•          HOME PAGE
• BIOGRAPHY
• FILES
• BOOKS
• LINKS
• COMMENTS
• S

PARSONS Louella

Born Louella Rose Oettinger.
 

Date of birth : August 6, 1881, Freeport, Illinois.

Date of death : December 9, 1972, Santa Monica, California ().

 

Profession reporter, columnist at the Herald Examiner (belonging to the Hearst group).

 

Portrait ,,,,,,;

 

Address

 619 North Maple Drive, Beverly Hills ,;

Story

Her column was authoritative in Hollywood ;;

She was one the greatest allies of Marilyn, and probably the columnist the most influential in the cinema

industry - a title that her rival, Hedda Hopper, would have certainly contested ().

In 1905 she married John Thomas Dement Parsons (January 1st, 1873, Illinois-February 13, 1919, Illinois)

(,;).

They had a daughter Harriet Oettinger Parsons (August 23, 1906, Iowa-January 2, 1983, Santa Monica, California). They divorced in 1914.

In 1915 she married John McCaffrey Jr, but quickly divorced.

On January 4, 1930 she married Dr Henry Watson Martin (January 16, 1890, South Dakota-June 24, 1951, Los

Angeles) in Los Angeles (,). 

He was an urologist became in 1937 medical director of Fox studios (,).

1943

December 31, 1948, she attended the New Year's Eve party at producer Sam Spiegel's house ,

,,,

End of 1952, reading session at 20th Century-Fox -.

Beginning of 1953 she took up the defence of Marilyn; this one could rely on her to cast a veil on the rumors and to generally, give a postive sense to events, not much originally flattering. 

 

In 1953 Marilyn chose her column to answer Joan Crawford, who had burst out about Marilyn's provocative dress at the ceremony of the Photoplay Awards.

On March 5, 1953, she attended reporter Sheilah Graham's wedding 

On May 13, 1953, she was the guest of honor at a party given by Walter Winchell, at Ciro's 

,,,,,,,,

On May 19, 1953, Marilyn attended the "Parsons Radio Show" ,-,,

-

On May 20, 1953, premiere of Jimmy Mc Hugh's "Singing Stars" at the Los Angeles Ambassador Hotel's  Cocoanut

Grove de Los Angeles -,

She went on the set of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" ,--

 

It was, again, in this column, that Marilyn explained to her public why she had left the Fox, end of 1954.

 
On March 1, 1956, Marilyn and Jack Warner announced that a distribution agreement had been concluded for  "The Prince and the Showgirl" (1957), the only movie produced by the Marilyn Monroe Productions 

,

In 1956 she accompanied Marilyn in London, where she attended the party organized by Terence Rattigan, in Marilyn's honor.

She dated Jimmy McHughes .

On July 8, 1958, she attended the press conference for "Some Like it Hot" 

  

On July 9, 1958, she attended a party at Jimmy McHugh's home -,

-,-,-

On March 6, 1960, she attended the Golden Globes Awards ceremony  ,

,.

In 1960, she went on the set of "Let’s Make Love" ,

On June 11, 1961, she attended Clark Gable's son, John Clark's christening ,

Press article 1961

 

She made occasional appearances in movies where she played her own part : "Hollywood Hotel" (1937) and "Starlift" (1951).

 

Her daughter Harriet Parsons () was producer of "Clash By Night" (1952) in which Marilyn played.

Bibliography

"Tell It to Louella", Louella Parsons, New York, The Putnam Berkley Group, 1961.

BACK TO INDEX                                                                                                                                                  NEXT FILE