Word: louella
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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DIED. Harriet Parsons, 76, petite hard-headed producer who made six movies for RKO between 1945 and 1955, including Clash by Night and I Remember Mama; of cancer; in Santa Monica, Calif. The daughter of powerful Gossip Columnist Louella Parsons, Harriet went from writing for fan magazines and filming shorts to producing Hollywood films, one of a handful of women to do so. Her job often required, she said, "the combined qualities of Solomon and Simon Legree...
...banal of fan magazine questions: "What was your biggest thrill?" Her best performances must occur offscreen, when by exerting charm or power or both she persuades people in the news that they had better be interviewed first by her. Nobody has had such command over celebrities since the columnist Louella Parsons ruled Hollywood...
...recalls one of them. "They had a dart board with a picture on it of Rona Barrett, and they would throw darts at it and make insulting remarks about her. Then when she called, they'd be all sweetness and light." The columnist, a breathless, electronic update of Louella Parsons, Hollywood's gossip queen of the '40s, left the show last September for Today, where she will start in January. Rushnell, who took over hi May 1978, brags that he cleared out nearly a third of the show's employees, the malcontents, as he calls them...
...almost hear Louella Parsons saying, "Hello to all of you from Haw-ley-wood." This saucy, stylish, frolicsomely funny show is an affectionate spoof of the golden age of the silver screen...