From Wikipedia
Louise Closser Hale (October 13, 1872 — July 26, 1933) was
an American actress, playwright and novelist.
Louise Closser was born either in Springfield, Massachusetts
or Chicago, Illinois (varying sources). Her father was Joseph A. Closser
(1844-1887), a wealthy grain dealer and her mother was Louise M. Closser
(1847-1932). She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York
City, and at Emerson College of Oratory in Boston.
She made her theatrical debut in Detroit in an 1884
production of In Old Kentucky. Her first theatrical success came in 1903, when
she appeared in a Broadway production of George Bernard Shaw's Candida. In
1907, she made her London debut in Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. She was
equally famous on New York and London stages, she was known to the world of
literature for such novels as Home Talent and An American's London, as well as
to the theatre for a play called Mother's Millions, which she co-authored.
In 1899, Closser married artist and actor Walter Hale, whose
name she used for her stage career, and who illustrated a number of her travel
books. She collaborated with him in the preparation of many travel works. They travelled
all over the world. She was a correspondent for Harper's during World War I.
Aged 57, following her husband's death from cancer in 1917,
she left the stage for Hollywood. She had a parallel career as an author and
playwright, starting in the first decade of the 20th century.
She experienced an apoplectic stroke while shopping in
Hollywood in 1933. She was rushed to Monte Sano Hospital. She suffered another
stroke the next day and died, aged 60. She had just recently finished filming Dinner
at Eight.
In her will Mrs Hale requested an Episcopalian funeral
service as simple and as inexpensive as possible. She directed that at the
close of the service her body be cremated and that "no friend or kin
accompany the body further than the church door". In her will Mrs Hale
said "If I live in the memory of my friends,I shall have lived long
enough".
