Louise Fazenda

When top "working girl" silent screen comedienne 'Mabel Normand' (qv) would gripe to 'Mack Sennett' (qv) about making classier films, Sennett's quippy retort would always be, "I'll send for Fazenda." This pretty, oval-faced, highly popular Keystone comedy cut-up put in her time first in comic two-reelers from 1913 on, but soon unleashed her real gift "dressing down" for laughs with her best known character types as frizzy-haired country bumpkins complete with spit curls, multiple pigtails and calico dresses, a look that went on to inspire bucolic comics 'Judy Canova' (qv) and 'Minnie Pearl' (qv).Louise was born on June 17, 1895, in Lafayette, Indiana, the daughter of a merchandise broker. Raised in California, she attended Los Angeles High School and St. Mary's Convent. She found odd jobs working a dentist, a candy store owner, and a tax collector. While performing in a high school show, lucky Louise was discovered by a Sennett talent agent and taken immediately to films. The 18-year-old hopeful made her first films with Joker Studios and went on to be highly featured in a slew of "Mike and Jake" comedy shorts starring 'Max Asher' (qv) and 'Harry McCoy' (qv). She would also co-star in a number of burlesque-style features with Asher and 'Bobby Vernon' (qv) in such vehicles as _Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl (1914)_ (qv), _A Freak Temperance Wave (1914)_ (qv), _The Tender Hearted Sheriff (1914)_ (qv), _Love and Electricity (1914)_ (qv), _The Diamond Nippers (1914)_ (qv) and _Schultz the Paperhanger (1914)_ (qv).Soon silent kingpin Sennett himself began incorporating the funny girl's gift for slapstick comedy in his highly popular "Keystone Kops" shorts. Between the years 1915 to 1917, she rose quickly up the front ranks as an early plain-Jane 'Carol Burnett' (qv) goofball playing an assortment of serviles -- maid, cook, janitress, flower girl, nurse and fortune teller types. In _A Hash House Fraud (1915)_ (qv) she played a flirty cashier; in _Her Fame and Shame (1917)_ (qv) she played a star-struck daughter who attempts burlesque to save her pop's mortgage; in _The Betrayal of Maggie (1917)_ (qv) and _Maggie's First False Step (1917)_ (qv) she portrayed the eager title roles; and in _Her Torpedoed Love (1917)_ (qv), she plays a daffy cook whose life is in danger when a greedy butler ('Ford Sterling' (qv)) learns her boss is leaving her his entire estate.During this peak time, Louise got to work alongside the most brilliant of silent male screen clowns, including Sterling himself, and 'Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle' (qv), 'Ben Turpin' (qv), 'Charley Chase' (qv), 'Charles Murray' (qv), 'Harry Booker' (qv), 'Edgar Kennedy' (qv), 'Mack Swain' (qv), 'Chester Conklin' (qv), 'James Finlayson' (qv), 'Slim Summerville' (qv), 'Billy Bevan' (qv), 'Jack Cooper' (qv), 'Billy Armstrong' (qv) and 'Hugh Fay' (qv). Other popular Sennett comic outings for Louise would include _Ambrose's Nasty Temper (1915)_ (qv), _Fatty's Tintype Tangle (1915)_ (qv), _A Game Old Knight (1915)_ (qv), _A Versatile Villain (1915)_ (qv), _The Judge (1916)_ (qv), _Bombs! (1916)_ (qv), _Are Waitresses Safe? (1917)_ (qv), _Those Athletic Girls (1918)_ (qv), _The Village Chestnut (1918)_ (qv) _Hearts and Flowers (1919)_ (qv), _Back to the Kitchen (1919)_ (qv), _The Gingham Girl (1920)_ (qv), _Bungalow Troubles (1920)_ (qv) and _Made in the Kitchen (1921)_ (qv).Sennett's _Down on the Farm (1920)_ (qv) is a silent film feature-length rural comedy featuring an all-star cast of funsters with Louise playing a typical role as the farmer's daughter. Louise eventually left Sennett's company in the early 1920s and, in a change of pace, progressed on her own in both comic and dramatic outings. She appeared in the comedy drama _Quincy Adams Sawyer (1922)_ (qv) starring 'John Bowers' (qv), 'Blanche Sweet' (qv) and 'Lon Chaney' (qv); three dramatic pieces, _The Beautiful and Damned (1922)_ (qv), _The Wanters (1923)_ (qv) and _Being Respectable (1924)_ (qv), all starring 'Marie Prevost' (qv); the social drama _Main Street (1923)_ (qv) starring 'Florence Vidor' (qv); the historical drama (as a country gal) _The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln (1924)_ (qv); the tearjerker _This Woman (1924)_ (qv) starring 'Irene Rich' (qv) and 'Julliet Akinyi' (qv); the canine family adventure _The Lighthouse by the Sea (1924)_ (qv) featuring 'Rin Tin Tin' (qv); the 'Raymond Griffith' (qv) comedy vehicle _The Night Club (1925)_ (qv); the melodramas _The Price of Pleasure (1925)_ (qv) starring 'Virginia Valli' (qv) and _Déclassé (1925)_ (qv) starring 'Corinne Griffith' (qv); and a rare comedy _Bobbed Hair (1925)_ (qv) starring Ms. Prevost; Occasional star roles during this silent period included the comedies _Listen Lester (1924)_ (qv), _Footloose Widows (1926)_ (qv), _The Gay Old Bird (1927)_ (qv) and _The Cradle Snatchers (1927)_ (qv).Coming the advent of sound, Louise had no problem whatsoever adjusting to sound where her eccentric talents were greatly utilized in (mostly) Warner Bros. musicals, dramas and knockabout comedies. She provided comedy relief/support in such films as the mystery thriller _The Terror (1928)_ (qv); the adventure film _The Lady of the Harem (1926)_ (qv); the romantic comedy _The Red Mill (1927)_ (qv) starring 'Marion Davies' (qv); the 'W.C. Fields' (qv) talking remake of the silent comedy _Tillie's Punctured Romance (1928)_ (qv); the sports comedy _Babe Comes Home (1927)_ (qv) starring legendary ballplayer 'Babe Ruth' (qv); the war comedy _Ham and Eggs at the Front (1927)_ (qv); the 'Will Rogers' (qv) comedy _A Texas Steer (1927)_ (qv); the comedy _Heart to Heart (1928)_ (qv); the dramedy _Vamping Venus (1928)_ (qv) which reunited her with 'Charles Murray' (qv) and co-starred a rising 'Thelma Todd' (qv); the war drama _Noah's Ark (1928)_ (qv); the action adventure _Stark Mad (1929)_ (qv) the musicals _On with the Show! (1929)_ (qv) and _No, No, Nanette (1930)_ (qv) (as Sue Smith); the comedy _Wide Open (1930)_ (qv); and the light romantic comedy _Loose Ankles (1930)_ (qv).On November 24, 1927, Louise married renowned Warner Bros. producer 'Hal B. Wallis' (qv) who went on to produce several movies that she later appeared in, including _Colleen (1936)_ (qv), _First Lady (1937)_ (qv), _Ready, Willing and Able (1937)_ (qv) and _Swing Your Lady (1938)_ (qv). They had one child, Brent, who would grow up to become a psychiatrist. Ending her career on a dramatic note, Wallis would produce Louise's effort -- a supporting role in the 'Bette Davis' (qv)/'Miriam Hopkins' (qv) soaper _The Old Maid (1939)_ (qv) in the role of, what else, a maid!Away from the limelight, Louise remained socially prominent and became a noted humanitarian and art collector. In 1958, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The 66-year-old former actress suffered a brain hemorrhage in Beverly Hills and died on April 17, 1962. She was survived by her husband, who, in 1966, married actress 'Martha Hyer' (qv). Louise was interred at the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.::Gary Brumburgh / [email protected]