Nina Byron

Nina Byron
Byron, ca. 1917
Born	Nina Clarice Betts (1900-07-27)July 27, 1900 Christchurch, New Zealand
Died	January 21, 1987 (aged 86) Lynchburg, Virginia, U.S.
Occupations	Actress Dancer Showgirl
Spouses	Nicholas Dunaew ​ ​ (m. 1918; div. 1922)​ Harold Rosson ​ ​ (m. 1924; div. 1926)​ Frank Hotaling ​ ​ (m. 1939; died 1977)​

Nina Byron (born Nina Clarice Betts; July 27, 1900 – January 21, 1987) was a New Zealand–American silent film actress and showgirl.

Film actress

Byron was born Nina Clarice Betts in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1900[1] to George Arthur Betts and his wife, Grace (Goodman) Betts.[2][3] She traveled to the United States and made her first film with William S. Hart in the 1917 production Truthful Tulliver.[4]

As Abby Hope in The Heir of the Ages (1917), Byron was described by a critic as having substantial acting skills. She was the ingenue (stock character) for House Peters.[5] The material she was given to work with, according to the reviewer, did not test her ability. Her character was merely required to laugh like the silent film icon Mary Pickford.[6] Her other film credits are for roles in The Cruise of the Make-Believes (1918), The Source (1918), The Dub (1919), Johnny Get Your Gun (1919), The Boomerang (1919), and her last film, The Broken Butterfly (1919).

Broadway

Byron was a member of the Ziegfeld Follies during 1923 and 1924. She was also featured in the 1924 Broadway musical Paradise Alley. [7]

Personal life

Byron met her first husband, Nicholas Dunaew, in New York City. Dunaew, a Russian silent film actor, claimed to have met Byron in 1916 and brought her and her mother to Los Angeles, where the couple married in 1918. According to Dunaew, they separated in 1920 after she left him. Unhappy with Byron's "reprehensible conduct," Dunaew asked for a divorce, stating: “She has treated me even as her mother treated her father. She left him in New Zealand, and when she heard that he had committed suicide, she laughed; Nina also laughed—these women who had practically killed a man with cruelty laughed at his action in putting himself out of his misery."[8]

Her second marriage was to cinematographer Harold Rosson in 1924. The two divorced in 1926,[9] and she married set designer Frank Hotaling in 1939, to whom she remained married until his death.[1]

References

1. "Hotaling, Nina Clarice, 1900-1987". National Library Wellington. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
2. "California, County Marriages, 1849-1957", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8FV-BNC : Wed Mar 06 18:25:39 UTC 2024), Entry for John F Hotaling and Nina Clarice Betts, 5 July 1939.
3. Name: George Arthur Betts. Gender: Male. Marriage Year: 1900. Marriage Place: New Zealand. Spouse: Grace Goodman. Relation: Bridegroom. Folio Number: 830.
   Source Information Ancestry.com. New Zealand, Marriage Index, 1840-1937 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: New Zealand Marriage Index, 1840–1950. Microfiche.
4. "Little Australian Lady Wins Place in Front of Camera, Los Angeles Times, 01 Jul 1917, p 32". Retrieved February 15, 2024.
5. Sees Idol, Then Ideal, Los Angeles Times, July 1, 1917, Page III6.
6. Frivols. Views and Reviews, Los Angeles Times, June 25, 1917, Page II8.
7. "Nina Byron, Internet Broadway Database". Retrieved February 15, 2024.
8. "Love... Turns... Into... Disgust... Los Angeles Times, 01 Jul 1917, p 32". Retrieved February 15, 2024.
9. "Jean Harlow weds film camera man". The New York Times. September 19, 1933. p. 26. Retrieved January 8, 2025.

External links

• Nina Byron at IMDb
• Nina Byron at the Internet Broadway Database