Origins & Early Life

Louella Rose Oettinger Parsons (August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972), was an American gossip columnist and 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. She later started a similar column for the New York Morning Telegraph, being lured away by William Randolph Hearst's New York American in 1924 because she had championed Hearst's mistress Marion Davies.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

She subsequently became an influential figure in Hollywood, based at Hearst's Los Angeles Examiner, and remained the unchallenged "Queen of Hollywood gossip" until the arrival of the flamboyant Hedda Hopper, with whom she feuded for years. Parsons was born Louella Rose Oettinger in Freeport, Illinois, the daughter of Helen (née Stine) and Joshua Oettinger. Her father was of German Jewish descent, as was her maternal grandfather, while her maternal grandmother, Jeanette Wilcox, was of Irish origin. During her childhood, her parents attended an Episcopal church. She had two brothers, Edwin and Fred, and a sister, Rae.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

In 1890, her widowed...

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