Betty Balfour

Betty Balfour (born March 27, 1903 in London , † November 4, 1977 in Weybridge , Surrey ) was a British actress . She was known as "Britain's Queen of Happiness" or the "British Mary Pickford ".

Betty Balfour made her stage debut in 1913. She was discovered in the theater by TA Welsh and George Pearson and engaged in her first film role in 1920. She became a popular actress in Great Britain in the 1920s with comedies about the film character "Squibs" and appeared in several George Pearson films, including in serious roles in Love, Life and Laughter (1923) and the patriotic film Reveille (1924 ). In 1926 she separated from the production company Welsh-Pearson after turning down an offer to marry George Pearson. Together with Ivor Novello , she was the only British film actress who was also internationally renowned in the 1920s. In Europe, she also appeared in German and French films (under Marcel L'Herbier and Louis Mercanton ) in the second half of the 1920s . In Great Britain, she took on the leading role in Alfred Hitchcock's Champagne in 1928 .

Her first sound film was The Brat (1930) by Louis Mercanton; However, it could no longer reach its popularity of the silent film era and only played in a few and small roles until the 1940s.

After a suicide attempt in 1952 because of an unsuccessful stage comeback, she lived the rest of her life in seclusion.

Filmography

1921: Mary Find the Gold
1923: Love, Life and Laughter
1928: Champagne
1930: The Nipper
1934: Evergreen
1935: Squibs
1935: Brown on Resolution

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Balfour, Betty
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English film actress
DATE OF BIRTH	March 27, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH	London
DATE OF DEATH	4th November 1977
Place of death	Weybridge , Surrey