Bessie Love
by Jordan Henderson
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Price
$175
Dimensions
18.000 x 24.000 inches
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Title
Bessie Love
Artist
Jordan Henderson
Medium
Drawing - Charcoal
Description
Bessie Love was an American actress who acted in films at the height of the silent film era and into the age of audio films. Born in 1898, she saw many changes in the film industry before her death in 1986.
Originally from Texas, she later moved to England. She is known best for her persona on early film – both silent and sound – as that of an innocent young girl and a wholesome leading lady.
In the 1930s, as the era of silent films waned in popularity, she joined the vaudeville music circuit, when she toured with a musical revue for 16 weeks. The schedule was so grueling and demanding that she broke a rib.
But the experience of singing and dancing for three performances a day, though a difficult one, prepared her to enter into the new technology of sound films. She began appearing and starring in musical movies, including The Broadway Melody in 1929. Her performance in that film earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
But Hollywood is a cruel place, and Bessie’s rising career took a dip during the 1940s, when the success of musical productions began to decline. She is quoted as saying of her career:
“I guess I’m through. They don’t seem to want me anymore.”
But she wasn’t so easily set to the side, and after World War II began appearing in British theater, radio, movies, and on numerous television shows, including a supporting role in the James Bond thriller, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
As an artist, I was intrigued by Bessie Love’s face, by an expression of poignant wistfulness, which was either a part of her act and/or a part of who she was. But what I admire is her grit, her ability to adapt and change, and her determination to never give up.
Uploaded
June 13th, 2020
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Comments (3)
Taphath Foose
Beautiful work, Jordan!!! CONGRATULATIONS, your work is featured in "Your Best Work"! I invite you to place it in the group's "Featured Image Archive" discussion thread and any other thread that is fitting!! 😊
Jeff Burgess
Your creative work is outstanding. Thanks for submitting it to the Pacific Northwest Artists (PNA) group. It has been featured on the home page as representing the best of us and deserves “congratulations”. For permanence and additional exposure, please place your art piece in the “Discussion” section titled: featured in 2022.