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SIGNATURES
Identified individuals are represented by a biographical sketch, a list of connections to other signatures, and, in most cases, an artifact from the Ransom Centers collections. Help us identify more signatures by submitting your suggested identification.
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THE DOOR
Location on door: front, panel 2
BETTY ROSS CLARKE
Born in Langdon, North Dakota, Betty Ross Clarke (1896-1947) had a career on both stage and screen. In 1922, she appeared in The Red Poppy at the Greenwich Village Theater as part of a cast that included Béla Lugosi in one of his first English theatrical roles. As a young actress, she played ingénues and romantic leads in silent films such as If I Were King (1920) and Brewster's Millions (1921). After an absence from the screen in the mid-1920s, she returned in the early 1930s as a character actress. She suffered a memorable death in the Béla Lugosi film Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) and appeared as Aunt Millie Forrest in two Andy Hardy movies.
A photograph of Betty Ross Clarke in Romance, ca. 1920
This photograph dates from Clarke's appearance as Susan Van Tuyl in the now lost silent film Romance (1920). Originally a Broadway play by Edward Sheldon, Romance was also remade as a talking picture in 1930. This later version starred Greta Garbo, with Florence Lake in the role originally played by Clarke.