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Irene Frances Rich ( Luther; October 13, 1891 – April 22, 1988) was an American actress who worked in both , Sound film, and radio.
At age 17, she wed Elvo Elcourt Deffenbaugh at All Saints' Cathedral in Spokane, Washington on February 17, 1909, after her parents talked about sending her to boarding school. The couple had one child, born Irene Frances Luther Deffenbaugh, who later adopted her stepfather's surname and was a stage and film actress in the 1930s known as Frances Rich before becoming a noted sculptor. Elvo Deffenbaugh was a salesman who traveled a lot. The young family moved to the Bay Area of San Francisco, where the marriage ended after two years.
Next, Irene married Charles Henry Rich, who was then a lieutenant in the United States Army (became a major during World War I and was later a lieutenant colonel), in Portland, Oregon on January 9, 1912. The two had met when he was stationed with the 25th Infantry at Fort George Wright in Spokane. They had one daughter, Martha Jane Rich, who was born on December 13, 1916.California Birth Index - California Department of Health Services Office of Health Information and Research. The marriage ended after four years. Luther went into real estate to provide for herself and her daughters. She then went to Hollywood in 1918 and found work as an extra.
In the 1930s, Rich did much work in radio. From 1933 to 1944, she hosted a nationwide anthology program of serialized mini-dramas, Dear John (aka The Irene Rich Show). Her leading man was actor Gale Gordon, (who later played Lucille Ball's apoplectic boss "Mr. Mooney" on TV). In the early 1940s, Rich starred in Glorious One on NBC Blue. Rich appeared in stage productions, including Seven Keys to Baldpate (1935) which starred George M. Cohan, the creator of the play, and later As the Girls Go in 1948.
She became involved in a deadly love triangle in 1949 when Agnes Elizabeth Garnier shot and killed wealthy businessman John Edwin Owen (1881–1949). Owen, formerly a businessman and politician from Michigan, was president of the National Apartment House Owners' Association, among other business interests, including cattle and horse ranching in Gunnison, Colorado and Riverside, California. The Riverside County Sheriff's Department investigator said that Garnier killed Owen (who was married, but estranged and separated from his wife) and blamed Rich for coming between them. Garnier, Owen's personal secretary, told the district attorney that the gun went off accidentally and she took the gun from an intoxicated Owen as he was going to bed. Rich said that she was not in love with Owen and that they were just friends. Garnier pleaded not guilty. The prosecutor decided not to try for first degree murder, and she was found guilty of manslaughter, and received a sentence of "one-to-ten" years. Garnier, after losing her appeal in January 1950, was released from Tehachapi Prison in May 1951 after serving less than a year-and-a-half. She died in San Diego in 1990 at the age of 93.California Death Index. - California Department of Health Services Office of Health Information and Research.
On April 22, 1988, Irene Rich died at age 96 of heart failure in Hope Ranch, California.
Rich has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for her contribution to the motion picture industry at 6225 Hollywood Boulevard and one for her contributions to the radio industry at 6150 Hollywood Boulevard.
Career
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 often portrayed society women, such as 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 (Ward Bond).
Personal life
Rich married for the third time on April 6, 1927 in Del Monte, California, to real estate mogul David Ferguson Blankenhorn (1886–1969), at the home of William May Garland. Blankenhorn was well known in the Los Angeles real estate market, was a longtime resident of Pasadena and San Francisco, and handled the transaction of William Wrigley Jr. purchasing Catalina Island in 1919. Rich and Blankenhorn separated at least three times in the summer and fall of 1931, they filed for divorce on October 30, 1931, they were divorced that November.
Family and death
Rich was married four times, the first time at age 17. She had two daughters, Frances and Jane. On February 28, 1950, Rich married her last husband, George Henry Clifford (1881–1959), a public utilities executive, at The Sherry-Netherland Hotel in New York City. He was president of Stone & Webster Service Corporation. The couple bought an avocado ranch within Hope Ranch, near Santa Barbara, in 1956, where they lived out the remainder of their lives.
Filmography
1918 A Desert Wooing Bit Role Uncredited The Girl in His House Betty Burlingham Lost film A Law Unto Herself Stephanie 1919 Todd of the Times Janet Milton Lost film The Man in the Open Kate Lost film Diane of the Green Van Keela Lost film The Silver Girl Julia Raymond Castles in the Air Mrs. Owen Pauncefort Lost film The Lone Star Ranger Mrs. Laramie Lost film The Blue Bonnet Martha Drake Lost film The Sneak Enid Granley Lost film Wolves of the Night Juanita Lost film Her Purchase Price Marda Lost film The Spite Bride Eileen Moore 1920 Water, Water, Everywhere Hope Beecher Lost film The Street Called Straight Drusilla Fane Lost film The Strange Boarder Jane Ingraham Lost film Jes' Call Me Jim Miss Butterworth Stop Thief Madge Carr Just Out of College Miss Jones Lost film Godless Men Black Pawl's Wife 1921 Sunset Jones Marion Rand Lost film One Man in a Million Madame Maureveau Lost film Boys Will Be Boys Lucy Lost film A Tale of Two Worlds Mrs. Carmichael A Voice in the Dark Blanche Walton Desperate Trails Mrs. Walker Lost film The Invisible Power Laura Chadwick Lost film The Poverty of Riches Mrs. Holt Lost film 1922 The Call of Home Alix Lansing Lost film Strength of the Pines Linda Lost film The Trap The Teacher One Clear Call Maggie Thornton A Fool There Was Mrs. Schuyler Lost film The Yosemite Trail Eve Marsham Lost film The Ropin' Fool The Girl Short Brawn of the North Marion Wells Lost film While Justice Waits Nell Hunt Lost film The Marriage Chance Mary Douglas Lost film Fruits of Faith Larry's Wife Short 1923 Dangerous Trails Grace Alderson Brass Mrs. Grotenberg / aka Mrs. G Snowdrift Kitty Lost film Michael O'Halloran Nellie Minturn Lost film Yesterday's Wife Megan Daye Lost film Rosita The Queen Defying Destiny Beth Alden Lucretia Lombard Lucretia Morgan Boy of Mine Ruth Latimer Lost film 1924 Pal o' Mine Julia Montfort Beau Brummel Frederica Charlotte, Duchess of York Cytherea Fanny Randon Lost film Being Respectable Suzanne Schuyler Lost film Captain January Isabelle Morton A Woman Who Sinned Mrs. Ransdell Lost film Behold This Woman Louise Maurel What the Butler Saw Mrs. Barrington This Woman Carol Drayton A Lost Lady Marian Forrester Lost film 1925 My Wife and I Mrs. James Borden Lost film The Man Without a Conscience Shirley Graves Eve's Lover Eva Burnside Lost film The Wife Who Wasn't Wanted Mrs. John Mannering Lost film Compromise Joan Trevore Lost film The Pleasure Buyers Joan Wiswell Lady Windermere's Fan Mrs. Erlynne 1926 Silken Shackles Denise Lake Lost film The Honeymoon Express Mary Lambert Lost film My Official Wife Helene, Countess Orloff Lost film 1927 Don't Tell the Wife Mrs. Cartier Lost film The Climbers Duchess of Arrogan Lost film Dearie Sylvia Darling / aka "Dearie" Lost film The Desired Woman Diana Maxwell Lost film The Silver Slave Bernice Randall Lost film 1928 Beware of Married Men Myra Martin Incomplete film, one reel survives Across the Atlantic Minor Role Lost film
UncreditedPowder My Back Fritzi Foy Lost film Craig's Wife Mrs. Craig Lost film The Perfect Crime Stella Lost film
first Irene Rich film to have dialogue, a part-talkie from FBOWomen They Talk About Irene Mervin Hughes Lost film Ned McCobb's Daughter Carol Lost film 1929 Daughters of Desire The Exalted Flapper Queen Charlotte of Capra Lost film They Had to See Paris Idy Peters Shanghai Rose Shanghai Rose 1930 So This Is London Mrs. Hiram Draper On Your Back Julianne Check and Double Check Mrs. Blair 1931 Beau Ideal Lady Brandon Father's Son Ruth Emory Strangers May Kiss Celia Five and Ten Jenny Rarick The Mad Parade Mrs. Schuyler Wicked Mrs. Luther The Champ Linda Carleton 1932 Down to Earth Idy Peters Her Mad Night Joan Manners Manhattan Tower Ann Burns 1934 Spitfire Woman (scenes deleted) 1938 Hollywood Handicap Woman at Racetrack Short
UncreditedThat Certain Age Dorothy Fullerton 1939 The Right Way Mrs. Martin Short Everybody's Hobby Mrs. Myra Leslie 1940 The Mortal Storm Mrs. Emilia Roth The Lady in Question Michele Morestan Queen of the Yukon Sadie Martin Keeping Company Mrs. Thomas 1941 Three Sons o' Guns Mrs. Margaret Patterson 1942 This Time for Keeps Mrs. Bryant Alternative title: Over the Waves 1947 Calendar Girl Lulu Varden Alternative title: Star Dust and Sweet Music Angel and the Badman Mrs. Worth New Orleans Mrs. Rutledge Smith 1948 Fort Apache Mary O'Rourke Joan of Arc Catherine le Royer 1949 The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre 1 episode, (final appearance)
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