Blanche Payson

Blanche Payson

Payson at top center in ad for Kiss Me Quick (1920)
Born Mary Elizabeth Bush
(1881-09-20)September 20, 1881
Santa Barbara, California, USA
Died July 4, 1964(1964-07-04) (aged 82)
Hollywood, California, USA
Years active 1916–1946

Blanche Payson (September 20, 1881 – July 4, 1964) was an American film actress.

Biography

She was born Mary Elizabeth to parents Thomas and Sarah Bush. She first attracted public notice when she served as policewoman in the Toyland exhibit at the Panama Exposition in San Francisco in 1915.[1] She was married to Eugene Payson in San Francisco prior to 1910,[2] who died before 1915.[3]

Payson then moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles and began her film career with the Mack Sennett studio, appearing in short films in mostly uncredited roles. She appeared in nearly 160 films between 1916 and 1946. At 6 foot 2 inches, she towered over both men and women co-stars in the many slapstick comedies she appeared, as a foil for such comedians as The Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy and similar popular acts of the time. She often played brutal and dominant women, such as Oliver Hardy's wife in Helpmates (1932) or Bobby Hutchins' stepmother in the Our Gang comedy Dogs Is Dogs (1931).

She was born in Santa Barbara, California and died in Hollywood, California.

Selected filmography

References

  1. ↑ Ogden Standard, Feb. 20, 1915
  2. ↑ United States Census, 1910
  3. ↑ Crocker-Langley San Francisco Directory, 1915
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