Fritzi Ridgeway (April 8, 1898 – March 29, 1961)[1] was an American silent film actress, vaudeville performer, and hotelier. Although she starred in numerous films, she is perhaps best known for her work in silent Western films.
Born Fredricka Berneice Hawkes, a native of Montana, Ridgeway worked as both a vaudeville performer and a professional trick rider before making her film debut in 1916. She appeared in 63 films between 1916 and 1934, with prominent roles in Western films populating much of her early career. Other notable roles include supporting parts in Tod Browning's drama The Unpainted Woman (1919) and The Enemy (1927).
Ridgeway officially retired from acting in 1934, making her final screen appearance in Rouben Mamoulian's We Live Again. She spent the latter half of her life managing the Hotel del Tahquitz in Palm Springs, California, a hotel she built in 1928. She remained the proprietor of the Hotel del Tahquitz until her death in 1961.[2][3] She was married to Russian composer Constantin Bakaleinikoff. In L.A. Exposed: Strange Myths and Curious Legends in the City of Angels, historian Paul Young noted Ridgeway as an "iconoclastic silent film star."[4]
Early life
Ridgeway was born Fredricka Berneice Hawkes on April 8, 1898 in Missoula, Montana,[5][6][7] later moving with her family to Butte, where she attended primary school.[8][9] Prior to establishing herself as a film actress, Ridgeway worked as both a vaudeville performer and as a trick rider.[8] As a teenager, Ridgeway traveled with her family between Montana and California, and attended Hollywood High School in Los Angeles.[10] She was also educated in Chicago.[10]
Career
Early films
She made her film debut in the short The Bridesmaid's Secret (1916), and appeared the following year in her first feature film role in the WesternThe Hero of the Hour (1917). Ridgeway would appear in several silent Western shorts after, including The Wrong Man (1917) and The Soul Herder (1917). Her appearances in Westerns earned her the name of the "cowgirl star" early in her career.[11] She appeared as Evelyn Hastings in the 1917 picture The Learnin' of Jim Benton opposite Roy Stewart, and was noted in a review for her "delightful" performance in the film.[12]
Ridgeway spent her remaining years managing the Hotel del Tahquitz, a 100-room hotel which she had built in Palm Springs, California in 1928.[3][18]
Personal life
Ridgeway married Russian composer Constantin Bakaleinikoff in Cincinnati, Ohio on December 23, 1925.[19] In March 1928, Ridgeway commissioned architect Anthony Miller to design a home for her, which was built in Los Angeles, California.[20] She would later marry Walter D. Simm, with whom she remained married until her death of a heart attack in 1961, aged 62.[21]
^"California Death Index, 1940–1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPZF-J1H : November 26, 2014), Fredrick B Simm, March 28, 1961; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento.
Mallory, Mary (2011). Hollywoodland. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN978-0-738-57478-3.
Rainey, Buck (1992). Sweethearts of the Sage: Biographies and Filmographies of 258 Actresses Appearing in Western Movies. McFarland. ISBN978-0-899-50565-7.
Sanchez, Nellie Van de Grift (1930). Hunt, Rockwell Dennis (ed.). California and Californians. Vol. 4. Lews Publishing Company.
Senn, Bryan (1996). Golden Horrors: An Illustrated Critical Filmography of Terror Cinema, 1931–1939. McFarland. ISBN978-0-786-40175-8.
Wild, Peter (2011). Heiress of Doom: Lois Kellogg of Palm Springs. Tucson, AZ: Estate of Peter Wild. OCLC748583736.
Young, Paul (2002). L.A. Exposed: Strange Myths and Curious Legends in the City of Angels. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN978-0-312-20646-8.
Further reading
Doyle, Billy H. (1995). Slide, Anthony (ed.). The Ultimate Directory of the Silent Screen Performers: A Necrology of Births and Deaths and Essays on 50 Lost Players. Scarecrow Press. ISBN978-0-810-82958-9.
Langman, Larry (1992). A Guide to Silent Westerns. Greenwood. ISBN978-0-313-27858-7.