Луэлла Парсонс: Голливудтың құпиялары мен даулы өмірі

American gossip columnist (1881–1972)

Louella Rose Oettinger, (August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972) known professionally as Louella Parsons, was an American gossip columnist and a screenwriter. At her peak, her columns were read by 20 million people in 700 newspapers worldwide. She was the first writer of a dedicated column on motion pictures in the United States, writing one in 1914 for the Chicago Record Herald. William Randolph Hearst bought that newspaper in 1918 and Parsons was out of a job, as Hearst had not yet discovered that movies and movie personalities were news. Parsons then moved to New York City and started working for the New York Morning Telegraph writing a similar movie column, which attracted the attention of Hearst after he saw her interview of his mistress and protégé Marion Davies. Parsons had encouraged readers to "give this girl a chance" while the majority of critics disparaged Davies. Parsons showered the former chorus girl with praise which led to a friendship between the two women and led to an offer from Hearst in 1923 for her to become the $200 a week motion picture editor of his New York American. There was persistent speculation that Parsons was elevated to her position as the Hearst chain's lead gossip columnist because of a scandal about which she did not write. In 1924, director Thomas Ince died after being carried off Hearst's yacht, allegedly to be hospitalized for indigestion. Many Hearst newspapers falsely claimed that Ince had not been aboard the boat at all and had fallen ill at the newspaper mogul's home. Charlie Chaplin's secretary reported seeing a bullet hole in Ince's head when he was removed from the yacht. Rumors proliferated that Chaplin was having an affair with Hearst's mistress Davies, and that an attempt to shoot Chaplin may have caused Ince's death. Allegedly, Parsons was also aboard the yacht that night but she ignored the story in her columns. The official cause of death was listed as heart failure.

Parsons was a founding member of the New York Newspaper Women's Club, and was elected president of the organization for one term in 1925.

In 1925, Parsons contracted tuberculosis that was sponsored by SunKist. A similar program in 1931 was sponsored by Charis Foundation Garment. In 1934, she signed a contract with the Campbell's Soup Company and began hosting a program titled Hollywood Hotel, which showcased stars in scenes from their upcoming movies. The stars appeared for free which did not please rival broadcasters or all of the stars but they did not complain in case of reprisals. Her opening line of the show was "My first exclusive of tonight is ", which became feared. The show was cancelled after the Screen Actors Guild demanded payment for its members. Warner Bros. paid her $50,000 to appear in a filmed version in 1937, but the film flopped. a "leg" man who gathered news, and a female reporter who covered the cafés. She had three telephones in her office. When she received a tip that Clark Gable was divorcing his second wife Ria, Parsons essentially held Mrs. Gable hostage at her home until she was sure that her story was speeding across the wire ahead of any other service. Parsons also appeared in many cameo spots in movies, including Without Reservations (1946), and Starlift (1951).

In contrast to her arch rival Hedda Hopper, who was notorious for her column's crass tone, Parsons' writing style was often described as "sweetness and light" or "gooey". After MGM canceled her contract, Hopper struggled to maintain her career as an actress. She was offered a position as a Hollywood columnist by the Esquire Feature Syndicate due to a recommendation by Andy Hervey of MGM's publicity department. One of the first papers to pick up "Hedda Hopper's Hollywood" was the Los Angeles Times, a morning paper like Louella's Examiner. Hopper first publicly scooped Parsons with the divorce of the president's son Jimmy Roosevelt (a Goldwyn employee), who was involved with a Mayo Clinic nurse, from his wife, Betsey. The story became front page news across the country. Parsons was by no means alone in her campaign against Citizen Kane but Welles never quite recovered his position in Hollywood afterward. However, Bergman was indeed pregnant and Hopper, enraged at being scooped, launched a PR campaign decrying Bergman for being pregnant out of wedlock and carrying a married man's child. Parsons had allegedly received the tip from Howard Hughes

Her third marriage was to Los Angeles surgeon Dr. Harry Martin (whom she called "Docky") in 1930; Martin served in the Army Medical Corps during World War I and World War II. His specialty was venereal diseases and he advanced to the post of Twentieth Century Fox's chief medical officer. He was also known as a heavy drinker. After Martin's death she dated songwriter Jimmy McHugh, a fellow Catholic who introduced her to many of the new teenage musical sensations of the time, including Elvis Presley. The couple were a fixture at parties, premieres, and such nightspots as Dino's Lodge on Sunset Strip. she was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. Parsons has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, one for motion pictures at 6418 Hollywood Boulevard and one for radio at 6300 Hollywood Boulevard.

Parsons was caricatured in Frank Tashlin's cartoon The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (1937) as "Louella Possums". The character of gossip columnist Dora Bailey in Singin' in the Rain (1952) is based on Parsons. On March 8, 1956, Parsons' life was presented in an episode of the television anthology series Climax! Teresa Wright portrayed Parsons in the program. Darrell Larson portrayed a spy working for Parsons in the 1982 biodrama Frances—a sneaky reporter who discredits the rebellious actress Frances Farmer, who, refusing to return to Hollywood, has become a leftist political activist in New York City and has a lawyer to file a lawsuit to end her motion picture contract obligations. Elizabeth Taylor portrayed Parsons in the TV film Malice in Wonderland (1985) opposite Jane Alexander as Hedda Hopper. Brenda Blethyn portrayed Parsons in RKO 281 aka Citizen Welles, a 2000 motion picture about the making of Citizen Kane and the relation between Orson Welles, William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies. Jennifer Tilly portrayed Parsons in Peter Bogdanovich's feature film The Cat's Meow (2001) which was inspired by the mysterious death of young film mogul Thomas H. Ince aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht in 1924, with Charles Chaplin and Marion Davies also on board. The film depicts a long rumored version of the story in which Hearst mistakenly shoots Ince because he momentarily confused him with Chaplin, who was having an affair with Davies at the time, and Parsons was rewarded with a lifetime column in Hearst's newspapers for keeping quiet about it. Natalie Pinot portrayed Parsons in the monologue Louella Persons (2013) written by Secun de la Rosa and directed by Benjamin de la Rosa. Joanna Sanchez portrayed Parsons in Frank & Ava (2018).