Irene Rich

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Irene Rich
Born	Irene Luther October 13, 1891(1891-10-13) Buffalo, New York
Died	April 22, 1988 (aged 96) Hope Ranch, California
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1918-1949

Irene Rich (October 13, 1891 - April 22, 1988) was an American actress who worked in both silent pictures and talkies.

Career

Born Irene Luther in Buffalo, New York, Rich worked for Will Rogers, who used her in eight pictures including Water Water Everywhere (1920), The Strange Boarder (1920), Jes' Call Me Jim (1920), Boys Will Be Boys (1921), and The Ropin' Fool (1921). She commonly played experienced society women. She played this role in the 1925 adaptation of Lady Windermere's Fan and also in Queen of the Yukon (1940).

In two of her last films she played a frontier wife and mother. She was the mother of Gail Russell's character 'Penelope Worth', in John Wayne's Angel and the Badman as well as in John Ford's cavalry story Fort Apache in which she portrayed Mrs. O'Rourke, the wife of Sergeant O'Rourke (played by Ward Bond).

In the 1930s, Rich did much work in radio. From 1933 to 1944, she hosted a nationwide anthology program of serialized mini-dramas entitled Dear John (also called The Irene Rich Show). Her leading man was actor Gale Gordon, who later played Lucille Ball's apoplectic boss "Mr. Mooney" on TV. Rich also dabbled in stage in such productions as Seven Keys to Baldpate (1935) which starred George M. Cohan and As the Girls Go in 1948.

Personal life and death

Rich was married four times. She had two daughters—one of whom, Frances Rich, was a stage and film actress in the 1930s before becoming a sculptor.

On April 22, 1988, Rich died at age 96 of heart failure in Hope Ranch, California. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Irene Rich has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6225 Hollywood Boulevard.

Selected filmography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Irene Rich

• Irene Rich at the Internet Movie Database
• Irene Rich at the Internet Broadway Database
• Irene Rich at Allmovie
• Irene Rich Collection
• Photos of Irene Rich
• Actress Loses Weight By Using Sponsor
• Irene Rich at Find a Grave