Irene Rich
Birthday: 1891-10-13 | Place of Birth: Buffalo, New York, USAFrom Wikipedia Irene Rich (October 13, 1891 - April 22, 1988) was an American actress who worked in both silent films and talkies, as well as radio. 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 in John Wayne's Angel and the Badman (1947); in John Ford's cavalry story Fort Apache (1948) she portrayed Mrs. O'Rourke, the wife of Sergeant O'Rourke (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, 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). 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. 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.
Known For
Acting
Role
as Mrs. Mary O'Rourke
as Lulu Varden
as Mrs. Rutledge Smith
as Mrs. Worth
as Mrs. Bryant
as Margaret Patterson
as Michele Morestan
as Mrs. Roth
as Mrs. Thomas
as Celia
as Jenny Rarick
as Lady Brandon
as Mrs. Schuyler
as Diana Maxwell / Lady Diana Whitney
as Frederica Charlotte, Duchess of York
as The Queen
as Hope Beecher
