Louella Parsons Video | Celebrity Interview and Paparazzi

Louella Parsons (August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972) was the first American news-writer movie columnist in the United States. She was a gossip columnist who, for many years, was an influential arbiter of Hollywood mores, often feared and hated by the individuals, mostly actors, whose careers she could negatively impact via her radio show and newspaper columns. She was born Louella Rose Oettinger in Freeport, Illinois, the daughter of Joshua Oettinger and Helen Stein, both of German Jewish descent. She had two brothers, Edwin and Fred, and a sister, Rae. In 1890, her widowed mother... MORE

Louella Parsons (August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972) was the first American news-writer movie columnist in the United States. She was a gossip columnist who, for many years, was an influential arbiter of Hollywood mores, often feared and hated by the individuals, mostly actors, whose careers she could negatively impact via her radio show and newspaper columns. She was born Louella Rose Oettinger in Freeport, Illinois, the daughter of Joshua Oettinger and Helen Stein, both of German Jewish descent. She had two brothers, Edwin and Fred, and a sister, Rae. In 1890, her widowed mother married John H. Edwards. They lived in Dixon, Illinois, later hometown of Ronald Reagan. As a teenager, Louella was a smart and intelligent young woman. She found little literary outlets to fuel her ambitions. It wasn't until high school that Louella decided to become a a writer or a reporter. On June 4, 1901 at her high school graduation, Louella gave foretelling speech entitled “Great Men”. Afterwards her Principal announced that she would become a great writer. After high school, Parsons enrolled in a teacher’s course at a local Dixon College. She received a financial contribution from a distant German LESS