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Betty Compson — First Woman Film Producer in Hollywood
Every Star has a Story and Betty Compson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1751 Vine Street. Compson was a household name before 1940 and is best known for silent film performances and early talkies.
She was an Academy Award nominee for Best Actress and her movies included The Docks of New York, the Great Gabbo, The White Shadow, the Barker, and The Miracle Man. However, a little-known fact about Betty Compson was that she was the first woman film producer in Hollywood long before Lucille Ball.
She is best known for her performances in The Docks of New York, and The Barker, which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Compson’s popularity allowed her to have creative control over her films and she was also able to produce.
The first movie she produce was Prisoners of Love in 1921, in which she played the role of Blanche Davis, a girl born to wealth and cursed by her inheritance of physical Beauty, she selected Art Rosson to direct the feature, and she chose the story form the works by Catherine Henry.
Paramount refused to offer her a raise in her salary which was a mere $2,500 a week after completing The Woman With Four Faces in 1923, and she refused to sign without a raise.