Bessie Barriscale
Actor · 1884 – 1965 · Hoboken, New Jersey, USA
From Wikipedia Bessie Barriscale (September 30, 1884 – June 30, 1965) was an American silent film and stage actress, and a major star for producer Thomas Ince in the late 1910s. She was born Elizabeth Barry Scale, in Hoboken, New Jersey to Irish immigrants from County Cork. Her cousins were actresses Edith and Mabel Taliaferro. In the first decade of the 20th century Barriscale worked in the legitimate theatre on Broadway and on the road as movies were not popular for stage actors yet. She began her film career in 1913, and worked intensively for New York Motion Picture Company and Triangle Film Corporation (among other studios) until she announced her retirement in the early 1930s.
Movies24
Movie4.0RomanceWesternEsra Kincaid takes land by force and, having taken the Espinoza land, his sights are set on the Castro rancho. Government agent Kearney holds him off till the cavalry shows up and he can declare his love for Juanita, called “the Rose of the Rancho.”
The Rose of the Rancho
1914 · 1 votes
Movie7.0DramaWhen Marquita Shay, the adopted daughter of Canadian farmer John Grayson, reaches womanhood, Grayson enrolls her in a St. Louis boarding school where she meets and marries Humphrey Wells, the son of a wealthy financier. Treated like a servant by her in-laws, Marquita leaves the Humphrey's home to return to Grayson. She discovers that Grayson has committed suicide after falling victim to a phony stock deal perpetrated by Wells senior. Time passes and Marquita travels to New York where she becomes secretary to Baron Brinker who, with Wells, swindled Grayson. She brings Wells and Brinker to their financial ruin and reunites with her husband who renounces his father.
Beckoning Roads
1919 · 1 votes
MovieDramaPampy lives in a quaint little Dutch village, where she supports her invalid father by selling flowers to tourists. Pampy is so beautiful that she provides inspiration to Donald Luther, an American artist who is visiting the village, and at his request, poses for him. Just as his interest starts to blossom into love, he is called away for two weeks. During his absence Pampy's father dies, leaving her only with directions to her wealthy grandfather's home in New York.
Wooden Shoes
1917
Movie9.0DramaMira Sacky (Bessie Barriscale) will inherit a fortune if she is able to come up with ten thousand dollars for lawyers' fees. Since she has no money of her own, the only way she can think of raising the funds is to marry someone wealthy. When she gets the attention of Michael Ordsay (Jack Holt), she quickly asks him to marry her. It seems to be a mismatch, so Mira obtains the needed money from his kindly father (Tom Guise), and heads for Rome, where she undergoes voice training and becomes an operatic star.
The Woman Michael Married
1919 · 1 votes
Movie7.0ComedyDramaNorma Brisbane has a taste for the finer things in life, but learns after her father's suicide that she is penniless. Resolved to recover her fortune in the easiest manner possible, Norma poses as the wife of her silly but wealthy suitor, Cuthbert Van Zelt, and soon she is invited to a number of lavish social affairs. At one such party, Norma steals the Duke of Duffield's family jewels but replaces them upon learning that they are made of paste. Next, she bets the duke that his jewels are fake and thereby wins a large sum of money. The duke persuades Norma to secure some old love letters from the man who is blackmailing him, Emerson Trent. After accomplishing this task, Norma discovers that Trent is not only the man who ruined her father, but the uncle of the man she loves, Oliver Garrett. Impressed by her courage, Trent promises to make amends, and Norma, her financial worries ended, marries Oliver.
All of a Sudden Norma
1919 · 1 votes
Movie5.2DramaWesternIn the 1860s, Mary Marlowe defies her father's wishes to marry a British lord and runs away with clerk John Carlton as he heads West to make his fortune. Mary and John endure the difficult journey and settle into a small cabin, then face the hostilities of a cattle rustling gang, as well as the tragic loss of their only son. With Mary's help, John defeats the gang, which propels him to political power that, over the years, gradually erodes the once-happy marriage.
Secrets
1933 · 14 votes
Movie10.0ComedyDramaBessie Wheaton returns from Europe to find her nouveau riche family has adopted and magnified the worst characteristics of the upper class. Her father spends all of his time at the club, her mother cultivates snobbishness, and her sister thinks only of marrying into royalty. To shake them out of their aristocratic poses, Bessie decides to reflect all of their faults, becoming as lazy as her father and as status conscious as her mother. She even rejects her own sweetheart, Allan Shelby, to lure Count d'Orr away from her sister. Finally, the members of the family confront Bessie, and she angrily tells them that she was only mirroring their behavior. Bessie then runs away, but Allan, with whom she quickly reconciles, brings her back, just as her family acknowledges its recent burlesque of the upper crust.
Home
1916 · 1 votes
Movie3.0DramaSculptress Madge Graham sacrifices her art career to nurture violinist Robert Knight whom she marries and with whom she has two children.
A Woman Who Understood
1920 · 3 votes
Movie8.0ComedyDramaKitty Kelly (Bessie Barriscale) has just graduated from medical school and she decides to set up business in a Western mining camp. Because she is pretty, all the miners come up with various ailments just so they have a chance to spend time with her. The one that wins her heart is ranch foreman Bob Lang (Jack Holt), but a wrench is thrown into the romance when Kitty comes to the conclusion that he drinks too much.
Kitty Kelly, M.D.
1919 · 1 votes
Movie8.0DramaRachael (Bessie Barriscale) marries Clarence Breckenridge (Hershel Mayall) a widower much older than herself. Although she tries to be a good wife, he ignores her for the bottle. In addition, his daughter, Billy (Ella Hall), who is not much younger than Rachael, is spoiled. When Rachael meets the family doctor, Warren Gregory (Herbert Heyes), they fall in love.
The Heart of Rachael
1918 · 1 votes
Movie8.0DramaMember of a socially prominent but impoverished family, Mary Ware, is in love with the equally poor Ronald Cliffe, but Mary's mother convinces her to save the family from debt by marrying the wealthy Grey Sands. Ronald is sent to work in the oil fields out West, and Mary, married to a man she doesn't love, is cold to her husband, who then vows revenge.
The Notorious Mrs. Sands
1920 · 1 votes
Movie8.0DramaAfter her father dies and a banker, to whom he owed $5,000, insults the family's honor, dancing instructor Mary Lee, the last of a long line of Southern aristocrats, goes to New York vowing to repay the debt. In Paris, Raoul Garson, an American theatrical manager, signs dancing sensation Anna Gerard, who resembles Mary, to appear on Broadway against the wishes of her Apache lover Pierre La Rouge.
A Trick of Fate
1919 · 1 votes
Movie10.0ComedyDramaWhen a distant Irish relative dies, a young American travels to Ireland to obtain his inheritance. He gets far more than he bargained for when a beautiful Irish colleen catches his eye.
A Corner in Colleens
1916 · 1 votes
Movie7.0DramaThe Luck of Geraldine Laird
1920 · 1 votes
Movie7.0RomanceComedyEddie Kehoe is a young vaudeville hoofer who thinks his inability to hit the big time is the fault of stage managers, agents, musicians...everybody but himself. Eddie likes to tell others how good he is, but seldom shows them. Kitty Mayo, an old-time burlesque queen, who is with the McNary Vaudeville Company, advises Eddie to get himself a partner, as his solo abilities can only be stretched so far. He decides to follow her advice and, while in a theatrical supply shop, he sees Rita Carey rehearsing her dancing act that includes a trained duck. Eddie tells Rita he is a good friend of McNary's, and, with him as her partner, her future in show business will be secured. She agrees to join him and Eddie promptly names the act "Eddie Kehoe and Partner". Despite his conceit, Rita likes Eddie, as do others in the troupe, including Cleo a little gold-digger.
Show Folks
1928 · 2 votes
MovieDramaBobby Burnit, a naïve young man, inherits $300,000 from his father, a hard-working entrepreneur. Because the will specifies that the money must be invested, Agnes Elliston, Bobby's sweetheart, suggests that he take over his father's chain of stores. Soon Bobby becomes the dupe of various swindlers and charlatans, among them Sam Stone and Bobby's shady lawyer. With the help of Bobby's friend Biff Bates and Daniel Johnson, a loyal employee of Bobby's father, the swindlers are exposed in the newspaper and Bobby's inheritance is saved. Finally, after rescuing Agnes from Stone's advances, Bobby proposes to her, thus complying with all of his late father's wishes. -From TCM.com Database, powered by the AFI.
Movie5.0DramaRuth Marshall's dire financial situation forces her to marry Richard Janeway, a wealthy but drunken playboy who cheats on her. Not only that, but on their honeymoon he hooks up with Lucia, a former girlfriend. Ruth becomes pregnant, but on the night their child is born, Richard decides to attend a wild party; not long afterward he throws her out of their house, threatening to give their child to his mistress. Eventually, Richard's abuse becomes more than Ruth can stand. What will she do?
The Breaking Point
1921 · 2 votes
- MovieDrama
Sisters Helen and Ruth Fiske work in a department store and live in an East Side tenement. While Ruth is satisfied with her "regular fellow," a mechanic, Helen yearns for fine clothes, wealth, and attention. Ruth marries the mechanic and they struggle for a modest existence. Helen leaves her squalor to be the mistress of wealthy John Ward, despite Ruth's pleas. As the years pass, Helen goes from one man to the next, looking for more luxuries. When James Kellerman, who really loves her, proposes, she laughs at him.
The Cup of Life
1915
Movie6.5ActionDramaRobert Armstrong stars as Scoop Adams, an ace newsreel cameraman whose love affair with the bottle all but destroys him professionally. Scoop manages to get his photographer pal Dick (Richard Cromwell) fired as well, but he promises to restore Dick's reputation, some way or another. He gets his chance while covering a dirigible wreck (some three years before the Hindenburg), saving the day for both Dick and himself.
Above the Clouds
1933 · 2 votes
Movie8.0ComedyWesternRanch owner Jack Kennedy is in need of some cowhands. Young Betty Craig, a friend of Jack's sister Florence, bets her that she can disguise herself as a man and get a job at the ranch, fooling all the cowboys As "Bob Craig", she gets hired, but although Jack and the cowboys aren't fooled by her "disguise", they decide to have some fun with "Bob" and put her through a series of practical jokes to test "Bob's" mettle. However, things don't turn out quite the way the boys expected--and Betty has an even bigger surprise in store for them.
Two-Gun Betty
1918 · 1 votes
MovieDramaScottish fisherman Andy MacTavish rescues a baby whom he discovers washed up on the shore during a storm, and names her Ariel. As a girl, Ariel often dances on the beach and dreams of a man who will appear to her out of the mist. Her dream comes true when she witnesses an airplane crash in which the pilot, Franklin Shirley, is injured.
Movie9.0DramaRomanceHamid-Ali, an Arab chieftain and bandit, captures an English baby during a raid on a caravan and, naming her Sheka, puts her in a harem to be prepared for the slave auction. At the auction, Sir Derek Anstruther, who has fallen in love with Sheka, disguises himself as an Arab and bids for her.
Her Purchase Price
1919 · 1 votes
MovieComedyDramaConvinced that her impending marriage to fellow reporter Billy Williams will result in a loss of her freedom, Janice breaks her engagement and enters a period of Bohemian living.
The Hater of Men
1917
- MovieDrama
Countess Olga and Prince Carl, although from two European countries that have been longtime enemies, are madly in love with each other. Olga's brother, Count Michael, convinces Olga to get Carl to come to their country, planning to imprison him. His plan succeeds, but it has unintended consequences.