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Betty Balfour

Betty Balfour

Acting

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Betty Balfour (27 March 1903 – 4 November 1977) was an English screen actress, popular during the silent era, and known as the "British Mary Pickford" and "Britain's Queen of Happiness". She was best known to audiences for her Squibs series of films. Balfour was the most popular actress in Britain in the 1920s, and in 1927 she was named by the Daily Mirror as the country's favourite world star. Her talent was most evident in the Squibs comedy series produced by George Pearson, while in his Love, Life and Laughter (1923) and Reveille (1924), rediscovered in 2014, she demonstrated a serious side to her character. Her role as a wealthy heiress in Somebody's Darling (1925) was an attempt to break out of her previous role as Squibs, to avoid typecasting. She made her stage debut in 1913, and was appearing in Medora at the Alhambra Theatre in Leicester Square when T. A. Welsh and Pearson saw and signed her for Nothing Else Matters in 1920. After replacing Gertrude Lawrence on stage in The Midnight Follies, Balfour was back with Pearson with her first starring role in Mary Find the Gold. In 1916 she starred in Fred Karno's all female revue, 'All Women,' notable at the time for its all female cast, including stage manager, musical director and advanced agent. Balfour made no attempt to break into Hollywood but like Ivor Novello she was able to export her talents to mainland Europe. She starred in the German films, Die sieben Töchter der Frau Gyurkovics and Die Regimentstochter; she also worked for Marcel L'Herbier in Le Diable au cœur, for Louis Mercanton in Croquette and La Petite Bonne du palace, and for Géza von Bolváry in Bright Eyes. Back in Britain, she also starred in Alfred Hitchcock's Champagne (1928). Balfour's sound debut, The Nipper (1930), based on the Squibs character, was only moderately successful. Her popularity diminished in the 1930s, though she played a supporting role to Jessie Matthews in Evergreen (1934), appeared with John Mills in Forever England (1935) and played the matriarch in 29 Acacia Avenue (1945). Balfour had less fortune in her private life. Her marriage with composer Jimmy Campbell went on the rocks in 1941 after ten years, a try of a comeback at the theatre failed in 1952. She died at age 74 in Weybridge, Surrey.

Known For

Champagne
5.2

A spoiled heiress defies her millionaire father by running off to France to pursue her lover. Things don't go entirely as planned.

Champagne

1928
Raise the Roof
9.0

The wealthy Rodney Langford, who dreams of going on the stage, hopes to fulfil his ambitions by buying a failing revue called 'Raise the Roof', starring Maisie Grey. His father, fearing scandal, bribes amoral actor Atherley Armitage to sabotage the show. But, when all hope seems lost, Maisie comes up with an ingenious idea to try and save the day.

Raise the Roof

1930
Brown on Resolution
6.3

Forever England gives John Mills his first leading role as Brown. Born after a brief affair between his mother and a naval officer, he joins the Royal Navy during the First World War. There his bravery and marksmanship keeps a German ship in port so a British ship can sink it. He becomes a hero, but at what cost?

Brown on Resolution

1935
Squibs
5.0

Squibs, a cockney flowerseller with a father overwhelmed by gambling debts wins through with the help of assorted friends and a romantically inclined policeman.

Squibs

1935
My Old Dutch
4.0

Moving family drama of the life of a working-class Hackney couple over 40 years, inspired by the famous music hall song This moving family drama - with time for some laughs - portrays the life and hardships of a working class Hackney couple over a span of 40 years. Our intrepid couple (wonderfully played by Betty Balfour and Michael Hogan) have to face everything life throws at them with fortitude, from the Great War (a son in the RAF and zeppelin raids) to a raging oil fire during the Great Strike. The inimitable Gordon Harker provides sterling support. The film the couple watch at the cinema is the 1915 version of My Old Dutch, starring Albert Chevalier (writer of the original music hall song) and Florence Turner. As the complete silent film is now believed to be lost, this 1934 version contains the only surviving footage.

My Old Dutch

1934
Evergreen
6.5

Harriet Green, a beloved and radiant music hall star of the Edwardian era, mysteriously disappears on the eve of her wedding. Years later, she reappears on the stage as young looking and beautiful as ever.

Evergreen

1934
Bright Eyes
7.0

Jenny, a cheerful kitchen maid at the Paris-style Palais de Luxe, is hopelessly in love with charming head waiter Jean—only to be stood up when he forgets their planned tryst in favor of the hotel’s glamorous dancer, Lola. Humiliated and on the verge of arrest for “stealing” champagne, Jenny hides backstage where she’s mistaken for a performer, wows the crowd with an impromptu dance, and finally wins Jean’s heart.

Bright Eyes

1929
A Sister of Six
8.0

The young Tony will travel from Budapest to the countryside to marry his cousin Katinka, the oldest of the seven sisters Gyurkovics. Because Tony is already secretly married to another, the situation is problematic. Mizzi is the impish middle sister of seven who is glad to leave boarding school and has many adventures making her way back home. This includes impersonating a countess and meeting Count Horkay who is impersonating her cousin Tony, his friend whom Mizzi's mother intends to marry her oldest sister. The younger set all have their own ideas of who they love despite the plans of the older folks.

A Sister of Six

1926
Paradise
8.0

The daughter of a poor clergyman wins £500 and goes to find happiness on the Riviera.

Paradise

1928
29 Acacia Avenue
6.0

The Robinsons are two respectable middle class parents living with their children in a suburban house in Acacia Avenue. Preferring to holiday every year in Bognor, they are pressed into booking a cruise for their annual vacation and thereby leaving their teenage children free run of their house. As the youngsters enjoy their newfound freedom and discover the angst of teenage life, Mr. and Mrs. Robinson begin to have second thoughts about their cruise and decide to return home early.

29 Acacia Avenue

1945
Little Devil May Care
6.7

Ludivine, a lttle tomboy, takes on the too polite Delphin. Being caught, and punished, she wants him and his father to be dead. When the latter dies, she feels guilty and takes Delphin under her wing.

Little Devil May Care

1928
No image
10.0

A flower girl wins £60,000 and takes her family to Paris to save her sister from her murderous husband.

Squibs Wins the Calcutta Sweep

1922
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7.0

Cinders is about a professor who inherits both a vast fortune and a luxurious hotel on the French Riviera. He leaves his modest family house in London – where he keeps his insects – and takes Betty, the maid, along with him to his new home.

The Maid at the Palace

1926
The Cabaret Kid
10.0

A pilot saves a dancer from a Paris nightclub owner and they stow away to Cornwall.

The Cabaret Kid

1926
Daughter of the Regiment
8.0

Marie, adopted as a baby by Warrant Officer Guippo, helps a smuggler escape because he saved his life previously. She finds him again in Paris while she is engaged to Count Bertrand.

Daughter of the Regiment

1929
The Vagabond Queen
10.0

The Vagabond Queen is a 1929 British comedy film directed by Géza von Bolváry and starring Betty Balfour, Glen Byam Shaw and Ernest Thesiger. It was the final film directed in Britain by Bolváry before he returned to Germany. A young woman takes the place of a Princess who is a target for an assassination. This film was released in May 1929 as a silent film and re-released with synchronized music and sound effects in August 1930.

The Vagabond Queen

1929
No image
7.0

A British comedy film directed by Henry Edwards

Eliza Comes to Stay

1936
The Nipper
8.0

A producer makes a star of the cockney waif who tried to rob him.

The Nipper

1930
No image
9.0

A seamstress stops a poor ex-soldier from becoming a left-wing agitator.

Réveille

1924
Love, Life and Laughter
10.0

A chorus girl, who dreams of being a music-hall star, falls for an impoverished author.

Love, Life and Laughter

1923