She had intended to pursue a career as a ballet dancer, but she eventually had such success as a stage and film actress that she gave up the idea of dancing as a profession.

On May 28, 1921, Betty Ross Clarke married Arthur Collins, a Los Angeles banker and former lieutenant in the British Royal Flying Corps.

Arthur Collins and Betty Ross Clarke returned to the United States in July 1929,[6] apparently lured back to Hollywood by the "talkies.

Her banker husband, who had been adversely affected by the stock market crash of 1929, began producing plays, directing films, and acting as a dialog director.

[8] In 1930, Betty Ross Clarke was honored as an "ardent feminist" at a luncheon of the San Francisco Center of the League of Women Voters.

[8] She appeared in the play True to Form at the Bramhall Playhouse in September 1921, and performed the role of Liane in The Red Poppy in Greenwich Village in December 1922.

In 1926, Clarke was engaged to appear in theaters in Australia, where she performed in the plays The Ghost Train, Storm, Baby Cyclone, Rain, The Bride, and Tarnished.

A newspaper advertisement in 1922 noted that audience members could "see her on stage and screen at the same time,"[17] because she was performing in the play The Morning Him and also starring in the film At the Sign of the Jack O'Lantern.

Commenting on the difference between stage and film acting, Clarke remarked that the "silent drama affords an easier life to those who choose it, for one has the nights free, to do as one likes.

Early in her film career, while she was living with her mother in Hollywood, Betty Ross Clarke was accused of shoplifting from Bullock's department store in Los Angeles.

She initiated a lawsuit against the store, requesting $50,000 in damages, alleging that she had suffered illness as a result of the incident, and that her social standing, her credit, and her business reputation were impacted negatively.

Collectible cards from Hignett and other companies, featuring photos of Betty Ross Clarke from the silent film age, often appear for sale on eBay.