Born Eleanor Luicime Compson in Beaver, Utah. Petite, fair-haired, highly-paid leading lady of the silent era, who began in Al Christie comedy shorts in 1915, advanced to leads in the 1920s and then continued in supporting roles over the next several decades. Compson made her dramatic debut as a member of a confidence gang in THE MIRACLE MAN (1919) and was memorable as a dejected prostitute rescued from suicide in Josef von Sternberg's DOCKS OF NEW YORK (1928), as the assistant to a mad ventriloquist (Erich von Stroheim) in THE GREAT GABBO (1929) (directed by then-husband James Cruze) and in Hitchcock's MR. & MRS. SMITH (1941). A veteran of over 90 silent films, some of her notable talking picture credits include WEARY RIVER (1929), THE CASE OF SERGEANT GRISCHA (1930), THREE WHO LOVED (1931), THE SILVER LINING (1932), NOTORIOUS BUT NICE (1933), NO SLEEP ON THE DEEP (1934), MANHATTAN BUTTERFLY (1935), THE DRAG-NET, KILLER AT LARGE and BULLDOG EDITION (all 1936), CIRCUS GIRL (1937), A SLIGHT CASE OF MURDER (1938), NEWS IS MADE AT NIGHT and RELIGIOUS RACKETEERS (both 1939), MAD YOUTH and LAUGHING AT DANGER (both 1940), ROAR OF THE PRESS, INVISIBLE GHOST and ESCORT GIRL (all 1941), CONFESSIONS OF A VICE BARON (1942), DANGER! WOMEN AT WORK (1943), HER ADVENTUROUS NIGHT (1946), SECOND CHANCE (1947) and her last film before her retirement, HERE COMES TROUBLE (1948).    Nominated for Actress 1928-29: THE BARKER 1 nomination