Known for: Acting
Born: 1898-11-23 · Sherman, Texas, USA
Died: 1984-07-28

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Bess Flowers

Acting · follow into films and chains

Biography

Bess Flowers (November 23, 1898 – July 28, 1984) was an American actress. By some counts considered the most prolific actress in the history of Hollywood, she was known as "The Queen of the Hollywood Extras," appearing in over 700 movies in her 41 year career. Born in Sherman, Texas, Flowers's film debut came when she appeared in Hollywood (1923). She made three films that year, and then began working extensively. Many of her appearances are uncredited, as she generally played non-speaking roles. By the 1930s, Flowers was in constant demand. Her appearances ranged from Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford thrillers to comedic roles alongside of Charley Chase, the Three Stooges, Leon Errol, Edgar Kennedy, and Laurel and Hardy. She appeared in the following five films which won the Academy Award for Best Picture: It Happened One Night, You Can't Take it with You, All About Eve, The Greatest Show on Earth, and Around the World in Eighty Days. In each of these movies, Flowers was uncredited. Including these five movies, she had appeared in twenty-three Best Picture nominees in total, making her the record holder for most appearances in films nominated for the award. Her last movie was Good Neighbor Sam in 1964. Flowers's acting career was not confined to feature films. She was also seen in many episodic American TV series, such as I Love Lucy, notably in episodes, "Lucy Is Enceinte" (1952), "Ethel's Birthday" (1955), and "Lucy's Night in Town" (1957), where she is usually seen as a theatre patron. Outside her acting career, in 1945, Bess Flowers helped to found the Screen Extras Guild (active: 1946-1992, then merged with SAG), where she served as one of its first vice-presidents and recording secretaries. From Wikipedia.

Notable films

Where to start

Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.

Vertigo

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Singin' in the Rain

Appears in a KinoChain journey

North by Northwest

Appears in a KinoChain journey

The Manchurian Candidate

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Rear Window

As Songwriter's Party Guest with Poodle (uncredited)

To Catch a Thief

As Masquerade Party Guest (uncredited)

Dial M for Murder

As Woman Exiting Ship (uncredited)

Funny Face

As Fashion Show Spectator

Chains

KinoChain journeys

Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.

Browse all chains

The Hypnotic Gaze

From Woody Allen's comic hypnosis to the chilling mechanics of control, this chain traces cinema's fascination with the mind's susceptibility.

8 films

The Many Faces We Wear

From classic Hollywood to French farce and beyond, a journey through cinema's most audacious transformations and borrowed identities.

7 films

The Architecture of Obsession: Cinema of the Fixated Mind

Eight films in which a character's consuming fixation drives the narrative, examined through the directorial techniques that externalise interiority: subjective...

8 films

The Path to La La Land & Its Legacy

A decade on from its 2016 debut, La La Land remains a landmark achievement in modern cinema: a dazzling, bittersweet love letter to big dreams and hard choices....

7 films

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