Bessie Eyton

Bessie Eyton (née. Harrison;[1] July 5, 1890 – January 22, 1965) was an American actress of the silent era.[2] Eyton appeared in 200 films between 1911 and 1925. From 1911 to 1918, the period when the majority of her films were made, she was under contract to Selig Polyscope Company.

Bessie Eyton
Eyton in 1916
Born
Bessie Harrison

(1890-07-05)July 5, 1890
Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
DiedJanuary 22, 1965(1965-01-22) (aged 74)
Thousand Oaks, California, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1911–1925
Spouse(s)Charles Eyton (m.1908–div.1915)
Clark Brewer Coffey (m.1916–div.1923)

Biography

Bessie Harrison was born on July 5, 1890 to musician Edgar Thomas Harrison (1868–1924) and Claribel Harrison (née. Mead, 1873–1959).[3] She had a brother, Elbert Harrison.

Harrison married her first husband and namesake, actor Charles Eyton, on September 3, 1908. While attending a studio tour at Selig Polyscope Company, she was spotted by a director who wanted to cast her as an extra in a film.[4][5] She made her film debut in The Sheriff of Tuolomne (1911) opposite Tom Mix. Although she made up to 200 films while signed to Selig, she is best known for her roles in The Spoilers (1914)[6] and the 12-reel adaptation of Winston Churchill's The Crisis (1916). In addition to acting, she is also credited with being the screenwriter of the 1914 short The Smuggler's Sister.

Bessie Eyton in Film Fun, June 1917

Eyton was one of Selig's biggest stars until the studio closed in 1918. Her career began to slow after that, and she only appeared in 9 films between 1919 and 1925, mostly for independent studios.[7][8]

In 1919, she made her stage debut in Civilian Clothes, which opened on September 12, 1919.[9]

Her final screen appearance was in The Girl of Gold (1925), starring Florence Vidor.

Eyton married her second husband Clark Brewer Coffey on September 29, 1916, a year after her divorce from Charles Eyton. The marriage ended in divorce in 1923, and neither unions produced children.[10][11][12]

In 1935, following an argument with her mother, Eyton disappeared from her friends and family. Her whereabouts remained unknown until her death in 1965.[13]

Bessie Eyton died on January 22, 1965 in Thousand Oaks, California and was buried at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura, California.

Partial filmography
  • The Sheriff of Tuolumne (1911)
  • Saved from the Snow (1911)
  • The Totem Mark (1911)
  • Kit Carson's Wooing (1911)
  • McKee Rankin's '49' (1911)
  • An Indian Vestal (1911)
  • Coals of Fire (1911)
  • A Painters Idyl (1911)
  • Captain Brand's Wife (1911)
  • Lieutenant Grey of the Confederacy (1911)
  • Blackbeard (1911)
  • The Right Name, But the Wrong Man (1911)
  • An Evil Power (1911)
  • A Diamond in the Rough (1911)
  • The Chief's Daughter (1911)
  • George Warrington's Escape (1911)
  • For His Pal's Sake (1911)
  • Brown of Harvard (1911)
  • The Mate of the Alden Bessie (1912)
  • The Other Fellow (1912)
  • The Peacemaker (1912)
  • Merely a Millionaire (1912)
  • The Little Stowaway (1912)
  • Disillusioned (1912)
  • The Danites (1912)
  • The Shrinking Rawhide (1912)
  • A Crucial Test (1912)
  • The Ones Who Suffer (1912)
  • The Hobo (1912)
  • A Waif of the Sea (1912)
  • Me an' Bill (1912)
  • The End of the Romance (1912)
  • Bessie's Dream (1912)
  • The Price He Paid (1912)
  • The Love of an Island Maid (1912)
  • A Child of the Wilderness (1912)
  • The Price of Art (1912)
  • The Professor's Wooing (1912)
  • In Exile (1912)
  • The Lake of Dreams (1912)
  • His Masterpiece (1912)
  • In the Tents of the Asra (1912)
  • The Indelible Stain (1912)
  • The Pity of It (1912)
  • The Great Drought (1912)
  • When Edith Played Jungle and Jury (1912)
  • Euchred (1912)
  • The Count of Monte Cristo (1912)
  • The Shuttle of Fate (1912)
  • The Fisherboy's Faith (1912)
  • Carmen of the Isles (1912)
  • The Legend of the Lost Arrow (1912)
  • Shanghaied (1912)
  • Atala (1912)
  • Miss Aubry's Love Affair (1912)
  • The Triangle (1912)
  • John Colter's Escape (1912)
  • The God of Gold (1912)
  • Opitsah: Apache for Sweetheart (1912)
  • Sammy Orpheus; or, The Pied Piper of the Jungle (1912)
  • The Last of Her Tribe (1912)
  • The Little Organ Player of San Juan (1912)
  • In the Long Ago (1913)
  • Wamba A Child of the Jungle (1913)
  • The Smuggler's Sister (1914)
  • The Spoilers (1914)
  • Shotgun Jones (1914)
  • Chip of the Flying U (1914)
  • In the Days of the Thundering Herd (1914)
  • The Man from Texas (1915)
  • The Crisis (1916)
  • The Heart of Texas Ryan (1917)
  • Beware of Strangers (1917)
  • Who Shall Take My Life? (1917)
  • The Still Alarm (1918)
  • Lend Me Your Name (1918)
  • The City of Purple Dreams (1918)
  • The Still Alarm (1918)
  • The Way of a Man with a Maid (1918)
  • Children of Banishment (1919)
  • A Man of Honor (1919)
  • The Usurper (1919)
  • Movie Mad (1921)
  • Higher Education (1921)
  • An Indiscreet Flirt (1921)
  • A Dishonest Crook (1921)
  • Cheap Kisses (1924)
  • The Girl of Gold (1925)
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References
  1. Katchmer, George A. (May 20, 2015). "A Biographical Dictionary of Silent Film Western Actors and Actresses". McFarland – via Google Books.
  2. "Bessie Eyton". British Film Institute. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
  3. Doyle, Billy H.; Slide, Anthony (April 13, 1995). "The Ultimate Directory of the Silent Screen Performers: A Necrology of Births and Deaths and Essays on 50 Lost Players". Scarecrow Press – via Google Books.
  4. "23 Sep 1917, 12 - Salt Lake Telegram at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com.
  5. "Motion Picture". Macfadden-Bartell. April 13, 1915 – via Google Books.
  6. Rainey, Buck (April 13, 1992). "Sweethearts of the sage: biographies and filmographies of 258 actresses appearing in western movies". McFarland & Company Incorporated Pub – via Google Books.
  7. Doyle, Billy H.; Slide, Anthony (April 13, 1995). "The Ultimate Directory of the Silent Screen Performers: A Necrology of Births and Deaths and Essays on 50 Lost Players". Scarecrow Press – via Google Books.
  8. Liebman, Roy (April 13, 1998). "From Silents to Sound: A Biographical Encyclopedia of Performers who Made the Transition to Talking Pictures". McFarland – via Google Books.
  9. "Bessie Eyton". Playbill.
  10. "Incompatibility", Los Angeles Times, January 7, 1915
  11. "Say Bessie Eyton's To Marry Local Auto Man", Los Angeles Times, July 25, 1916
  12. "Morning Press 30 September 1916 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu.
  13. Liebman, Roy (April 13, 1996). "Silent Film Performers: An Annotated Bibliography of Published, Unpublished and Archival Sources for Over 350 Actors and Actresses". McFarland – via Google Books.

Media related to Bessie Eyton at Wikimedia Commons

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