Bess is both a surname and a feminine given name (usually as the shortened
Hypocorism
A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek: (), from (), 'to call by pet names', sometimes also ''hypocoristic'') or pet name is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as ''Izzy'' for I ...
form of
Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
). Notable people with the name include:
Given name
*
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...
(1533-1603), also known as "Good Queen Bess"
*
Bess of Hardwick
Elizabeth Cavendish, later Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury ( Hardwick; c. 1527 13 February 1608), known as Bess of Hardwick, of Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, was a notable figure of Elizabethan English society. By a series of well-made ...
(1527-1608), daughter of John Hardwick of Hardwicke
*
Elizabeth Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire
Elizabeth Christiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (13 May 1758 – 30 March 1824) was an English aristocrat and letter writer. She is best known as Lady Elizabeth Foster, the close friend of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. Eliza ...
(1759-1824), early female novelist
*
Bess Armstrong
Elizabeth Key "Bess" Armstrong (born December 11, 1953) is an American film, stage and television actress. She is best known for her roles in films '' The Four Seasons'' (1981), '' High Road to China'' (1983), ''Jaws 3-D'' (1983), and ''Nothing i ...
Bess Flowers
Bess Flowers (November 23, 1898 – July 28, 1984) was an American actress best known for her work as an extra in hundreds of films. She was known as "The Queen of the Hollywood Extras," appearing in more than 350 feature films and numerou ...
(1898-1984), American actress
* Bess Gearhart Morrison (1875-1968), American actress, educator, and speaker
*
Elizabeth Holland
Elizabeth Holland (died 1547/8), commonly known as Bess Holland, was the mistress of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk and maid-of-honour to his niece, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England. The daughter of the Duke's secretar ...
(died 1547/8), mistress of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk
*
Bess Houdini
Wilhelmina Beatrice "Bess" Houdini (née Rahner; January 23, 1876 – February 11, 1943) was an American stage assistant and wife of Harry Houdini.
Biography
Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner was born in Brooklyn, New York (before New York City was ...
(1876-1943), stage assistant and wife of Harry Houdini
* Bess Johnson (c. 1902-1975), American actress
* Bess Larkin Housser Harris (1890-1969), Canadian painter
*
Bess Lomax Hawes
Bess Lomax Hawes (January 21, 1921 – November 27, 2009) was an American folk musician, folklorist, and researcher. She was the daughter of John Avery Lomax and Bess Bauman-Brown Lomax, and the sister of Alan Lomax and John Lomax Jr.
Early l ...
(1921-2009), American folk musician, folklorist, and researcher
*
Bess Meredyth
Bess Meredyth (born Helen Elizabeth MacGlashen, February 12, 1890 – July 13, 1969) was a screenwriter and silent film actress. The wife of film director Michael Curtiz, Meredyth wrote ''The Affairs of Cellini'' (1934) and adapted '' The Unsus ...
(1890-1969), screenwriter and silent film actress
*
Bess Motta
Bess Motta (née Bess Motter) (born February 10, 1958) is an American actress, singer, choreographer, and exercise demonstrator who appeared in the Canadian produced television series ''20 Minute Workout'', which aired for two seasons in 1983 and ...
(born 1958), American actress, singer, choreographer, and exercise demonstrator
*
Bess Myerson
Bess Myerson (July 16, 1924 – December 14, 2014) was an American politician, model and television actress who in 1945 became the first Miss America who was also Jewish.
Her achievement, in the aftermath of the Holocaust, was seen as an af ...
(1924-2014), first Jewish Miss America, and politician
*
Bess Nkabinde
Baaitse Elizabeth "Bess" Nkabinde (born 1959 in Silwerkrans) is a former judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
Early life
Nkabinde (née Motsatsi) was born in 1959 in Silwerkrans, in what was then the western Transvaal (and is n ...
(born 1959), South African judge
*
Bess Norriss
Elizabeth May Norriss, later Bess Norriss Tait, (17 May 1878 – January 1939) was an Australian artist.
Life
Norriss was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1878. She studied at Melbourne Art Gallery School and in 1905 at the Slade School of Fin ...
(1878-1939), Australian artist
* Bess Phipps Dawson (1916-1994), American painter
* Bess Price (born 1960), Aboriginal Australian activist and politician
*
Elizabeth Raleigh
Elizabeth, Lady Raleigh (''née'' Throckmorton; 16 April 1565 – c. 1647) was an English courtier, a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber to Queen Elizabeth I of England. Her secret marriage to Sir Walter Raleigh precipitated a long period of r ...
(1565-1647), wife of Sir Walter Raleigh
*
Bess Rogers
Bess Rogers is an American indie rock musician from New York City.
Early life and education
Rogers was born into a musical family on Long Island, New York, and attended the Conservatory of Music at the State University of New York at Purchase f ...
, American indie rock musician
* Bess Stinson (1902-1996), Arizona state legislator
*
Bess Streeter Aldrich
Bess Streeter Aldrich ( pen name, Margaret Dean Stephens; February 17, 1881 – August 3, 1954) was an American author.
Life and career
Bess Genevra Streeter was born in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She was the last of the eight children of James Wareham ...
(1881-1954), American author
*
Bess Taffel
Bess Taffel Boyle (December 10, 1913 – July 21, 2000) was an American screenwriter, whose career was effectively ended after she was identified as a member of the Communist Party during the McCarthy period.Bess Thomas (1892-1968), Australian librarian
*
Bess Truitt Bess Truitt (1884–1972) served as the Oklahoma Poet Laureate from 1945 to 1946. Since no poet laureate was appointed directly after her, Truitt also served as poet laureate emeritus from 1946 to 1963.Patricia Yarbrough, "Poets Laureate," The Ency ...
(1884-1972), Oklahoma Poet Laureate from 1945 to 1946
*
Bess Truman
Elizabeth Virginia Truman (''née'' Wallace; February 13, 1885October 18, 1982) was the wife of President Harry S. Truman and the first lady of the United States from 1945 to 1953. She also served as the second lady of the United States from Ja ...
(1885-1982), wife of President Harry S. Truman
*
Elizabeth Walker (disambiguation) Elizabeth Walker (or variants) may refer to:
Entertainers
*Betty Walker (1928–1982), Jewish-American comic and actress
*Tippy Walker (born 1947), née Elizabeth Tipton Walker, American actress
*Helen Roberts (1912–2010), aka Betty Walker, Engli ...
* Brandon Bess (born 1987), West Indies Test cricketer
* Calvin Bess, Bishop of Trinidad and Tobago
*
Daniel Bess
Daniel Luke Bess (born October 8, 1977) is an American television and film actor.
Bess was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, and attended both high school and a school of the arts while living on the island. He later acted in New York t ...
, (born 1977), American television and film actor
*
Davone Bess
Davone Atrayo Bess (born September 13, 1985) is a former American football wide receiver. He was signed by the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2008. He played college football at Hawaii.
Early years
Bess attended Skyline High Scho ...
(born 1985), National Football League wide receiver
* Dominic Bess (born 1997), England cricketer
*
Georges Bess
Georges Bess (born 1947) is a comics artist and comic book creator, best known for his collaborations with Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Biography
Early in his career Bess moved to Sweden in 1970 where he lived for a period, illustrating for publications ...
(born 1947), French comics artist
* Rachel Bess (born c. 1979), American painter
*
Rufus Bess
Rufus T. Bess, Jr. (born September 13, 1956 in Hartsville, South Carolina, Hartsville, South Carolina) is a former professional American football cornerback in the National Football League, NFL for the Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, and the Min ...
(born 1956), former National Football League cornerback
Fictional characters
* Bess, in the opera ''
Porgy and Bess
''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play '' Porgy'', it ...
''
* Bess Marvin, one of
Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew is a fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Crea ...
's closest friends
* Bess, an alternate personality of
Jessica Buchanan
Jessica Eugenia Buchanan (formerly Santi, Vega, Brennan, Ford and Wentworth) is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera ''One Life to Live''. She is the daughter of Victoria Lord and Clint Buchanan. She is the fraternal twin sister of Nata ...
in the American soap opera ''One Life to Live''
* Elizabeth "Bess" McCord, protagonist of the American drama series '' Madam Secretary''