Anita Louise (born Anita Louise Fremault; January 9, 1915 – April 25, 1970) was an American film and television actress best known for her performances in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), The Story of Louis Pasteur (1935), Anthony Adverse (1936), Marie Antoinette (1938), and The Little Princess (1939). She was named as a WAMPAS Baby Star.
Anita Louise | |
|---|---|
 Louise in 1931 | |
| Born | Anita Louise Fremault January 9, 1915 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | April 25, 1970 (aged 55) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale |
| Other names | Anita Fremault |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1922–1970 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
Life and career
editLouise was born on January 9, 1915, in New York City,[1] the daughter of Louis and Ann Fremault.[2] She attended the Professional Children's School.[3] She made her acting debut on Broadway at the age of seven, in Peter Ibbetson.[4] Louise appeared in the 1922 film Down to the Sea in Ships.[5] She made her first credited screen debut at the age of nine in the film The Sixth Commandment (1924). In 1929, Louise dropped her surname, billing herself only by first and second names.
In the same 1937 St. Louis Star-Times interview referenced above, she is quoted as saying: "When I was nine...Mother and I walked out of the Bristol Hotel in Vienna and I was lifted off my feet by a man, who ran a few steps and threw me, bodily, into a waiting automobile...two hotel attaches came to the rescue...The hotel manager warned my mother that thirty children had been seized and hurried across the Italian frontier where they were sold...later to become white slaves when old enough."
As her stature in Hollywood grew, she was named a WAMPAS Baby Star. Her reputation was enhanced by her role as Hollywood society hostess, with her parties attended by the elite of Hollywood and widely and regularly reported in the news media.[citation needed]
Among her film successes were Madame Du Barry (1934), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), The Story of Louis Pasteur (1935), Anthony Adverse (1936), Marie Antoinette (1938), The Sisters (1938), and The Little Princess (1939).
By the 1940s, she was reduced to mostly secondary roles, and her film career started to slow. Some of her films during this time are Casanova Brown (1944), Nine Girls (1944), The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946), Blondie's Big Moment (1947), and Bulldog Drummond at Bay (1947). Her last appearance in movies was in the 1952 war film Retreat, Hell!
Reduced to minor roles, she acted infrequently until the advent of television in the 1950s provided her with further opportunities. She played Nell McLaughlin in the television series My Friend Flicka from 1956 to 1957, with co-stars Johnny Washbrook, Gene Evans, and Frank Ferguson.[6] She was substitute host of The Loretta Young Show (1953) when Loretta Young was recuperating from surgery.[citation needed] In 1957, she was host of Theater Time on ABC-TV.[6]: 1068 Other shows which she hosted included The United States Steel Hour (1962) and Playhouse 90 (1957). Her last television appearance was in a 1970 episode of the Mod Squad.
Personal life and death
editLouise's husband, film producer Buddy Adler, whom she married on May 18, 1940,[4] died in 1960.[1] They had two children. She married Henry Berger in 1962. Louise died of a stroke on April 25, 1970, in Los Angeles, California. She was buried next to Adler at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.[7] She was 55 years old.
Louise has a star at 6821 Hollywood Boulevard in the Motion Pictures section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame in recognition of her contribution to films.[8]
A Republican, she supported Dwight Eisenhower's campaign during the 1952 presidential election.[9]
Filmography
editFilm
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| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1922 | Down to the Sea in Ships | Uncredited | |
| 1924 | The Sixth Commandment | Lost film | |
| Lend Me Your Husband | |||
| 1925 | The Street of Forgotten Men | Flower Girl | Uncredited Incomplete film, missing reel 2 |
| 1926 | The Untamed Lady | Lost film | |
| 1927 | The Music Master | Lost film | |
| Memories | Short subject | ||
| 1928 | 4 Devils | Louise | Lost film |
| A Woman of Affairs | Diana as a Child | Uncredited | |
| 1929 | The Spirit of Youth | Toodles Ewing | |
| Square Shoulders | Mary Jane Williams | ||
| Wonder of Women | Lottie | Lost film | |
| The Marriage Playground | Blanca Wheater | ||
| 1930 | The Florodora Girl | Vibart Child | |
| What a Man | Marion Kilbourne | ||
| Just Like Heaven | Mimi Martell | ||
| The Third Alarm | Milly Morton | ||
| 1931 | The Great Meadow | Betty Hall | |
| Millie | Constance 'Connie' Maitland | ||
| Everything's Rosie | Rosie Droop | ||
| The Woman Between | Helen Weston | ||
| Heaven On Earth | Towhead | ||
| 1932 | The Phantom of Crestwood | Esther Wren | |
| 1933 | Our Betters | Elizabeth 'Bessie' Saunders | |
| 1934 | The Most Precious Thing in Life | Patty O'Day | |
| Are We Civilized? | Norma Bockner | ||
| Madame DuBarry | Marie Antoinette | ||
| Cross Streets | Clara Grattan | ||
| I Give My Love | Lorna March | ||
| Judge Priest | Ellie May Gillespie | ||
| The Firebird | Mariette Pointer | ||
| Bachelor of Arts | Mimi Smith | ||
| 1935 | Lady Tubbs | Wynne Howard | |
| Here's to Romance | Lydia Lubov | ||
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | Titania, Queen of the Fairies | ||
| Personal Maid's Secret | Diana Abercrombie | ||
| 1936 | The Story of Louis Pasteur | Annette Pasteur | |
| Brides Are Like That | Hazel Robinson | ||
| Anthony Adverse | Maria | ||
| 1937 | Green Light | Phyllis Dexter | |
| Call It a Day | Joan Collett, the maid | ||
| The Go Getter | Margaret Ricks | ||
| That Certain Woman | Florence 'Flip' Carson Merrick | ||
| First Lady | Emmy Page | ||
| Tovarich | Helene Dupont | ||
| 1938 | My Bill | Muriel Colbrook | |
| Marie Antoinette | Princesse de Lamballe | ||
| The Sisters | Helen Elliot Johnson | ||
| Going Places | Ellen Parker | ||
| 1939 | The Little Princess | Rose Hamilton | |
| The Gorilla | Norma Denby | ||
| These Glamour Girls | Daphne 'Daph' Graves | ||
| Hero for a Day | Sylvia Higgins | ||
| Main Street Lawyer | Honey Boggs | ||
| Reno | Mrs. Joanne Ryder | ||
| 1940 | Wagons Westward | Phyllis O'Conover | |
| Glamour for Sale | Ann Powell | ||
| The Villain Still Pursued Her | Mary Wilson | ||
| 1941 | The Phantom Submarine | Madeline Neilson | |
| Two in a Taxi | Bonnie | ||
| Harmon of Michigan | Peggy Adams | ||
| 1943 | Dangerous Blondes | Julie Taylor | |
| 1944 | Nine Girls | Paula Canfield | |
| Casanova Brown | Madge Ferris | ||
| 1945 | Love Letters | Helen Wentworth | |
| 1946 | The Fighting Guardsman | Amelie de Montrevel | |
| The Bandit of Sherwood Forest | Lady Catherine Maitland | ||
| The Devil's Mask | Janet Mitchell | ||
| Personality Kid | Laura Howard | ||
| Shadowed | Carol Johnson | ||
| 1947 | Blondie's Big Moment | Miss Gary | |
| Bulldog Drummond at Bay | Doris Hamilton | ||
| 1952 | Retreat, Hell! | Ruth Hansen |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Stars Over Hollywood | Episode: "Landing at Daybreak" | |
| 1952 | Footlights Theater | 1 episodes | |
| 1952–1955 | The Ford Television Theatre | Mother / Marie McCoy / Mrs. Lindsey | 3 episodes |
| 1953 | Your Favorite Story | Julia | Episode: "The Magician" |
| 1955 | Lux Video Theatre | Beatrice Page | Episode: "Forever Female" |
| 1956 | My Friend Flicka | Nell McLaughlin | 39 episodes |
| 1956 | Ethel Barrymore Theatre | Episode: "Dear Miss Lovelace" | |
| 1957 | The Millionaire | Nancy Wellington | Episode: "The Nancy Wellington Story" |
| 1957 | Playhouse 90 | Mabel Seymour Greer | Episode: "The Greer Case" |
| 1957 | Letter to Loretta | Laura | Episode: "Power Play" |
| 1962 | The United States Steel Hour | Mrs. McCabe | Episode: "Far from the Shade Tree" |
| 1969 | Mannix | Althea Greene | Episode: "Missing: Sun and Sky" |
| 1970 | The Mod Squad | Grace Cochran | Episode: "Call Back Yesterday", (final appearance) |
References
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- ^ a b "Anita Louise". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
- ^ Brundidge, Harry T. (March 5, 1937). "Hollywood's Most Beautiful Actress". St. Louis Star-Times. p. 16. Retrieved July 24, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Adams, Marjory (May 23, 1946). "Movie Question Box". The Boston Globe. p. 20. Retrieved July 23, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Anita Louise In Coloroto". New York Daily News. November 2, 1941. p. 39C. Retrieved July 24, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Monush, Barry (2003). Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the silent era to 1965. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 438–439. ISBN 978-1-5578-3551-2. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
- ^ a b Terrace, Vincent (January 10, 2014). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. p. 730. ISBN 978-0-7864-8641-0. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
- ^ Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2. McFarland & Company (2016) ISBN 0786479922
- ^ "Anita Louise". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Archived from the original on July 24, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
- ^ Motion Picture and Television Magazine. November 1952. Page 34.
External links
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