowers studied acting at the Carnegie Inst of Technology against her father's wishes. She made her first film, the silent comedy Hollywood , at the age of 24 . In total, she appeared in around 850 film and television productions up to 1965, including regularly in the films of Alfred Hitchcock , Frank Capra and John Ford . She was one of the so-called one-day actors , who were called that because they could turn off their little roles in just one day. In the later years of her career in particular, Flowers was often only given extra roles and was therefore not mentioned in the credits in most of her films . Because of her elegant appearance, Bess Flowers was easily recognizable even in small roles for film fans, in the industry she was also referred to as the Queen of the Hollywood Extras (German: "Queen of Hollywood extras").

However, Flowers was not always an extra, but she had some notable supporting roles, especially in the early years of her career: She had major appearances in short film comedies, for example in the Laurel and Hardy film Im Strudel der Gosse (1928) as an angry wife by Oliver Hardy , who chases after her husband with a shotgun. She played a multi-scene and dialogue role as secretary to Clark Gables editor-in-chief in the comedy It Happened in One Night (1934). It happened one night and it was Flowers' first film to win an Oscar for best picture of the year. The films Lebenskünstler (1938), Alles über Eva (1950), The Greatest Show in the World (1952) and Around the World in 80 Days (1956) with Flowers in small supporting roles also received the Oscar for best film. With these, she still holds the record of having starred in most films that have received an Oscar for best picture. In total, she starred in 23 films that were nominated for an Oscar for best film.

From the 1950s she also had regular extras in television programs. In 1964, at the age of 65, Flowers starred in her last film Lend me your husband . She was married to assistant director Cullen Tate from 1923 until his death in 1947 . Their only daughter was Patricia E. Tate (1924–1972). Bess Flowers later married the film studio manager William S. Holman (1895–1962). She died in 1984 at the age of 85 and her ashes were scattered in the rose garden of the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles .

Filmography (selection)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bess Flowers at the New York Times

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Flowers, Bess
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film actress
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Sherman , Texas , United States
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 1984
Place of death Woodland Hills , Los Angeles , California , United States