Barbara Bedford (born Violet May Rose; July 19, 1903 – October 25, 1981) was an American actress who appeared in dozens of silent movies. Her career declined after the introduction of sound, but she continued to appear in small roles until 1945.
Early life
Barbara Bedford was born Violet May Rose on July 19, 1903, the first child to Robert William Rose, a Scottish-American interior decorator,[2] and Barbara Rose (née Fish), who was a first generation Czech-American.[3][4] She had a brother, William Rose.[5] The 1910 census lists the family as living in Denver, Colorado.[6]
She was educated in Chicago and attended Lake View High School.[7] According to Bedford, prior to becoming an actress, she taught swimming, dancing, and gymnastics and worked as an accountant.[8]
Bedford dropped out of high school after completing 10th grade to pursue a career in film.[9] She, alongside her family, relocated to Los Angeles.[10] She had written many fan letters to actor William S. Hart, and he helped her get a small role in his 1920 movie The Cradle of Courage.[11] While working as an extra that same year on The White Circle, she was noticed by fellow cast member John Gilbert, who recommended her to director Maurice Tourneur.[12] Tourneur cast her alongside Gilbert in Deep Waters. Tourneur also cast her in The Last of the Mohicans, where she was the love interest for Alan Roscoe, whom she later married in real life.
In 1925, she appeared opposite Hart in his final film, Tumbleweeds,[13] a key western of the silent period. She starred in the 1926 silent film Old Loves and New and in Mockery with Lon Chaney the following year.
In 1921, she married Irvin Willat, who had directed her earlier that year in The Face of the World. They divorced in less than a year. In August 1922 she married fellow actor Alan Roscoe. They divorced in 1928, but remarried in 1930.[7] They had one daughter, Barbara Edith Roscoe. When her husband died in 1933, Bedford had a legal dispute with his friend Wallace Beery over life insurance money that Beery claimed was owed to him for debts, but which Bedford said was intended for her daughter's education.[15]
Bedford's third and longest marriage was to actor Terry Spencer. They were married from 1940 until his death in 1954.[7]
Later years and death
After Spencer died, Bedford lived in Jacksonville, Florida, using the name Violet Spencer as she worked in retail sales.[16] She and her daughter, Barbara, moved to Shreveport, Louisiana in the 1970s.[13]
^ abcVazzana, Eugene Michael (2001). Silent Film Necrology (2nd ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 37. ISBN0-7864-1059-0. OCLC225942678.
^Soister, John T. & Nicolella, Henry (2012). American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913–1929. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 256. ISBN978-0-7864-8790-5. OCLC797916368.
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