Betty Compson (March 19, 1897 - April 18, 1974) was an American actress. Born Eleanor Luicime Compson in Beaver, Utah, she had an extensive filmography, with 25 performances in 1916 alone, although most of them are shorts. In 1928 she appeared in The Barker, a silent movie which contained some talking scenes. Compson was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the performance. From 1924 to 1930 she was married to the actor James Cruze. One of her most revered films remains Docks of New York, noted for its dark visual ambience and superb performances, and in 1930 she made a version of The Spoilers in which she played the role later portrayed by similar-looking Marlene Dietrich in the 1942 remake, while Gary Cooper played the part subsequently acted in the later film by John Wayne, perhaps the only time that Cooper and rival Wayne played precisely the same role. Compson's last film was Here Comes Trouble. She retired following that film and helped her husband run a business called "Ashtrays Unlimited".
On her passing in 1974, she was interred in San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
The Docks of New York (1928)
