
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.

The Spoilers

Alone in the Jungle

The Crisis

Twisted Trails

The Mate of the Alden Bessie

The Heart of Texas Ryan

Who Shall Take My Life?

Kit Carson's Wooing

Chip of the Flying U

Etienne of the Glad Heart

The Smuggler's Sister

Cheap Kisses

Shotgun Jones

The Girl of Gold

In the Long Ago

Blackbeard

In the Days of the Thundering Herd

Beware of Strangers

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