“Our town worships success, the bitch goddess whose smile hides a taste for blood.”
– Hedda Hopper (1890-1966).
The famed Los Angeles Times gossip columnist knew of what she spoke. The Perez Hilton of her day (albeit with a lot more class and clout), Hopper fomented a ruthless rivalry with Hearst newspaper columnist Louella Parsons beginning in the late 1930s.
By the late 1940s, the former B-movie actress was the undisputed “Queen of Hollywood” and Filmdom’s most powerful rumormonger. Mingling with the industry elite, she preened about in extravagant hats, all the while building a fearsome reputation for making and breaking celebrity careers.
Pictured: Detail of a monument at the corner of Hollywood and La Brea depicting leading ladies Mae West, Dolores Del Rio, Anna May Wong and Dorothy Dandrige as four pillars of Classic Hollywood. Readers are free to guess the identity of the particular movie goddess seen here.
