Betty Compton

Betty Compton, born Friday the 13th of May 1904 in Sandown, Isle of Wight, she was an English actress and singer. Her family moved to Canada when she was seven, and she later studied singing in New York City with Estelle Liebling. A member of the Ziegfeld Follies, she appeared in the original stage production of Funny Face (1927) opposite Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire, as well as Oh, Kay! in 1926. Her career on the stage made her a recognizable figure in the 1920s Broadway scene.

Her personal life was as eventful as her professional one. Compton married film dialog director Edward D. Dowling on February 16, 1931, in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and they were divorced there just over a month later on March 20, 1931. She had already received a divorce from a previous marriage in 1923. She married New York City mayor Jimmy Walker on April 18, 1933, in Cannes, France, a union that drew considerable public attention. On May 11, 1942, she married consulting engineer Theodore Knappen in Jersey City, her fourth wedding. With Knappen she had a son, Theodore Compton Knappen, and with Walker she adopted a son and a daughter.

Compton died of breast cancer on July 12, 1944, in Doctors Hospital, New York. She was 40 years old. Her legacy remains tied to her stage work and her high-profile marriages. She left behind a family and a body of work that captured a particular era of American entertainment. Her life ended early, but her contributions to musical theater are still remembered.