Betty Franciso was a Ziegfeld Follies showgirl who had a successful film career before giving it up to be a housewife
She was born Elizabeth Barton on September 26, 1900 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Tragically her father, John Bartman, died in 1910. When she was a child she started acting in stock companies. Her two sisters, Evelyn Francisco and Margaret Francisco, also became actresses. Betty performed with her sisters in vaudeville as "The Dancing Francisco Sisters". She also worked as an artists model and spent two years in the Ziegfeld Follies. At the age of twenty she made her film debut in the 1920 western A Broadway Cowboy. Betty had supporting roles in numerous silent films including Flaming Youth, Across The Continent, Her Night Of Nights, and Gambling Wives. She quickly found herself typecast as "the other woman". In 1923 she was chosen to be a WAMPAS baby star. That same year she was named "America's Most Perfect Blonde".
With Margaret Francisco and Evelyn Francisco
Then she was chosen to be one of Mack Sennett's famous bathing beauties. In 1929 she appeared the musicals Broadway and Smiling Irish Eyes. Cecil B. DeMille gave her a bit part in his 1930 film Madame Satan. On December 16, 1930 she married Fred Spradling, a New York stock broker. Betty continued to get small roles in films like The Widow From Chicago, Charlie Chan Carries On, and Mystery Ranch. Tired of acting she decided to retire and be a full-time housewife. Her final film was the 1934 comedy Romance In Rain. She and her husband lived on a ranch in Corona, California. They never had children. Sadly on November 25, 1950 she died from a heart attack. Betty was only fifty years old. She was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
