Harriet Parsons
Harriet Parsons | |
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![]() Louella Parsons and her daughter Harriet Parsons, 1959 | |
Born | Harriet Oettinger Parsons 1906 Burlington, Iowa, US |
Died | 1983 |
Education | Wellesley College |
Occupation | Film producer, actress, and director |
Spouse(s) | King Kennedy
(m. 1939; div. 1946) |
Children | 1 |
Parent(s) |
|
Harriet Oettinger Parsons (1906 – 1983) was an American film producer, actress, director, and magazine writer; one of the few female producers in the United States at the time. Her mother was famed gossip columnist Louella Parsons.
Biography[]
Beginnings[]
Harriet was born in 1906 in Burlington, Iowa, the daughter of Louella Parsons and her first husband, John Dement Parsons.[1]
She appeared as "Baby Parsons" in several movies, which included The Magic Wand (1912), written by her mother.[2] Harriet attended Wellesley College, graduating around 1929.[1]
Writing[]
She began working as writer for Metro-Goldwyn Mayer in 1928 but left after a year to become a columnist and associate editor for Photoplay as well as writing for other magazines such as Liberty.[2][3] She left to write for Hearst's International News Service and Universal Service in 1931 and worked there until 1933, when she went to work for Columbia Pictures as a producer.[2] She wrote for The Los Angeles Examiner from 1935 through 1943; had a syndicated column for Hearst from 1938–1940 (Hollywood in Review); and had her own weekly radio show on NBC in 1938, Hollywood Highlights.
Producer career[]
In 1933, she began working for Columbia Pictures producing their Screen Snapshots documentary shorts and in 1940 she moved to Republic Pictures, directing and producing a series of documentary shorts called Meet the Stars, in which she commented on the goings-on of Hollywood A-listers.[2][4][5] She produced her first feature film, Joan of Ozark, in 1942 and was then hired by RKO as a feature film producer in 1943.[2][6] When Howard Hughes took over, Parsons was one of the only producers he kept on.[7] She worked at RKO for 12 years, although the experience was a frustrating one: The studio often reassigned stories she'd chosen to other producers.[8] She was one of only three female producers active in the United States from 1943 to 1955 (the others being Virginia Van Upp and Joan Harrison).[3] Parsons bought a home in the Deep Well neighborhood of Palm Springs, California in 1955.[9] From 1956 to 1957 she worked for 20th Century Fox Television.[2] She also co-produced Benn Levy's play Rape of the Belt on Broadway in November 1960.[2][10]
Personal life[]
In 1931, she and actor Edward Woods announced their engagement; it was broken off by 1932.[1][11] She married actor and playwright King Kennedy in September 1939; the couple separated in 1944.[12][13] Parsons sued him for divorce in March 1945, citing cruelty.[14] Parsons' marriage was a classic "cover" for her lesbianism and she and King hardly ever lived together, and by the 1950s she was living with publicist Lynn Bowers.[15]
Parsons adopted a daughter, Evelyn Farney, who would become a dancer.[8]
She was a co-founder (with her mother) of the Hollywood Women's Press Club and was a director and member of the entertainment committee member of the Hollywood Canteen during World War II.[2]
Death[]
Parsons died in 1983 at the age of 76 after suffering from cancer for two years. She was interred at the Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California.[16]
Selected filmography[]
- Joan of Ozark (1942)
- The Enchanted Cottage (1945)
- Night Song (1947)
- I Remember Mama (1948)
- Never a Dull Moment (1950)
- Clash by Night (1952)
- Susan Slept Here (1954)
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c "Harriet Parsons Will Wed Actor". The Dixon Evening Telegraph. March 24, 1931. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h "Obituaries". Daily Variety. January 4, 1983. p. 8.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Smyth, J. E. (2018). Nobody's Girl Friday: The Women Who Ran Hollywood. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0190840839.
- ^ "Harriet Parsons' Work Praised". The Philadelphia Inquirer. January 6, 1941. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- ^ "Newspaperwoman Gets New Contract". The Hackensack Record. September 25, 1934. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- ^ Parsons, Louella (April 22, 1941). "Zanuck and RKO Will Share Maureen O'Hara's Contract". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- ^ Jewell, Richard B. (2016). Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures. Univ of California Press. ISBN 978-0520964242.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Barbas, Samantha (2016). The First Lady of Hollywood: A Biography of Louella Parsons. University of California Press. p. 345. ISBN 978-0520249851.
harriet parsons daughter evelyn.
- ^ Meeks, Eric G. (2014) [2012]. The Best Guide Ever to Palm Springs Celebrity Homes. Horatio Limburger Oglethorpe. pp. 247–48, 250. ISBN 978-1479328598.
- ^ Harriet Parsons at the Internet Broadway Database
- ^ "Reviewing 1931 in Filmdom". The New York Daily News. January 3, 1932. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- ^ "Louella Parsons' Daughter Marries". The Austin American-Statesman. September 29, 1929. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- ^ Hopper, Hedda (August 8, 1944). "Film Producer and Writer Separated". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- ^ "Harriet Parsons Sues for Divorce". The Pittsburgh Press. March 13, 1945. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- ^ Mann, William J. Behind the Scenes: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood 1910-1969. New York: Viking, 2001. pp. 195.
- ^ Harriet Oettinger Parsons at Find a Grave
- 1906 births
- 1983 deaths
- American film producers
- American people of German-Jewish descent
- American women film producers
- People from Palm Springs, California
- 20th-century American women
- 20th-century American people