Elizabeth Ada Bronson (November 17, 1906 – October 19, 1971) was an American film and television actress who began her career during the
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
era.
Early years
Bronson was born in
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784. to Frank and Nellie Smith Bronson. She moved to
East Orange, New Jersey
East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 69,612. The city was List of municipalities in ...
and attended
East Orange High School
East Orange High School was a comprehensive community public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from 1891 to 2002 in East Orange, in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. For most of its existence, the school ...
until she "convinced her parents to let her move to California to aid her career in films." Subsequently, the entire family moved to California.
Film career
Bronson began her film career at the age of 16 with a
bit part
In acting, a bit part is a role in which there is direct interaction with the principal actors and no more than five lines of dialogue, often referred to as a five-or-less or under-five in the United States, or under sixes in British television, ...
in ''Anna Ascends''. At 17, she was interviewed by
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succ ...
, author of ''Peter Pan''. Although the role had been sought by such established actresses as
Gloria Swanson
Gloria May Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899April 4, 1983) was an American actress and producer. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most f ...
and
Mary Pickford
Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...
, Barrie personally chose Bronson to play the lead in the film adaptation of his work, which was released in 1924. She appeared alongside actresses
Mary Brian
Mary Brian (born Louise Byrdie Dantzler, February 17, 1906 – December 30, 2002) was an American actress who made the transition from silent films to sound films.
Early life
Brian was born in Corsicana, Texas, the daughter of Taurrence J. ...
(Wendy Darling) and
Esther Ralston
Esther Ralston (born Esther Louise Worth, September 17, 1902 – January 14, 1994) was an iconic American silent film star. Her most prominent sound picture was '' To the Last Man'' in 1933.
Early life and career
Ralston was born Esther Loui ...
(Mrs. Darling), both of whom remained lifelong friends.
Bronson had a major role, that of Mary, mother of Jesus, in the 1925 silent film adaptation of '' Ben-Hur''. In 1925, she starred in another Barrie story, ''
A Kiss for Cinderella
''A Kiss for Cinderella'' is a play by J. M. Barrie. It was first produced in London at Wyndham's Theatre on March 16, 1916, starring Gerald du Maurier and Hilda Trevelyan, enjoying great success over 156 performances, and with several annual Ch ...
'', an artfully made film that failed at the box office. She made a successful transition into sound films with ''
The Singing Fool
''The Singing Fool'' is a 1928 American musical drama part-talkie motion picture directed by Lloyd Bacon which was released by Warner Bros. The film stars Al Jolson and is a follow-up to his previous film, ''The Jazz Singer''. It is credited wit ...
'' (1928), co-starring
Al Jolson
Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jews, Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-bi ...
. She appeared in the sequel, '' Sonny Boy'', with
Davey Lee
Davey Lee (December 29, 1924 – June 17, 2008) was an American child actor. He was born in Hollywood, California, United States. He appeared in six feature films between 1928 and 1930.
Biography
The younger brother of actor Frankie Lee (191119 ...
in 1929. She was the leading lady opposite
Jack Benny
Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...
in the romantic drama '' The Medicine Man'' (1930).
Bronson continued acting until 1933 when she married Ludwig Lauerhass, "a well‐to‐do North Carolinian", with whom she had one child, Ludwig Lauerhass, Jr. She did not appear in films again until ''Yodelin' Kid from Pine Ridge'' (1937) starring
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...
. In the 1960s, she appeared in episodic television and feature films. Her last role was an uncredited part in the television
biopic
A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...
''
Evel Knievel
Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel (; October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007) was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Over the course of his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps. Knievel was inducted into the Motor ...
'' (1971).
Bronson, the media, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr
Bronson was reclusive with the press, but received attention after being seen with
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr., (December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000) was an American actor, producer and decorated naval officer of World War II. He is best known for starring in such films as ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1937), '' Gunga Din'' (1939) ...
He had his first boyhood crush on her, as he remembered in his autobiography ''The Salad Days'':
Another important picture had just started. It was ''Peter Pan'', directed by a clever caricature of a wildly temperamental movie director,
Herbert Brenon
Herbert Brenon (born Alexander Herbert Reginald St. John Brenon; 13 January 1880 – 21 June 1958) was an Irish-born U.S. film director, actor and screenwriter during the era of silent films through the 1930s.
Brenon was among the early film ...
. After exhaustive tests, Betty Bronson, a pretty and gifted girl in her middle teens, was given this famous role... I fell for Betty! It was my first intensely juvenile, deep-sighs-and-bad-sonnets love. It was not fully requited. She only flirted with me. My rival was a fellow in his twenties, a newspaperman who was to become one of New York's most respected theater critics, Richard Watts, Jr. ...In any event, I was so smitten with Betty, I could think of little else, except when I could call on her, even though her overprotective mother was always just in the next room.
It is known that Bronson kept all Fairbanks' letters and spoke of him fondly until her death.
Death
On October 19, 1971, Bronson died after a protracted illness in
Pasadena, California
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
I ...
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...
.
Papers
The UCLA Library Special Collections department houses the "Betty Bronson papers, 1920-1970", containing "materials related to Bronson's career and includes clippings, photographs, correspondence, scrapbooks, and personal and professional ephemera."