Bessie starred in at least 200 melodrama, action westerns and crime films. In the 1910 she was visiting the Selig Film studios with a party of friends, when a director saw and liked her red hair because he said it would photograph a beautiful black, so he offered her a minor role, she had no formal training on stage, as did many early film actors, she was talented and soon rose to be one of Selig's most popular stars.
Acting
40
Female
1890-07-05
Santa Barbara, California, USA
Bessie Harrison
Who Shall Take My Life?
The Law North of 65
Twisted Trails
Kit Carson's Wooing
When the West Was Young
Chip of the Flying U
The White Mouse
Etienne of the Glad Heart
Greater Wealth
The Wilderness Mail
In Defiance of the Law
The Smuggler's Sister
Cheap Kisses
Lassoing a Lion
His Fighting Blood
The Red Blood of Courage
The Primitive Way
The Fork in the Road
The Great Experiment
The Two Natures Within Him
Kid Pink and the Maharajah
Shotgun Jones
The Girl of Gold
In the Long Ago
Blackbeard
The Mate of the Alden Bessie
The Spoilers
Alone in the Jungle
In the Days of the Thundering Herd
The Crisis
Beware of Strangers
The Heart of Texas Ryan
The Way of a Man with a Maid
The Usurper
The Still Alarm
The City of Purple Dreams
A Man of Honor
Children of Banishment
Lend Me Your Name