Editing Bessie Love (section)

=== The sound era and stage work ===

==== 1929–30: Musical comedy star ====
[[File:Bessie Love RHL.jpg|thumb|Love, photographed by [[Ruth Harriet Louise]] to promote ''[[The Broadway Melody]]'' (1929)]]
Love toured with a musical revue for sixteen weeks,<ref name="goodafternoon">Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/md3ljrggTaY Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20201205011500/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md3ljrggTaY&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite episode |title=Judith Chalmers talks to American-born actress Bessie Love|series=Good Afternoon|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md3ljrggTaY|location=London |publisher=Thames TV|date=October 17, 1977}}{{cbignore}}</ref> which was so physically demanding that she broke a rib.<ref>{{cite news|title=Parties Here and Parties There|last=Kingsley|first=Grace|author-link=Grace Kingsley |newspaper=Los Angeles Times|location=Los Angeles, Calif|date=7 Apr 1929|page=J5}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|first=Leslie|last=Wilkinson|title=What Are They Doing Now? Part 14: Leslie Wilkinson Meets Bessie Love|magazine=Photoplay Film Monthly|date=March 1972}}</ref> The experience she gained on the [[vaudeville]] stage singing and dancing in three performances a day prepared her for the introduction of [[sound film]]s.<ref name="star">{{cite news|title=Star Remains with Vitaphone|last=Kingsley|first=Grace |work=Los Angeles Times|date=September 12, 1928|page=A10}}</ref> She appeared in the successful sound [[musical film|musical]] [[short film]] ''[[The Swell Head]]'' in early 1928, and was signed to [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]] later that year.<ref name="star" />

In 1929, she appeared in her first feature-length sound film, the musical ''[[The Broadway Melody]]''. Her performance earned her a nomination for the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]], and the success of the film resulted in a five-year contract with MGM and an increase in her weekly salary from {{currency|500}} to $3,000 ({{Inflation|US|3000|1929|r=-3|fmt=eq}})—$1,000 more than her male co-star [[Charles King (musical actor)|Charles King]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/shatteredsilents00walk/|title=The Shattered Silents: How the Talkies Came to Stay|first=Alexander|last=Walker|page=[https://archive.org/details/shatteredsilents00walk/page/139 139]|publisher=William Morrow and Company, Inc.|location=London|year=1979|isbn=0-688-03544-2|chapter='The English accent doesn't mean a thing out here'}}</ref>

She appeared in several other early musicals, including 1929's ''[[The Hollywood Revue|The Hollywood Revue of 1929]]'' and 1930's ''[[Chasing Rainbows (1930 film)|Chasing Rainbows]]'', ''[[Good News (1930 film)|Good News]]'', and ''[[They Learned About Women]]''. Her success in these musicals earned her the title "the screen's first musical comedy star."<ref name="dunham">{{cite journal|journal=[[Films in Review]]|date=February 1959|first=Harold|last=Dunham|pages=86–99|volume=10|issue=2|title=Bessie Love: Her Career Began with ''Intolerance'' and Is by No Means Over}}</ref>

==== 1931–43: Semi-retirement ====
However, the success of musical films waned, again putting her career in decline. Love is quoted as saying of her career: "I guess I'm through. They don't seem to want me any more."<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Strange as It May Seem|page=92|first=Walter|last=Ramsey|volume=39|issue=2|date=March 1930|magazine=Motion Picture|url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicture39moti/page/n221}}</ref> She shifted focus to her personal life, marrying in December 1929.

She semi-retired from films, and traveled with a musical revue that included clips from her films ''The Broadway Melody'', ''The Hollywood Revue'', and ''Chasing Rainbows''.{{sfn|Love|1977|p=127}} While on tour, she learned she was pregnant with her daughter, who was born in 1932. Love stopped her stage work to raise her daughter. In 1935, Love moved to England,{{sfn|Love|1977|p=131}} briefly returning to the United States in 1936 to obtain a divorce.{{sfn|Kidd|1986|p=67}}<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Titusville Herald|date=September 28, 1936|page=1|volume=72|issue=90|title=Bessie Love Back|location=[[Titusville, Pennsylvania]]}}</ref>

During World War II in Britain, when it was difficult to find employment as an actress, Love worked as the script supervisor on the film drama ''[[San Demetrio London]]'' (1943). She also worked for the [[American Red Cross]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Edward G. Rises to Defend Hollywood – Flying Bombs – Addenda|first=C.A.|last=Lejeune|newspaper=New York Times|date=August 13, 1944|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1944/08/13/archives/robinson-sets-london-straight-edward-g-rises-to-defend-hollywood.html|page=X3}}</ref>

==== 1944–83: Working actress ====
Towards the end of the war, Love began acting again, this time primarily in the theater and on BBC radio as a member of their [[Radio Drama Company|Drama Repertory Company]];<ref>{{cite book|title=British Radio Drama, 1922–1956|last=Gielgud|first=Val|author-link=Val Gielgud |location=London|publisher=George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd|page=194|year=1957}}</ref> she also played small roles in British films, often as an American tourist.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HBoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT35|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=November 23, 1946|page=36|title=In Short|volume=58|issue=47}}</ref> Stage work included such productions as ''Love in Idleness'' (1944){{sfn|Love|1977|p=136}} and ''[[Born Yesterday (play)|Born Yesterday]]'' (1947).{{sfn|Love|1977|p=136}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theatrememorabilia.co.uk/london-garrick-theatre-born-yesterday-laurence-olivier-719.html|title=London Garrick Theatre{{spaced ndash}}Born Yesterday{{spaced ndash}}Laurence Olivier|access-date=June 20, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140218231402/http://www.theatrememorabilia.co.uk/london-garrick-theatre-born-yesterday-laurence-olivier-719.html|archive-date=February 18, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4xkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT3|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=November 30, 1946|page=4|title='Born Yesterday' Hit in Glasgow Opening Before London Deb|volume=58|issue=48}}</ref> She wrote and performed in ''The Homecoming'', a semiautobiographical play, which opened in Perth, Scotland in 1958.<ref>{{cite news|title=Silent Film Star a Playwright|date=April 21, 1958|newspaper=[[Tri-City Herald]]|location=[[Pasco, Washington]]|page=2}}</ref><ref name="glasgowherald">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=THxAAAAAIBAJ&pg=2325,6363264|newspaper=[[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Glasgow Herald]]|date=April 22, 1958|title=Little Action in New Play|page=3}}</ref> Film work included ''[[The Barefoot Contessa]]'' (1954) with [[Humphrey Bogart]], and [[Ealing Studios]]' ''[[Nowhere to Go (1958 film)|Nowhere to Go]]'' (1958), and ''[[Next to No Time]]'', 1958. She had supporting roles in ''[[The Greengage Summer]]'' (1961) starring [[Kenneth More]], the [[James Bond]] thriller ''[[On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film)|On Her Majesty's Secret Service]]'' (1969), and [[John Schlesinger]]'s ''[[Sunday Bloody Sunday (film)|Sunday Bloody Sunday]]'' (1971). In addition to playing the mother of [[Vanessa Redgrave]]'s titular character in ''[[Isadora (film)|Isadora]]'' (1968), Love also served as dialect coach to the actress.{{sfn|Love|1977|p=140}}

On television, Love appeared in dozens of episodes of British [[television show]]s in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. In October 1963, she became the subject of ''[[This Is Your Life (British TV series)|This Is Your Life]]'' when host [[Eamonn Andrews]] surprised her at the stage door of ''[[Never Too Late (play)|Never Too Late]]'' after its London opening.<ref name="ppg">{{cite news|newspaper=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]|date=October 30, 1963|last=Connolly|first=Mike|author-link=Mike Connolly (columnist)|title=In Hollywood|page=6|location=Pittsburgh}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}} Guests included ''[[London Scrapbook]]'' director [[Derrick De Marney]],<ref name="gettylife" /> her ''[[Forget Me Not (1922 film)|Forget Me Not]]'' (1922) co-star [[Gareth Hughes]],<ref>{{cite AV media|title=Gareth Hughes|language=cy|date=2000|oclc=1023435485}}</ref> actor [[Percy Marmont]],<ref name="gettylife" /> her friend and ''[[Those Who Dance (1924 film)|Those Who Dance]]'' (1924) co-star [[Blanche Sweet]],<ref name="gettylife" /> and her daughter Patricia.<ref name="gettylife">{{cite episode|title=Bessie Love|url=https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/eamonn-andrews-pres-prog-which-looks-at-the-life-of-news-footage/BBC_LLV5517S|via=Getty Images|series=This Is Your Life|series-link=This Is Your Life (British TV series)|date=October 24, 1963|first=Eamonn|last=Andrews|author-link=Eamonn Andrews|network=BBC}}</ref>

Love appeared in [[John Osborne]]'s play ''West of Suez'' (1971),<ref name="dispatch">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zN0bAAAAIBAJ&pg=4609,4766742|newspaper=[[The Dispatch (Lexington)|The Dispatch]]|volume=91|issue=99|location=Lexington, NC|date=August 28, 1972|page=21|first=Zander|last=Hollander |author-link=Zander Hollander |title=Bessie Love—74 Years Young and Still Acting}}</ref><ref name="heilpern">{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2006/apr/29/theatre.biography |work=The Guardian |title=A sense of failure |last=Heilpern |first=John |author-link=John Heilpern |date=April 28, 2006}}</ref> and as "Aunt Pittypat" in a large-scale musical version of ''Gone with the Wind'' (1972)<ref name="scarlett">{{cite news |title=Scarlett Sings, Atlanta Burns |last=Bryden |first=Ronald |work=The New York Times |date=May 21, 1972}}</ref> and as an "American Lady" in ''[[Vampyres (film)|Vampyres]]'' (1974). She also played [[Maud Cunard]] in the TV miniseries ''[[Edward & Mrs. Simpson]]'' in 1978. Her film work continued through the seventies with movies like ''[[The Ritz (film)|The Ritz]]'' (1976), ''[[Sunday Bloody Sunday (film)|Sunday Bloody Sunday]]'' (1971), and ''[[Gulliver's Travels (1977 film)|Gulliver's Travels]]'' (1981), and into the 1980s with roles in ''[[Ragtime (film)|Ragtime]]'' (1981), ''[[Reds (film)|Reds]]'' (1981), ''[[Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981 film)|Lady Chatterley's Lover]]'' (1981), and her final film ''[[The Hunger (1983 film)|The Hunger]]'' (1983).