Louise Fazenda (June 17, 1895 – April 17, 1962)[1] was an American film actress, appearing chiefly in silent comedy films.
Early life
Fazenda was born in her maternal grandparents' house in Lafayette, Indiana,[2] the daughter of merchandise broker Joseph A. Fazenda, who was born in Mexico, and Nelda T. Schilling Fazenda, a Chicago native. She was of Portuguese, French, and Italian descent on her father's side and of German descent on her mother's.[citation needed]
The Fazenda family moved to California, where Joseph Fazenda opened a grocery store. Louise attended Los Angeles High School and St. Mary's Convent, and one of her jobs after school was delivering groceries for the family business by a horse-drawn wagon.
Career
Who's Who in the Film World, 1914
She made her first film in 1913. She gained experience with bit parts. She was best known as a character actor in silent films, playing roles such as a fussy spinster and a blacksmith.[3]
She briefly left films from 1921 to 1922 to perform vaudeville.[4] Her transition into talking pictures led to more serious roles, including the giggly fiancée in the prestige antiwar film The Road Back.[2]The Old Maid, in 1939,[3] was her last of her nearly 300 movie appearances.[5]
Marriage
In 1927, Fazenda married Hal B. Wallis, a producer at Warner Bros., and they remained married until her death. They had one son, Brent, who became a psychiatrist.[2]
Death
Fazenda died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Beverly Hills, California.[1] Wallis was in Hawaii making a film and left immediately for home. She was interred at the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. At her funeral, many stories were told of Fazenda's volunteer work, such as caring for children at UCLA Medical Center and taking in two children during World War II.[6]
Recognition
Fazenda has a star at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in the Motion Pictures section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[7]
She appears in the lyrics of "Out in the Street", a rock-ballad from 1975 by hard rock band UFO. "Your comic book impersonations, Louise Fazenda and Buster Keaton"[citation needed]
