Bebe Daniels

What brought you into the theatre in the first place? Were your parents on the stage?

No, not originally. My father was born in Edinburgh, and had studied to be a surgeon. And uh my mother came from a family of diplomats and barristers, but my father and mother both loved the theatre so much … that uh my father started a touring company. And that's how my career began. I was carried on the stage by my father when I was ten weeks old. Practically born in a truck.

And what sort of man was the fabulous Rudolph Valentino to work with?

Well, I've never known an actor who was less of a ham or easier to get along with. He was a man of great charm, and he had a wonderful sense of humor. He was intelligent, a great sportsman, a great artist altogether.

BB, when and where did you first meet Ben?

Well, I first met him in New York City. And as a matter of fact, I didn't like him the first time I met him. He seemed to be to me to be very conceited, but it was his first drop in pictures and it was just enthusiasm. … about four years later in Hollywood. … Johnny Weismell, I brought him down to the beach. I had a dinner date with Johnny. And we all went swimming first and uh then Johnny went back to his house to change and Ben asked me if I wouldn't have dinner with him. And I said no, then I had a date. So then he said, uh would I do him a favor and ride a short distance in his car and show him the right road back to Hollywood. He was sort of a stranger in town, so I just slipped my beach road on over my bathing suit and I got into his car and we went off and he he went right by the road, kept going … and uh didn't stop until we got into the middle of Hollywood Boulevard, which is uh sort of like Piccadilly Circus, you know, it's traffic going. And he opened the door and said if I didn't go to dinner with him, and didn't break my other day that he'd let me out in the middle of Hollywood Boulevard in my bathing suit. … Oh, yes, I had dinner with him all right because I knew he meant business.