Cause of death heart attack Occupation Actress Name Blanche Friderici | Other names Blanche Frederici Years active 1914–1933 Role Film actress | |
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Born January 21, 1878 ( 1878-01-21 ) Brooklyn, New York, U.S. Died December 23, 1933, Visalia, California, United States Spouse Donald Campbell (m. ?–1933) Movies It Happened One Night, A Farewell to Arms, Sadie Thompson, Flying Down to Rio, Love Me Tonight Similar People Thornton Freeland, Frank Borzage, Lloyd Bacon, Frank Capra, Raoul Walsh | ||
Blanche L. Friderici (January 21, 1878 — December 23, 1933), sometimes credited as Blanche Frederici, was an American film and stage actress.
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Career
Friderici did not aspire to be an actress, but rather an acting and elocution teacher. However, her eyesight began to fail, to the point she could no longer read, so she turned to acting. An admirer of her recitals introduced her to impresario David Belasco, who cast her in The Darling of the Gods.
Between 1914 and 1927, Friderici appeared in nine Broadway theatre productions in New York City, including a production of 39 East (opened 1919) and as Mrs. Davidson in the play Rain.
Friderici appeared in almost sixty films from 1920 to 1934. Her debut was as Miss McMasters in the film adaptation of 39 East (1920). In Night Nurse (1931), which starred Barbara Stanwyck and Clark Gable, she played a housekeeper too frightened to protect two children from a murder attempt. She portrayed a chaperone in Flying Down to Rio (1933). Her last film role was as a motel owner's wife in It Happened One Night (1934).
Death
On her way by automobile to attend a Christmas service at General Grant National Park with her stage manager husband, Donald Campbell, she died of a heart attack, just after they reached Visalia, California. She was 55.