51 Facts About Hedda Hopper

Hedda Hopper continued to write gossip until the end of her life, her work appearing in many magazines and later on radio.

Hedda Hopper had an extended feud with another gossip columnist, arch-rival Louella Parsons.

Hedda Hopper was born Elda Furry in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Margaret and David Furry, a butcher, both members of the German Baptist Brethren.

Hedda Hopper eventually ran away to New York City and began her career in the chorus on the Broadway stage.

Hedda Hopper remained in the chorus and they toured the country.

Hedda Hopper wanted to act, and she knew she would have to prove herself before she could hope to get anywhere in the theater.

Hedda Hopper was given the role and that show toured for thirty-five weeks through forty-eight states.

Hedda Hopper studied singing during the summer and, in the fall, toured with The Quaker Girl in the second lead, the prima donna role.

Consequently, Elda Hopper paid a numerologist $10 to tell her what name she should use, and the answer was "Hedda".

Hedda Hopper decided to upstage the film's headline starlet, Anita Stewart, by spending all of her $5,000 salary on a lavish wardrobe from the upscale boutique Lucile, which she wore in the film.

Hedda Hopper appeared in more than 120 movies over her 23 year acting career.

In 1937, Hedda Hopper was offered another gossip column opportunity, this time with the Los Angeles Times.

Hedda Hopper's column, entitled "Hedda Hopper's Hollywood", debuted on February 14,1938.

Hedda Hopper used her extensive contacts forged during her acting days to gather material for her column.

Hedda Hopper was an advocate for actress Joan Crawford, whose career suffered in the early 1940s after she was labelled "Box-Office Poison" and forced to resign from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

In 1945, Hedda Hopper reprinted a press release for Mildred Pierce in her column, which described Crawford as a leading contender for the Best Actress Oscar.

Hedda Hopper's support has been described as the first instance of lobbying the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to favor a certain nominee.

Hedda Hopper lobbied for African American actor James Baskett to receive an Academy Award for his performance in the 1949 film Song of the South.

Hedda Hopper called it Joan, and passed it on to actor James Mason and his wife as a present, as they had made the first bid after the story about the unusual gift made the news.

At the premiere of Taylor and husband Richard Burton's film The Sandpiper, Hedda Hopper began to complain when she saw screenwriter Dalton Trumbo's screen credit.

When Hedda Hopper initially come to Hollywood, she and Louella Parsons had a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Hedda Hopper was offered a position as a Hollywood columnist by the Esquire Feature Syndicate due to a recommendation by Andy Hervey of MGM's publicity department.

Hedda Hopper arrived uninvited to an early screening of the film and wrote a scathing critique, calling it a "vicious and irresponsible attack on a great man".

Hedda Hopper warned other studio heads that she would expose the private lives of people throughout the industry and reveal long-suppressed scandalous information.

Hedda Hopper, who had been a public supporter of Bergman, had believed the actress' denial of the pregnancy, and printed a fervent repudiation of the rumor.

However, Bergman was indeed pregnant and Hedda Hopper, enraged at being scooped, launched a PR campaign decrying Bergman for being pregnant out of wedlock, and carrying a married man's child.

Reportedly, whereas Hedda Hopper was more inclined to see their much-publicized antagonism as funny and good for business, Parsons took it personally and saw Hedda Hopper as a rival in every possible way.

Hedda Hopper referred to Doc Martin as "that goddamn clap doctor", which infuriated Parsons.

Hedda Hopper was so well known for her conservatism that rumor had it she planned to stand up, unfurl an American flag, and walk out of the 23rd Academy Awards ceremony in March 1951 if Jose Ferrer, who was known to be a socialist, should win Best Actor.

The rumor was untrue, but Hedda Hopper joked that she wished she had thought of it.

Hedda Hopper was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Hollywood blacklist, using her 35 million strong readership to destroy the careers of those in the entertainment industry whom she suspected of being a Communist, having Communist sympathies, being homosexual, or leading dissolute lives.

Hedda Hopper was a leading member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, founded in 1944 and devoted to rooting out suspected Communists in Hollywood.

Hedda Hopper considered herself to be a guardian of moral standards in Hollywood and bragged that she need only wag her finger at a producer and he would break off an adulterous affair instantly.

One of Hedda Hopper's victims was screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted throughout the late 1940s and 1950s partially through Hedda Hopper's consistently negative coverage of his Communist Party membership.

Hedda Hopper objected to him for remaining a British citizen and not becoming an American, which she considered an act of ingratitude towards a country which had given him so much.

When in 1943, he denied that he was the father of 22-year old actress Joan Barry's child, Hedda Hopper assisted Barry in filing a paternity suit against Chaplin, launching a campaign of attrition against him through her column, and calling for him to be deported for his "moral turpitude".

For years after the paternity trial, Hedda Hopper cooperated with the FBI to destabilize Chaplin's career.

Hedda Hopper's sustained criticism of Chaplin was one of the factors which contributed to his being denied re-entry to the United States in 1952.

Actress Ingrid Bergman was blacklisted as a result of Hedda Hopper's sustained negative coverage in her columns.

Hedda Hopper had supported Bergman in her column throughout the 1940s, advocating for her to land starring roles in The Bells of St Mary's and Joan of Arc.

Hedda Hopper was enraged when Bergman lied to her about being pregnant with married director Roberto Rossellini's baby.

Hedda Hopper had believed Bergman's denial of the pregnancy, printing a fervent repudiation of the rumor in 1949.

Hedda Hopper had an acting role in a radio soap opera, playing Portia Brent on the Blue Network's Brenthouse beginning in February 1939.

Hedda Hopper debuted as host of her own radio program, The Hedda Hopper Show, November 6,1939.

On January 10,1960, a television special, Hedda Hopper's Hollywood, aired on NBC.

Hedda Hopper had several acting roles during the latter part of her career, including brief cameo appearances as herself in the movie Sunset Boulevard and The Patsy, as well as episodes of I Love Lucy, The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford, and The Beverly Hillbillies, starring Buddy Ebsen.

Hedda Hopper remained active as a writer until her death, producing six daily columns and a Sunday column for the Chicago Tribune syndicate, as well as writing articles for celebrity magazines such as Photoplay.

On May 8,1913, Hedda Hopper married actor and singer DeWolf Hedda Hopper in New Jersey.

Hedda Hopper died on February 1,1966, of double pneumonia at the age of 80 in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

The probate value of Hedda Hopper's estate was $472,661 gross and $306,679 net.

Hedda Hopper is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery, Altoona, Pennsylvania.