Barbara Bedford (actress)
Barbara Bedford was an American actress who appeared in dozens of silent movies. Her career declined after the introduction of sound, but she continued to appear in small roles until 1945.
Early life
Barbara Bedford was born Violet May Rose on July 19, 1903, the first child to Robert William Rose, a Scottish-American interior decorator, and Barbara Rose, who was a first generation Czech-American. She had a brother, William Rose. The 1910 census lists the family as living in Denver, Colorado.
She was educated in Chicago and attended Lake View High School. According to Bedford, prior to becoming an actress, she taught swimming, dancing, and gymnastics and worked as an accountant.
Career
Film
Bedford dropped out of high school after completing 10th grade to pursue a career in film. She, alongside her family, relocated to Los Angeles. She had written many fan letters to actor William S. Hart, and he helped her get a small role in his 1920 movie The Cradle of Courage. While working as an extra that same year on The White Circle, she was noticed by fellow cast member John Gilbert, who recommended her to director Maurice Tourneur. Tourneur cast her alongside Gilbert in Deep Waters. Tourneur also cast her in The Last of the Mohicans, where she was the love interest for Alan Roscoe, whom she later married in real life.
In 1925, she appeared opposite Hart in his final film, Tumbleweeds, a key western of the silent period. She starred in the 1926 silent film Old Loves and New and in Mockery with Lon Chaney the following year.
Stage
Bedford played Andre in Ayn Rand's Woman on Trial when it opened at the Hollywood Playhouse on October 22, 1934.
Personal life
In 1921, she married Irvin Willat, who had directed her earlier that year in The Face of the World. They divorced in less than a year. In August 1922 she married fellow actor Alan Roscoe. They divorced in 1928, but remarried in 1930. They had one daughter, Barbara Edith Roscoe. When her husband died in 1933, Bedford had a legal dispute with his friend Wallace Beery over life insurance money that Beery claimed was owed to him for debts, but which Bedford said was intended for her daughter's education.
Bedford's third and longest marriage was to actor Terry Spencer. They were married from 1940 until his death in 1954.
Later years and death
After Spencer died, Bedford lived in Jacksonville, Florida, using the name Violet Spencer as she worked in retail sales. She and her daughter, Barbara, moved to Shreveport, Louisiana in the 1970s.
Bedford died in Jacksonville, Florida, on October 25, 1981, aged 78.
Filmography
Features
The Cradle of Courage as NoraDeep Waters as Betty WestThe Last of the Mohicans as Cora MunroDown Home as Minor Role The Big Punch as Hope StandishThe Face of the World as ThoraCinderella of the Hills as Norris GradleyThe Unfoldment as Martha OsborneGleam O'Dawn as NiniWinning with Wits as Mary Sudan / Mary WyattArabian Love as Nadine FortierMan Under Cover as Margaret LangdonStep on It! as Lorraine LeightonOut of the Silent North as Marcette ValloisAlias Julius Caesar as HelenThe Power of Love as Maria AlmedaTom Mix in Arabia as Janice TerhuneAnother Man's Shoes as Mercia SolanoRomance Land as Nan HarvessThe Tie That Binds as Mary Ellen GrayThe Power of Love The Spoilers as Helen ChesterThe Acquittal as Edith CraigThe Whipping Boss as Grace WoodwardWomen Who Give as Emily SwiftPagan Passions as Shirley DangerfieldChampion of Lost Causes as Beatrice CharlesThe Mansion of Aching Hearts as MarthaThe Mad Whirl as Margie TaylorPercy as Imogene ChandlerThe Talker as Barbara FarleyThe Business of Love as Barbara RichmondBefore Midnight as Helen SaldivarWhat Fools Men as Jenny McFarlanTumbleweeds as Molly LassiterOld Loves and New as MarnyThe Sporting Lover as Lady GwendolynDevil's Dice as Helen PaineSunshine of Paradise Alley as Sunshine O'DayLife of an Actress as Nora DowenThe Notorious Lady as Mary Marlowe / Mary BrownleeBackstage as Julia JoyceMockery as Countess Tatiana AlexandrovaThe Girl from Gay Paree as Mary DavisA Man's Past as Yvonne FontaineThe Broken Mask as CariciaMarry the Girl as ElinorThe Port of Missing Girls as Ruth KingManhattan Knights as MargaretThe City of Purple Dreams as Esther StromBitter Sweets as Bett KingstonThe Cavalier as Lucia D'ArquistaThe Haunted House as NancySmoke Bellew as Joy GastrellThe Heroic Lover Brothers as Doris LaRueThe Love Trader as LuaneSunny as MargaretTol'able David as Rose KinemonThe Lash as LupeDesert Vengeance as Anne DixonThe Lady from Nowhere as Mollie CarterToo Busy to Work as Molly Hardy The Death Kiss as Script GirlFound Alive as Edith RobertsA Girl of the Limberlost as Elvira CarneyTomorrow's Youth as Miss BoothThe World Accuses as Martha RankinSons of Steel as Miss PetersCircumstantial Evidence as Mrs. Goodwin On Probation as Mable GordonThe Keeper of the Bees as NurseCondemned to Live as Martha KristanThe Spanish Cape Mystery as Mrs. MunnThree Kids and a Queen as Nurse Midnight Phantom as Kathleen RyanForced Landing as Mrs. Margaret ByrdSenor Jim as Mona CartierTango as Carver, Enright & Burt Receptionist Ring Around the Moon as Carol AndersonBrilliant Marriage as BrendaThe Mine with the Iron Door as SecretarySpeed as Nurse Easy Money as Mrs. TurnerHis Brother's Wife as Minor Role Born to Dance as Hector's Secretary A Day at the Races as Secretary Between Two Women as Sarah - Patricia's Maid Big City as Woman Who Screams Navy Blue and Gold as Hospital Nurse The First Hundred Years as Sadie Three Comrades as Rita - Singer Accompanied by Erich The Toy Wife as Woman in Doctor's Office Woman Against Woman as Nurse Sherwood Fast Company as MacMillen's Secretary The Chaser as Brandon's Secretary Rich Man, Poor Girl as Kate Boys Town as Catholic Nun Too Hot to Handle as MacArthur's Secretary Young Dr. Kildare as Nurse The Girl Downstairs as Anna Burn 'Em Up O'Connor as Woman in Movie House Four Girls in White as Nurse Behind Counter Idiot's Delight as Nurse #1 Within the Law as Sarah - Gilder's Secretary Sergeant Madden as Nurse Broadway Serenade as Gracie Calling Dr. Kildare as Dr. Carew's Secretary Stronger Than Desire as Miss Watson - Flagg's Secretary On Borrowed Time as Mrs. James Northrup Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever as Miss Howard - Bank Secretary Dancing Co-Ed as Secretary Bad Little Angel as Mrs. Dodd Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President as Neighbor The Earl of Chicago as Martha Jackson Edison, the Man as General Powell's Nurse Florian as Kingston's Secretary We Who Are Young as Hospital Phone Operator Gold Rush Maisie as Mrs. Hartley I Love You Again as Miss Stingecombe - Larry's Secretary Boom Town as Nurse Dr. Kildare Goes Home as Carew's Secretary Sky Murder as Grand's Maid Third Finger, Left Hand as Woman at Railroad Station Little Nellie Kelly as Miss Wilson - Nurse with Baby Go West as Baby's Mother on Stagecoach Maisie Was a Lady as Nurse Men of Boys Town as Nun in Infirmary The People vs. Dr. Kildare as Dr. Carew's Secretary Love Crazy as Renny's Secretary The Getaway as Dr. Glass' Maid Whistling in the Dark as Cult Member / Telephone Operator When Ladies Meet as Anna Honky Tonk as Salvation Army Woman Babes on Broadway as Juror at Radio Broadcast Babes on Broadway as Mrs. Crainen, the Matron Nazi Agent as Woman The Vanishing Virginian as Mildred Simpson Mr. and Mrs. North as Lucille, Mrs. Brent's Maid Dr. Kildare's Victory as Dr. Carew's Secretary Born to Sing as Woman at Accident Scene We Were Dancing as Tearful Courtroom Spectator The Courtship of Andy Hardy as Elsa, Nesbit's Maid Ship Ahoy as Mrs. Loring Tortilla Flat as Nun Calling Dr. Gillespie as Carew's Secretary Bringing Postcard Reunion in France as Mme. Vigouroux The Human Comedy as Woman on Street Assignment in Brittany as Surgical Nurse Slightly Dangerous as Customer Presenting Lily Mars as Assistant Boardinghouse Manager Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case as Secretary Du Barry Was a Lady as Ambrose's Wife Best Foot Forward as Chaperon at Dance The Cross of Lorraine as Village Woman Lost Angel as Telephone Operator Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble as Dean's Secretary Meet the People as Ritz Patron An American Romance as Hospitable Farm Woman The Clock as USO Manager Girls of the Big House as Visitors Matron
Shorts
Three on a Limb as AddieThe Public Pays as Markovitz's Secretary The Grand Bounce as Doctor's Secretary Song of Revolt as Peasant Woman It May Happen to You as Nurse Miracle Money as Miss Grant That Mothers Might Live as Nun Reading Book Come Across as Bank Employee How to Read as Dental Patient Nostradamus as Minor Role Men in Fright as Sonny's Mother Football Romeo as Alfalfa's MotherAlfalfa's Aunt as Martha Switzer Tiny Troubles as Alfalfa's motherRadio Hams as Mrs. Crane Angel of Mercy as Nurse One Against the World as Townswoman Think First as Saleslady Miracle at Lourdes as Nurse That Inferior Feeling as Bride Alfalfa's Double as Alfalfa's motherPound Foolish as Mayor's Secretary The Domineering Male as Party Hostess All About Hash as Martha, Alfalfa's motherBubbling Troubles as Alfalfa's MomWomen in Hiding as Miss Townsend, Head Nurse A Way in the Wilderness as Sick Farmer's Wife Soak the Old as Bogus Pension Office Employee Good Bad Boys as Alfalfa's Mother You, the People as Rooming House Diner American Spoken Here as Corset Buyer Respect the Law as Johnson's Maid 1-2-3 Go as Ann, nurseCoffins on Wheels as First Nurse at Desk Sucker List as Secretary Come Back, Miss Pipps as Angry Parent Wedding Worries as Miss Douglas Main Street on the March! as Nurse Don't Talk as Beauty Shop Customer The Lady or the Tiger? as Lady Behind Door in Arena Mr. Blabbermouth! as Woman Rover's Big Chance as Studio clerkInflation as Woman in Close-Out Sale Montage Brief Interval as Nurse Benjamin Franklin, Jr. as Janet's motherFamily Troubles as Mary Burston, Janet's motherWho's Superstitious? as Wife Seeing Hands as Ben's Mother