Louise Rousseau (1910-1981) was an American screenwriter known primarily for penning B Westerns in the 1940s.

Biography

Louise was born in

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Provincet ...

, to Louis Rousseau (a famous French tenor) and Frances Simkins (daughter of a prominent Texas lawyer). Her parents split up when she was a baby; her father returned to France, and she was sent to Texas to live with her aunts. She later reconnected with her father in 1932. After graduating high school at age 15, she studied chemistry at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. After school, she became a secretary to the manager of the Rivoli Theatre in New York before moving on to Pathe, where she became the assistant of Frank Donovan. Early on in her Hollywood career, she worked as a director (one of very few women at the time) of newsreels at Pathe-RKO. She later made a living writing low-budget Westerns — at least until she was called to testify before the

House Unamerican Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

in 1951.

Selected filmography

* ''

Air Hostess A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are primar ...

'' (1949) * '' Mississippi Rhythm'' (1949) * ''

Prince of the Plains ''Prince of the Plains'' is a 1949 American Western film directed by Philip Ford and written by Louise Rousseau and Albert DeMond. The film stars Monte Hale, Paul Hurst, Shirley Davis, Roy Barcroft, Rory Mallinson and Harry Lauter. The film w ...

'' (1949) * ''

Under Colorado Skies ''Under Colorado Skies'' is a 1947 American Western film directed by R. G. Springsteen, written by Louise Rousseau, and starring Monte Hale, Lorna Gray, Paul Hurst, William Haade, John Alvin and LeRoy Mason. It was released on December 15, 1947 ...

'' (1947) * ''

Over the Santa Fe Trail ''Over the Santa Fe Trail'' is a 1947 American Western film directed by Ray Nazarro and written by Louise Rousseau. The film stars Ken Curtis, Jennifer Holt, Guy Kibbee, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Noel Neill and Holmes Herbert. The film was rele ...

'' (1947) * ''

Lone Star Moonlight ''Lone Star Moonlight'' is a 1946 American Western film directed by Ray Nazarro and written by Louise Rousseau. The film stars Ken Curtis, Joan Barton, Guy Kibbee, Robert Kellard, Claudia Drake and Arthur Loft. It was released on December 12 ...

'' (1946) * ''

West of the Alamo ''West of the Alamo'' is a 1946 American Western film directed by Oliver Drake and written by Louise Rousseau. The film stars Jimmy Wakely, Lee "Lasses" White, Ray Whitley, Jack Ingram, Iris Lancaster and Early Cantrell. The film was releas ...

'' (1946) * ''

Gunning for Vengeance ''Gunning for Vengeance'' is a 1946 American Western film directed by Ray Nazarro, which stars Charles Starrett, Marjean Neville, and The Trailsmen. Cast list * Charles Starrett as Steve Landry aka The Durango Kid * Marjean Neville as Elaine Je ...

'' (1946) * '' Moon Over Montana'' (1946) * '' The Lonesome Trail'' (1945) * '' Fighting Bill Carson'' (1945) * '' Riders of the Dawn'' (1945) * ''

Rhythm Round-Up ''Rhythm Round-Up'' is a 1945 American Western musical film directed by Vernon Keays and written by Charles R. Marion. The film stars Ken Curtis, Cheryl Walker, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Raymond Hatton and Victor Potel. The film was released on ...

'' (1945) * ''

Rockin' in the Rockies ''Rockin' in the Rockies'' is a 1945 American musical western feature film starring the Three Stooges (not to be confused with their 1940 short subject ''Rockin' thru the Rockies''). The picture was one of the Stooges' few feature-length films ...

'' (1945) * ''

Swing Hostess ''Swing Hostess'' is a 1944 American musical comedy film directed by Sam Newfield for Producers Releasing Corporation and starring Martha Tilton, Iris Adrian, Charles Collins, Betty Brodel, Cliff Nazarro and Harry Holman. The film's sets were d ...

'' (1944) * ''

Fuzzy Settles Down ''Fuzzy Settles Down'' is a 1944 American Western film directed by Sam Newfield. Plot Two cowboys, Fuzzy Jones and Billy Carson, catch a pair of bank robbers; and then are endowed with the reward money. In the town of Red Rock the local newspap ...

'' (1944)

References

American women screenwriters 1910 births 1980 deaths Screenwriters from Massachusetts American women film directors 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American screenwriters {{US-screen-writer-1910s-stub