Louise Lovely (born Nellie Louise Carbasse; 28 February 1895 – 18 March 1980) was an Australian film actress of Swiss-Italian descent. She is credited by film historians for being the first Australian actress to have a successful career in
Hollywood, signing a contract with
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
in the United States in 1914. Lovely appeared in 50 American films and ten Australian films before retiring from acting in 1925.
Early life
Louise Lovely was born Nellie Louise Carbasse in
Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...
, Sydney to an Italian musician and composer father, Ferruccio Carlo Alberti, and a Swiss mother, Elise Louise Jeanne de Grüningen Lehmann, who had come to Australia in 1891, in the company of
Sarah Bernhardt, and had decided to remain in Sydney once Bernhardt had left Australia.
Louise Lovely made her professional debut at age nine as Eva in a stage production of the classic ''
Uncle Tom's Cabin
''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U ...
'', using the name Louise Carbasse.
[
]
Career
Early work
Lovely was acting with George Marlow's theatre company in Western Australia when she received a telegram from Gaston Mervale
Gaston Mervale (1882–1934) was an Australian director and actor who worked extensively on stage and in films. He directed several films for the Australian Life Biograph Company. After this wound up he went to New York and worked as an actor for ...
to appear in a series of movies for Australian Life Biograph Company
The Australian Life Biograph Company was a short lived Australian film production company in the silent era. It funded many of the early films of Gaston Mervale and Louise Lovely.
The company was formed in 1911 with capital of £6,000 and was bas ...
.
Hollywood films
In 1914, Lovely moved to the United States with her husband, hoping to replicate her Australian success, settling in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. In California, Lovely caught the attention of Universal Studios
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
head Carl Laemmle
Carl Laemmle (; born Karl Lämmle; January 17, 1867 – September 24, 1939) was a film producer and the co-founder and, until 1934, owner of Universal Pictures. He produced or worked on over 400 films.
Regarded as one of the most important o ...
who both gave her a contract with his studio and re-christened her Louise Lovely. She made her American debut alongside the legendary Lon Chaney
Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...
in ''Father and the Boys
''Father and the Boys'' is a 1915 American silent comedy film directed by Joe De Grasse, written by Ida May Park, and co-starring Lon Chaney and Digby Bell. It is based on a popular 1908 Broadway play produced by Charles Frohman, called ''Fath ...
'' in 1915, receiving strong reviews. She starred with Chaney again in several other films including her next release US film ''Stronger Than Death'' (1915) and '' The Gilded Spider'' and ''Tangled Hearts
''Tangled Hearts'' is a 1916 silent drama film directed by Joe De Grasse, written by Ida May Park, and starring Lon Chaney and Louise Lovely. A small fragment (around 2 minutes) of the film survives in a private collection. A still exists showi ...
'' (both 1916).
Lovely became one of Universal's major early stars and a challenger to Mary Pickford
Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...
's status as the golden girl of early silent cinema, but was dropped by the studio in 1918 following a contract dispute. Though she was subsequently picked up by 20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
, where she starred in a series of Westerns with William Farnum
William Farnum (July 4, 1876 – June 5, 1953) was an American actor. He was a star of American silent film cinema and became one of the highest-paid actors during that time.
Biography
Farnum was born on July 4, 1876, in Boston, Massachuse ...
, her career never reached its earlier heights. Over a course of four years, she had appeared in fifty American films.[
As a consequence of having her hair singed on an American movie set, she permanently changed her hair style from long flowing locks to a ]bob cut
A bob cut, also known as a bob, is a short to medium length haircut, in which the hair is typically cut straight around the head at approximately jaw level, but no longer than shoulder-length, often with fringe or bangs at the front. The standa ...
.
Return to Australia
In 1924, Lovely and her husband returned to Australia in pursuit of a new interest - film production. Lovely had maintained a long-time interest in the behind-the-scenes aspects of film, and had collaborated with Welch on a successful short documentary feature, ''A Day at the Studio'', but her plans for her return to Australia were far more ambitious. Lovely and Welch undertook a nationwide talent search to encourage budding new movie actresses. Over 23,000 actors and actresses attended Lovely's auditions, which included demonstrations of movie equipment and acting technique, and which took place at prestigious locations such as Melbourne's Princess Theatre. Twenty were selected to appear in Lovely's next film venture ''Jewelled Nights
''Jewelled Nights'' is a 1925 Australian silent film directed by the film star Louise Lovely in collaboration with her husband Wilton Welch. Only part of the film survives today.
Synopsis
After her father's death, socialite Elaine Fleetwood ...
'' (1925), which was written and directed by herself and her husband.
Based on the novel by Marie Bjelke Petersen
Marie Caroline Bjelke Petersen (23 December 1874 – 11 October 1969) was a Danish-Australian novelist and physical culture teacher. She wrote nine popular romance novels between 1917 and 1937. Her novels were set in Australia, mostly in rural ...
, ''Jewelled Nights'' told the story of a young woman who escaped from an unhappy marriage, instead posing as a young man and finding refuge in a tough mining community, where she finds love with a fellow miner (played by Gordon Collingridge).[ Though it was an outstanding success, it did not recoup its high costs. The Australian film industry, once one of the most productive in the world, was about to fall into a slump that was to last for fifty years. Lovely was offered no more roles and could not afford any further independent productions, and thus, '']Jewelled Nights
''Jewelled Nights'' is a 1925 Australian silent film directed by the film star Louise Lovely in collaboration with her husband Wilton Welch. Only part of the film survives today.
Synopsis
After her father's death, socialite Elaine Fleetwood ...
'' was her last film. Today, very little of the film survives other than outtakes and stills.
Prior to the production of ''Jewelled Nights'', between 1921 and 1925, Lovely and Welch traveled throughout the United States and Australia, leading "A Day at the Studio", a traveling show in which audience members volunteered for on-stage "screen tests".[
]
Personal life
Lovely married fellow actor Wilton Welch in February 1912, when she was sixteen years old, and relocated to the United States with him.[ Lovely testified at the ]Royal Commission on the Moving Picture Industry in Australia
The Royal Commission on the Moving Picture Industry in Australia was held from 1926–1928. It explored a series of issues to do with the Australian film industry, with evidence given by a number of leading figures at the time including Franklyn ...
, suggesting a number of measures that might stimulate the struggling local film industry. Soon afterwards, she made a return to the stage. It was at around this time that Lovely's marriage to Wilton Welch disintegrated; Welch was homosexual, and from their return to Australia in 1924 they no longer lived together. Lovely and Welch were divorced in November 1928.[
She married Melbourne theatre manager Andrew Bertie Cowen, known as "Bert Cowan", at the Melbourne Registry Office on Monday, 26 November 1928; the same day as her divorce was granted in Sydney. Her marriage to Cowan lasted for the rest of her life.][ Cowan had a background of drama, revue and pantomime before becoming involved with the picture theatre business. He was in turn manager of Hoyts' Regent, Plaza and Lyceum theatres in Melbourne before in 1934 taking on the Metro Theatre in Collins Street for MGM.
The couple moved to Hobart, ]Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
in 1946, where Cowan became the manager of the Prince of Wales Theatre
The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre in Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in London. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner. The theatre ...
. Lovely managed the theatre's sweet shop, where she worked until her death in 1980.Actress Dies, ''The Canberra Times'', (Thursday, 20 March 1980), p.3.
/ref>
Filmography
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
Louise Lovely
at the Women Film Pioneers Project
*
Louise Lovely
at the National Film and Sound Archive
Louise Lovely
Significant Women Project (Tasmanian Government)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovely, Louise
1895 births
1980 deaths
20th-century Australian actresses
Australian expatriate actresses in the United States
Australian film actresses
Australian people of Italian descent
Australian people of Swiss descent
Australian silent film actresses
Actresses from Hobart
Actresses from Sydney
Women film pioneers
19th-century Australian women